Pronghorn Fencing Update
We just returned from final inspections for pronghorn fencing this year and all of the landowners are very excited about working with us this year. Recent rains have the prairie looking very green and it was encouraging to see good numbers of pronghorn on all of the properties we’ll be working on. Below is an updated plan for fencing this year. If you could please confirm what dates you’ll be able to help out, it would be greatly appreciated and help us in better planning our days.
July 21-22 Lee Finstad
Add bottom smooth wire to 6.5 miles of three strand barbed wire fence and respace existing three strands of barbed wire. There are three location for this project but all are located in close proximity to each other and access is very good. We’d like to get at least 10-15 volunteers out for this project. Blair Seward and I will have all of the smooth wire run prior to the volunteers showing up so it should be a pretty straight forward project.
August 18-19 John Ross
Remove bottom strand of barbed wire from 5 miles of five strand fence and replace with smooth wire. Remove ½ mile of page wire and replace with four strands of barbed wire and one smooth wire. We’d like to get at least 10-15 volunteers out for this project. We’ll be pulling down the page wire on Thursday and Friday and running that stretch of wire so if anyone can come out on Friday, it would sure help. On Saturday and Sunday we’ll be removing the five miles of barbed wire and running the smooth so even if you can only come for Saturday and Sunday, it will still be a huge help. Access to this project is excellent.
October 6-7 J-J Ranching/Pearson Ranching
Remove and roll 2 miles of page wire and spool and staple bottom smooth wire for one mile. Add bottom smooth wire to an additional 7 miles of three strand barbed wire fence and respace existing three strands of barbed wire. This is going to be a big project with multiple locations and we are going to need all the help we can get. We’d like to get at least 16-20 volunteers out for this project. Blair Seward and I will have all of the smooth wire, with the exception of one mile where the page wire is, run prior to the volunteers showing up so everyone can get right to work Saturday morning. If we don’t get enough people out to finish this in two days, people are welcome to stay the holiday Monday as well. Some of the fence lines are a bit remote for this project so if a couple people could bring quads, it would really help out.
All of these projects are in the extreme southeast corner of the province with Manyberries being the closest town. For the Finstad, Pearson and J-J projects, we suggest either camping or utilizing the motel in Foremost, which is about 40 minutes away. For the John Ross project, Writing on Stone or Foremost Campgrounds are about the same distance. If you’d rather stay at Writing on Stone, I’d suggest booking a campsite early. If you plan on staying at a hotel, Foremost is likely the best option. There is fuel available in Orion occasionally but it is suggested you fill up in Foremost as there are few facilities in this part of the province. Milk River also offers fuel and a restaurant.
I’ll be sending out detailed instructions on how to access work sites and what people need to bring closer to the project dates.
If you are interested in participating in one or all of these critical projects, please contact T.J. Schwanky at
tj-afga@shaw.ca. It’s a great opportunity to have some fun, meet some new friends and to really make a difference for pronghorn in Alberta.
Pronghorn Corridor Enhancement Project
Linear Mode
