AZGFD Program: Landowner Relations Program

Transcript for Fence Improvement Project

Wade Albrecht, Arizona Game & Fish Department: First off, welcome, everyone to the Bar Triangle Ranch, used to be part of the Las Vegas Ranch. I’m Wade Albrecht with Game and Fish, landowner relation specialist.

Speaker: These early-morning volunteers have made the trip to Chino Valley to spend their day working for wildlife.

Wade Albrecht: We really appreciate everyone of you coming out. Basically what we’re going to be doing is trying to rectify a fragmentation problem out here, which is a farmland that has woven wire. Basically, bisecting habitat for, pristine habitat at that, for pronghorn antelope. That really is problematic, because these animals, which habituate this whole area, love this center pivot irrigation system here.

So, we’re going to be taking down this woven wire fence. We’re also going to be removing some bottom strand wire on areas that isn’t woven wire—that has barbed wire on the bottom strand. And we’re going to be putting smooth wire on the bottom strands, approximately 16 inches height. We’re going to try and make sure that we get this whole farm lane addressed today. If you look at your map, it's about, I think, about 3 miles total.

Speaker: I mean really working for wildlife.

Both pronghorn and cattle find this part of the state a good place to call home. Unfortunately, some of the older cattle fencing is interfering with the pronghorn’s ability to reach the resources they need to survive.

Wade Albrecht: The woven wire was prohibiting the free movement of pronghorn antelope across these grasslands.

Tom Mackin: This is a wonderful area for pronghorn. The irrigation, they’re really attracted to the green grass in the fields. And there’s good hiding cover for fawns, should be dropping here within the next 45 to 60 days. And so, this is a real good project to really get a handle and improve the habitat in this area.

Speaker: The project involves a lot of manpower to remove the old wire and replace it with something that will keep the cattle in and allow the pronghorn to move freely.

Tom Mackin: This existing fence was made up of five or six strands of barbed wire. And then in some areas, there was also sections of woven wire. We’re completely removing the woven wire, and we’re going to replace that with one to two strands of barbed wire, followed by a smooth wire at the bottom. And then where there was six-strand barbed wire, we’re removing the two bottom strands of barbed wire and replacing that with a single strand of smooth wire.

Speaker: Pronghorn are the fastest land mammal in North America and can run in excess of 60 miles an hour. Yet despite their speed, they are reluctant to jump over fences, preferring to crawl under them instead. Because of this, they can easily be bottle-necked into an area where they’re more susceptible to predation from coyotes and other predators.

Tom Mackin: Ideally, we would like to have that bottom wire somewhere between 18 to 20 inches. Because there are cattle in these pastures, we’ll probably go for the lower end—the 18-inch gap, which would still be plenty for pronghorn and their fawns and not, hopefully, any of the cattle or their calves.

Speaker: Tom Mackin has been volunteering his time to help wildlife for over 30 years.

Tom Mackin, Volunteer: I love everything about the outdoors. It’s great, to me, to see the camaraderie and all the different groups come together. We have people here from the Mule Deer Foundation, the Arizona Wildlife Federation, Arizona Sportsmen for Wildlife Conservation, National Wild Turkey Federation, in addition to a great deal of help from the Game and Fish Department personnel as well.

Speaker: The ranch owner was in favor of replacing the old fence and happy to be able to help local wildlife. The Landowner Relations Branch of the Arizona Game and Fish Department had funds for the fencing and coordinated the volunteers who provided the manpower to tackle the project.

Wade Albrecht: There’s a lot of different groups participating in this, and without their assistance, this just wouldn’t get done. So, it’s essential that we have this community buy-in. And in fact, a lot of these folks are not just from the Prescott area, they’re from Phoenix, Flagstaff, various other parts of Arizona—and lending a hand because of the need to get things done to help improve habitat for pronghorn and other grassland species.

Speaker: When dozens of people come together to work for a common goal, it’s a win-win situation—the rancher gets some new fencing, the pronghorn get the access they need, and new partnerships are forged. Big Chino Valley is the largest contiguous piece of pronghorn habitat, south of the Grand Canyon. And improvement projects, like this one, will help ensure it stays that way into the future.

On screen: Arizona Game & Fish logo