Center, Internet, Wildlife Damage Management
Human–Wildlife Interactions
Scarred for Life: The Other Side of the Fence Debate
Date of this Version
Spring 2014
Document Type
Article
Citation
Human–Wildlife Interactions (Spring 2014) 8(1): article 16
doi: 10.26077/mppv-tt76
Abstract
Fence lines crisscross the prairies of North America and are as numerous as the cattle that they fence in. Fences continue to be erected to define property boundaries, protect drivers from collisions with wildlife, and control the distribution of domestic livestock. In 1879, the United States produced only 4.5 metric tons of barbed wire; production continued to increase on a yearly basis. By 1945 the annual production was 210,600 metric tons (Leftwich and Simpson 1978) with a concomitant increase in the erection of fence lines. For example, >51,000 km of fence lines were constructed on Bureau of Land Management administered lands between 1962 and 1997 in states that supported sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) populations (Connelly et al. 2000). In Alberta, Canada, I estimate there to be >67,000 km of fence lines within 630 townships in the Grassland Natural Region. The construction of new fences continues today with a growing energy sector, and it will likely match, or perhaps exceed, the growth in road networks across prairie regions with little regard to their impact on wildlife, even though much has been learned about their negative effects on wildlife.
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Most jurisdictions within the range of pronghorns have developed standards for fences to make them pronghorn and wildlife friendly (Paige 2008, 2012), although it is not clear how often these guidelines are followed. Continued effort is required to inform and educate those involved with fence construction about the negative effects of fences on pronghorns and the need to upgrade to wildlife friendly standards for existing fences and for all new fence lines. Within these guides there are numerous recommendations for making fences wildlife friendly. Additional research is required to evaluate the effectiveness of the suggested fence enhancements to ensure that they do create a more wildlife friendly fence.