Dear Editor,

Three critical items need to be done as soon as possible to preserve Sublette County's big game migration corridors and our elected officials need motivation to do them.

1. Parcel #194 of the Wyoming Office of State Lands needs to be unavailable for development because it is a bottleneck in the Sublette Pronghorn migration corridor.  Its offering in the recent State O&G lease auction was an error, and however embarrassing to admit the mistake, the offering must be canceled in order to preserve Sublette Pronghorn corridor functionality. The Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners can do this.  They will make this decision on the morning of Thursday, Aug. 3.

2. The Sublette Pronghorn migration corridor must be officially designated by Governor Gordon. In 2018, the Wyoming Game and Fish proposed this corridor, but it has been on hold ever since, subject to the new complicated rules of Gov. Gordon's migration corridor Executive Order. If the Sublette Pronghorn corridor were already officially designated, item one (offering a bottleneck at lease auction) would not have happened. The Governor can make the Sublette Pronghorn corridor designation happen.

3. Gov. Gordon's migration corridor Executive Order needs to be amended to streamline it and strengthen wildlife protections. Obviously getting a corridor designated is far too cumbersome. (See item two, the Sublette Pronghorn who have been on hold for 5 years). And right now the Governor's Executive Order provides only two p protections for designated corridors: a) no development in bottlenecks (see item one) and b) no construction in the corridor during migration periods. (More protections are recommended by the Order, but they are all coupled with the word 'should', so the main thing that actually results is only the construction period restriction). Allowing the migration corridors to fill up with developments in the off-season, of course, does not meet the Governor's goals and does not preserve migration corridors.  The Governor can fix this by amending his Executive Order.

If you are a supporter of big game migration in Sublette County, please contact Gov. Gordon or other wildlife-related officials and let them know. Time is of the essence.

Carmel Kail,
Pinedale