Wildlife-Friendly Fences Make the Best Neighbors: GYC Helps Modify 16+ Miles of Fence in 2024

They say good fences make the best neighbors. In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, being the best neighbor takes more than lending the occasional cup of sugar. We have your typical domestic canine, human, and livestock neighbors here, and we also live alongside a variety of wildlife – deer, elk, and pronghorn – that could use some creative thinking when it comes to fencing.

A mule deer traverses a fence in Wyoming. (Photo Mark Gocke) 

While fences are needed as boundaries or to keep livestock contained, they serve as a barrier to wildlife moving across the landscape. Whether animals are traveling during seasonal migrations or in search of food, fences can prevent wildlife from reaching the habitat and resources they need. 

One of the easiest ways to keep migration corridors and landscapes open to wildlife – and to be the best wildlife neighbor – is to make fences wildlife friendly. 

There are a few ways to make a fence wildlife friendly while maintaining their effectiveness for livestock. Fences can be modified to lower the top wire and raise the bottom wire to make it easier for animals to jump over or slide under. Most fences in the West are barbed wire – by replacing the top fence wire with smooth wire, we can lower the chances of wildlife getting caught or injured. Woven wire – gridded fence – is also common and prevents wildlife from going under fences. By removing woven wire or replacing it with strands of wire, wildlife like pronghorn that prefer to go under fences can traverse them. If fences aren’t in use, removing them is a great option.  

To be good neighbors and stewards of this ecosystem, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition is working in Montana and Wyoming to create wildlife-friendly fences. In 2024, GYC supported 11 fencing projects that removed or modified more than 16 miles of fence! 

MONTANA

In Montana, GYC supported fencing projects in 2024 with on-the-ground work and funding. GYC’s Blakeley Adkins, The Volgenau Foundation wildlife conservation associate, and Erin Steva, Montana conservation associate, assisted with four projects this year. 

1+ miles removed | Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Land – Paradise Valley, MT 

On state land in the Paradise Valley, in partnership with Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) and National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), GYC staff helped remove almost two miles of woven and barbed wire for deer. This project came to fruition as GYC is working as part of Yellowstone Safe Passages (YSP) to find solutions to wildlife-vehicle collisions in the Paradise Valley. YSP recently identified priority areas for potential wildlife crossing structures, and this FWP land is within one of the group’s priority areas.  

1.75 miles modified | Papoose Creek – Madison Valley, MT 

GYC provided financial support for a fence modification project organized by NPCA and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and funded by the landowner and Mule Deer Foundation. The Papoose Creek drainage in Madison Valley is heavily used by elk, mule deer, and pronghorn and is an important riparian corridor for these species. GYC provided financial support for a few miles of “flop fence.” Flop fence is made to flop rather than break when crossed by wildlife and keep wildlife from getting injured, or worse, as well as keep fences intact.  

Private Property – West Yellowstone, MT 

As part of a long-term project with a landowner, GYC partnered with NPCA to share the costs of modifying a fence to include smooth wire. Over the lifetime of the project, fence will also be removed on the property. 

1.5 miles removed | Private Property – Mill Creek, Paradise Valley, MT  

On a piece of private property in Paradise Valley that is prime elk habitat, GYC contributed funds and staff spent a day removing fencing as part of a larger removal and modification project spearheaded by NPCA.

GYC’s Blakeley Adkins, The Volgenau Foundation wildlife conservation associate, and Erin Steva, Montana conservation associate, at a fence project in the Paradise Valley north of Yellowstone. (Photo GYC/Blakeley Adkins)

WYOMING

In Cody, Wyoming, GYC works as part of the Absaroka Fence Initiative (AFI) to ensure fences are functional for livestock management and wildlife movement across the landscape through on-the-ground projects, public workdays, and outreach to the community. 

AFI is a partnership among the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the United States Forest Service, Wyoming Game & Fish Department, The Nature Conservancy, GYC, and private landowners. Senior Wyoming Conservation Associate Erin Welty leads GYC’s fencing work in Cody and serves as the co-chair of AFI. 

In 2024, GYC, AFI, and other partners collaborated on seven projects in the Cody area, on public and private lands. 

2.2 miles modified | South YU Bench for Carter Mountain Pronghorn Herd 

For National Public Lands Day, AFI modified more than two miles of fence within a BLM parcel on the South YU Bench southeast of Cody. Volunteers removed the bottom wire to allow the Carter Mountain Pronghorn Herd to move better across the landscape and removed the top wire to assist other wildlife. 

1.75 miles modified | McCullough Peaks Wilderness Study Area 

AFI and 30 Cody High School Outdoor Class students modified 1.75 miles of fence for deer and pronghorn in the McCullough Peaks Wilderness Study Area managed by the BLM. 

3.3 miles removed | Cody’s Country Subdivision  

In a subdivision on the North Fork between Cody, the national forest, and Yellowstone National Park, AFI and subdivision residents removed 3.3 miles of fence. 

3.5 miles modified | Private Property – North Fork, Cody, WY 

Wyoming Conservation Crew modified 3.5 miles of fence on a private ranch west of Cody, benefiting elk and mule deer. 

0.65 miles modified | South YU Bench for Carter Mountain Pronghorn Herd 

The GYC Board of Directors got out in the field to modify an additional 0.65 miles of fence for the Carter Mountain Pronghorn Herd this summer. This project took place on BLM lands and was organized in part by AFI. 

0.5 miles removed | Private Property – Clark, WY  

In the spring, AFI, in partnership with a private landowner, removed 0.5 miles of four-strand barbed wire for the benefit of elk. 

0.5 | Private Property – Sage Creek, Cody, WY 

To start out the new year, AFI and students from the Cody High School Outdoor Class modified 0.5 miles of fence by removing a wire, lowering the top wire, and raising the bottom wire. 

Favorite fencing moment of 2024 from Cody, Wyoming. GYC’s fencing work in Cody is led by Erin Welty, senior Wyoming conservation associate who shared this moment. Jerry Altermatt, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department terrestrial habitat biologist, on the private parcel in Clark driving the skid steer with the new wire winder and post puller. Altermatt pulls posts while Kristin Barker, Beyond Yellowstone Living Labs, walks behind collecting rolls of barbed wire that were removed from the posts.  (Photo Kathy Lichtendahl)

These projects are made possible by incredible partnerships across the ecosystem and by supporters like you. Thank you.  

We’re looking forward to another year of being good wildlife neighbors in 2025! 

—London Bernier, Communications Associate (Bozeman, Montana)