WYOMING Annual Report 2018 The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES $6 million Federal funding awarded to TNC and more than two dozen of Lenox Baker, Meeteetse NUMBERS Steven Buskirk, Laramie DEAR FRIENDS, our partners to improve conditions on the Popo Agie River and Mary Anne Dingus, Cody better secure important wildlife migration routes Mark Doelger, Casper It’s that time of year when we take the opportunity to proudly report to you Frank Goodyear, Jr., Cody on our work to fulfill our conservation mission. One of the things that made this year stand out is that our work took place against the backdrop of an Ken Lay, Glenrock election cycle. Mayo Lykes, Wilson 100 Chris Madson, Cheyenne Conservation has never been free of politics and mischaracterizations, often at the service of perpetuating Rendezvous Reid Murchison, III, Cody a particular perspective, and many of you may have noticed some pointed criticism of conservation, and Elementary Peter Nicolaysen, Casper The Nature Conservancy, this year. School fourth Lollie Plank, Banner 14 graders who One of the things that’s great about our country is our right to express ourselves. I enjoy taking advantage J.D. Radakovich, Cody Beaver dam analogue planted native of the opportunity to communicate an accurate message about who we are and how we work. Along those Adair B. Stifel, Dubois lines, let me share a few thoughts that, I hope, will resonate with you. structures built to grasses at Red Margie Taylor, Sheridan mimic dams and Canyon Ranch Page Williams, Cody In a recent poll, more than 90 percent of Wyomingites identified themselves as conservationists. TNC improve stream health Preserve to David Work, Victor, ID shares and reflects these longstanding Wyoming values. We use our science-based approach to help at Heart Mountain prevent erosion conserve Wyoming’s beautiful landscapes and the habitat it provides for the wildlife we all cherish and for and Red Canyon of stream banks BOARD EMERITUS the quality of life that defines us. Frank Bonsal Ranch Preserves 2 3 Barron Collier, II Our 3,000 dedicated members, our talented staff and our accomplished board of trustees who, true to Richard Davis the Wyoming way, have made successful careers in a variety of fields, including finance and the fossil fuel WYOMING ANNUAL REPORT 2018 REPORT ANNUAL WYOMING Dennis Knight industry, are devoted to keeping Wyoming wild and working. We do this by collaborating with a range of Gilman Ordway partners and using a nonpartisan, nonconfrontational approach. Indeed, it is only by virtue of this approach Fred Whiting that we are able to report on the many successful endeavors profiled in these pages. Anne Young We deeply value private property rights. That’s one of the reasons we believe it’s important to respect the STAFF LEADERSHIP TEAM rights of landowners who choose to work with us to conserve their lands for themselves, their families and for the future. These long-lasting relationships are sustained only by acting with the utmost integrity. We Milward Simpson, State Director believe it’s important to be truthful and accurate in how organizations like ours are portrayed. Richard Garrett, Director of External Affairs 4,400 300 Arlen Lancaster, Conservation Director As a fifth generation Wyomingite, I am proud to work for TNC. Conservation is important to us in Observations of native Deer and elk fitted with Heather Wisniewski, Director of Development Wyoming, and TNC is Wyoming through and through. plants made by 200 GPS collars in a landmark Erica Wood, Interim Director of Development Thanks to you all for your ongoing support. Wildlife Watch citizen study of wildlife scientists helping migrations in the eastern study impacts of portion of the Greater climate change Yellowstone Ecosystem The mission of The Nature Milward Simpson, Wyoming State Director Conservancy is to conserve the lands ON THE COVER BioBlitz 2018 © Dewey Vanderhoff THIS PAGE CLOCKWISE Popo Agie River © Scott Copeland; Rendezvous Elementary School students © Lori Mathews/TNC; Mule deer © Scott Copeland; THIS PAGE Milward Simpson © Richard Garrett and waters on which all life depends. Citizen scientists © Trevor Bloom/TNC; Building beaver dam analogue © Arlen Lancaster/TNC Refuge for a Rare RESILIENT LANDS Wyoming Toad The endangered Wyoming toad is better off New Grassland Invaders today, thanks to the addition of 581 acres to the “It’s like a horror film!” That’s the way The The grasses are especially problematic for which seems to be the more problematic of the Mortenson Lake National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge was the last-known location where this Nature Conservancy’s northeast Wyoming ranchers who find them not just in pasture, two, also hosts a fungus that can infect and harm A Pronghorn that suffered serious program director Carli Kierstead describes but in their hayfields as well. Their low, wiry native species. scrapes while crawling under a uniquely Wyoming species was found in 1987, after the rapid spread of two invasive annual growth and metallic taste cause livestock to low strand of barbed wire fence populations crashed in the mid-1970s. grasses. What started as a few isolated patches avoid eating them. Even if they ate it, the high A few years ago, the negative economic impact faces another crossing The Nature Conservancy purchased the additional of Ventenata and medusahead could soon silica content and sparse leaves mean that the of Ventenata was estimated at $22 million property in 2010 with the intent of selling it to the U.S. Fish and become a serious problem, with real economic plants have little nutritional value. The grasses in northern Idaho and eastern Washington Wildlife Service. TNC then took care of the land until the Service consequences for Wyoming agriculture. emerge earlier in the spring than natives, alone. And the grasses are making headway in Don’t Fence Them In secured funds to purchase the additional acres for the Refuge this which helps their rapid spread. Ventenata, Wyoming, with the potential to cause even more economic damage than cheatgrass. Pronghorn may be the second fastest land animal on Earth, but they are past June. lousy jumpers. A fence can stop them in their tracks—unless the lowest This rare amphibian, also known as the Baxter’s toad (Bufo baxteri), Ventenata and medusahead are well-equipped wire is high enough to allow them to crawl under. A fence that is too tall can lives only in the floodplains of the Laramie Basin in southeast invaders. They can thrive in wet or dry conditions, present an obstacle even to high-jumping deer and elk—especially fawns 4 Wyoming. Its dramatic decline was due to several factors, including 5 and their seeds are viable for three to five years. and calves. Loose wires can even become snares and snag an animal that pesticide pollution, changes in climate, the chytrid fungus and loss So even if standing plants are killed, the patch will doesn’t make a clean jump. For several years, The Nature Conservancy has WYOMING ANNUAL REPORT 2018 REPORT ANNUAL WYOMING of habitat due to development. Things got so bad that in 1993, wild have to be treated for years to control regrowth. been working on our preserves and with private landowners to make fences toads were collected for captive breeding to help the species recover. Land managers are experimenting with varying friendlier for wildlife with some fairly simple modifications. combinations of herbicides and application times Today, Wyoming toads are once again breeding in the wild and have in hopes of finding a formula that works best in If the top wire is no higher than 42” and the bottom strand is at least 18” been reintroduced through voluntary collaborative conservation Wyoming conditions. above the ground, most wildlife will be able to get under or over fences efforts on public and private lands. TNC is proud to have played a safely, and cattle will still be contained. Ideally, the bottom strand should be role in efforts to bring this species back from the brink of extinction. Fortunately, Wyoming still has time to head off smooth, rather than barbed wire, to prevent it from scraping hide from an the kind of serious infestations seen in other animal and leaving it vulnerable to frostbite and infection. places, but we must act now to contain the damage. As a member of the Northeast Wyoming Of course, from the perspective of the animal, the best fence is none at all, Invasive Grass Working Group, TNC is helping so where possible, we’re removing fences entirely. find a solution to this problem by engaging with Over the last few years, TNC and our partners have modified or removed landowners and coordinating new experimental more than 50 miles of fence to allow safe passage for wildlife, and we’ve trials of control techniques. only just begun. THIS PAGE Pronghorn hair loss © Alberta Conservation Association; TNC’s Brent Lathrop releasing captively bred Wyoming toad at Mortensen Lake © Karen Craft/TNC; THIS PAGE Ventenata (left) and medusahead (right) grasses © Gary Stone Wyoming toad © U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service update: HEALTHY WATERS Tongue River From the time that it tumbles out of the Taking Back Bighorn Mountains until it slows and flattens In Our Backyard through fields and valleys, the Tongue River On a sun-washed day in late September, 20 students from Lander Valley serves many needs. It provides drinking High School gathered on the banks of the Little Popo Agie River. Donning the Shoshone River water, irrigates arid lands and supports gloves and rubber boots, the kids volunteered their time and energy to help In the early 1900s, when landowners planted Russian olive trees wildlife.