June 2020 - The WYldlife Fund

Thank You to the Muley Fanatic Foundation and the Mule Deer Foundation for their generous contributions!

Providing safe passage across busy roadways for Wyoming’s wildlife! Also, keeping our roadways safe for drivers!

The WYldlife Fund unites people to advance Wyoming wildlife habitat, research, and education. Our foundation strives to be a vehicle to inject donor funds on the ground to advance critical projects and initiatives which strengthen Wyoming’s wildlife. We are a home for tax deductible gifts. Our foundation accepts restricted gifts so that a donor’s particular passion is directly and transparently funded.

Our latest grant heads to the Dry Piney Wildlife Crossing project. This stretch of US-189 has one of the highest rates of mule deer vehicle collisions in Wyoming. The migrating and wintering deer impacted are part of the Wyoming Game & Fish Department’s priority Wyoming Range mule deer herd. The road has existing sheep fence (woven wire) along both sides which creates a substantial movement barrier. In addition to mule deer, vehicle collisions with pronghorn and moose also occur along this stretch.

The Dry Piney project consists of underpasses and high fencing to funnel wildlife to the crossings structures and thus a safe passage across busy roadways.

Thanks to a generous $24,000 donation from the Muley Fanatic Foundation and a $5,000 donation from the Mule Deer Foundation, The WYldlife Fund is able to send $29,000 to this critical project.

In order to leverage these donor funds to the fullest The WYldlife Fund is routing these grant dollars to Dry Piney through the Wyoming Wildlife Natural Resource Trust.

Executive Director Bob Budd explains, “Governor Gordon and the Wyoming Legislature have stepped up to address critical migration issues, including matching funds for this type of project, and the WWNRT has created a separate account to aggregate funds from a variety of sources to address the need. This contribution will generate an equal amount into the corpus of the Trust Account which will generate conservation funds long into the future. This is truly the Wyoming way, where many hands make light lifting, and we really appreciate the leadership and commitment The WYldlife Fund has shown in this regard.” .

The $29,000 sent through the Wyoming Wildlife Natural Resource Trust will be matched dollar for dollar by the state of Wyoming. These matching dollars will stay with WWNRT to help support long term advancement of initiatives and projects for the benefit of Wyoming’s wildlife. In addition, the WWNRT has committed $100,000.00 to the Dry Piney project to date and may have the ability to contribute more as the project develops.

The Dry Piney project will reduce vehicle collisions with mule deer and decrease mortality in this ecologically and economically important herd by improving habitat connectivity, and helping to conserve migrations in this area. Pronghorn and moose movements could also be enhanced.

The WYldlife Fund applauds all federal, state, and non-profit partners who have made this project possible! We are honored to join this great group of leaders and change agents.

Aquatic Invasive Species such as zebra and quagga mussels could cost Wyoming dearly.

Let’s make certain this never happens. It’s going to take all of us chipping in!

Aquatic invasive species are NO JOKE and could cost Wyoming dearly should they contaminate our waters. Not only would this invasion impact our pristine angling waters but it could also negatively impact our water delivery systems across the state causing water rates to skyrocket.

The WYldlife Fund is bringing awareness to this potentially devastating situation and doing all we can to provide resources to prevent an acute contamination.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has been hard at work implementing a thorough AIS program, inspecting boats at ramps and Ports of Entry across Wyoming. In 2019 the Department was tasked with completing a Rapid Response Plan for our most “at-risk” waters should they become positive for invasive species such as zebra or quagga mussels. While putting these plans together, it quickly became a harsh realization of how difficult and expensive such a task would be-to inspect every boat leaving an infected waterbody most of the year. If Keyhole Reservoir becomes positive, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department would likely need to hire as many as 16 inspectors and purchase numerous amounts of equipment; from signs to decontamination units. For Keyhole, it is currently estimated to cost nearly $300,000 annually, but could range from $450,000 to $750,000 a year just to continue allowing boating.

If one our waters became infested with zebra or quagga mussels, these expenses would run in perpetuity. There is no “cure”. Once zebra or quagga mussels show up, they will always be there.

What can YOU do? Check out our AIS awareness video below and share with your friends on social media! Also, consider a $10 per month recurring gift through our website to help support our partnership with Working Dogs for Conservation. These rescue dogs are trained to detect aquatic invasive species and are an incredibly effective prevention tool!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMCUNgI0Gt8

https://www.thewyldlifefund.org/donate

The WYldlife Funds sends $29,000 to the Dry Piney Wildlife Crossing project

AIS Awareness-No Joke!