Assist sublette county conservation district (SCCD), livestock owners, and partners with expanding the use of virtual fence in the dry piney and LA barge creek sub-watersheds of the big piney-LA barge…

Assist sublette county conservation district (SCCD), livestock owners, and partners with expanding the use of virtual fence in the dry piney and LA barge creek sub-watersheds of the big piney-LA barge landscape area. The livestock owners will implement the virtual fence technology in partnership with SCCD. Virtual fence will improve grazing management flexibility and allow livestock owners to rest portions of pastures from livestock use during part of the grazing season and or reduce livestock use of traditionally more heavily grazed areas like valley bottoms. The result of the project will improve sagebrush, wet meadow, and riparian habitat for a variety of wildlife species. Projects developed under this cooperative agreement are located within identified focal areas for habitat restoration and conservation in the sagebrush conservation design and under the partners for fish wildlife program 2022-2027 strategic plan. The project area has also been recognized in various plans by numerous other entities such as wyoming game fish department and bureau of land management for its important aquatic and terrestrial wildlife resources. A long-term goal of this project is to foster a spirit of cooperative conservation, whereby agricultural lands and those fish and wildlife resources that rely on these rural lands are promoted hand-in-hand. The specific objective to be accomplished under this project will be the project acres, time, and approximate number of livestock where virtual fence is used. The outcomes will be improved habitat for federal trust species, state fish and wildlife species of concern, and other conservation priority species of our partners, as well as improving the local human environment though economic benefits to area communities.