Friends of Idaho Watersheds Project

Conservationists Act to Protect "Serengeti of the West" BLM asked to protect pronghorn herd between Hart Mountain and Sheldon
Wildlife Refuges

PORTLAND --Twenty-three conservation organizations today nominated Bureau of Land Management lands between and surrounding parts of Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge and Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge as the Pronghorn Area of Critical Environmental Concern (Pronghorn ACEC).

BLM designates ACECs on lands that are of particular significance due to their ecological, scientific, recreational, historic, or archeological value. The nomination was sponsored by the Oregon Natural Desert Association, Friends of Nevada Wilderness, California Mule Deer Association, Committee for Idaho's High Desert, The Wilderness Society, and eighteen other regional and national conservation groups.

The 1.1 million acres of lands included in the proposed Pronghorn ACEC, which when combined with the two refuges cover 2.0 million acres, would protect all habitat used throughout the year by the Hart Mountain-Sheldon herd of American pronghorn antelope, the largest herd of pronghorn still living in a relatively natural ecosystem within the United States. The proposed ACEC would connect the Oregon and Nevada ranges of this herd, estimated at 6,000-8,000 animals, adding critical pronghorn migratory routes and winter foraging grounds now outside the refuges.

The pronghorn population throughout the West before European settlement has been estimated at 30-40 million. Ironically, when Hart Mountain Refuge was created in 1935, it consisted not only of the current Hart Mt. and Sheldon Refuges, but also included the pronghorn migratory corridor now being nominated as an ACEC. In 1936, the boundaries were changed for political reasons. According to ONDA conservation biologist Shauna Uselman, "When the refuge was originally created over 60 years ago, they were clearly on the right track."

The proposed ACEC also provides important habitat for big horn sheep, mule deer, and sage grouse, as well as for three endangered species (bald eagle, Lahontan cutthroat trout, and desert dace) and 43 other plant and animal species known to be at risk. Livestock were removed from Hart Mountain Refuge in 1991 and from Sheldon Refuge in 1992 when refuge biologists and managers determined that livestock grazing degraded pronghorn habitat and reduced the carrying capacity of the refuges for other wildlife species. The proposal recommends that management of the Pronghorn ACEC be consistent with that of the refuges.

Public lands in the proposed ACEC have previously been recognized by the BLM, Forest Service, and Fish and Wildlife Service and by conservation groups such as Defenders of Wildlife as offering unique conservation opportunities because they possess large unroaded areas, endangered species, unique physical, biological or ecological attributes, and valued recreational lands. "As the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania is defined by the annual migrations of wildebeest and zebra, the ecosystem around Hart Mountain and Sheldon Refuges is defined by the annual migration of pronghorn. As the last natural pronghorn ecosystem left in the United States, it deserves full protection", said Joy Belsky, Staff Ecologist for ONDA.

Full text  and maps of the proposal are available on ONDA's web page: http://www.onda.org