JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — You wouldn’t know walking the dog outside this week, but tomorrow, December 1, begins Winter Wildlife Closure on the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
Bridger-Teton enforces winter range wildlife closures throughout the forest for the protection of wintering wildlife. Special travel restrictions apply to portions of the forest from December 1 – May 1 of each year. These areas are identified on the Winter Travel Plan maps, which are available at each forest district office, as well as at the Visitor Center on North Cache in Jackson. These maps should be referred to if planning a trip to the forest.
Cold temperatures, extreme terrain, and deep snow are what we live for as skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers, and snowshoers. But these same elements, combined with a scarce food supply and the dire need to conserve energy, make it really hard for wildlife, especially large mammals, to survive our long, cold, harsh winters. When we disturb wildlife in the winter, we force them to expend precious energy, which can lead to poor health and ultimately, death, furthering overall population decline.
Critical winter range areas have been designated as essential to the survival of wildlife. When people access closed winter range, the animals using the area flee to new locations. This retreat requires ungulates such as deer, elk and moose to use energy they cannot spare.
Further, it usually places them in areas less suitable for grazing and browsing, preventing them from gathering the energy they need to survive through the remaining months of winter. This leads to a weakened condition, which can have a direct effect on the animals’ ability to defend itself, making it more susceptible to predation and disease, and can lead to future reproduction problems in individual animals.
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