Grazing allowed on Half Moon WHMA
by Wyoming Game & Fish
August 23, 2005
For the first time since the mid 1990's, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is allowing grazing for up to 120 cow calf pairs on the Half Moon Wildlife Habitat Management Area (WHMA) east of Pinedale. The grazing will take place until September 15th as part of a rotation to rest a Bridger Teton National Forest grazing allotment near Soda Lake. The Soda Lake allotment is scheduled to be burned this fall, as part of a prescribed fire habitat improvement.
Habitat improvements such as this are an important tool for wildlife managers to improve habitat crucial for wildlife. The area surrounding Soda Lake is important transitional, calving and winter range for elk.
The nutritional regrowth after fire is attractive to elk and may reduce the amount of time the animals spend on feedgrounds. This in turn, decreases potential disease transmission from density dependent diseases such as brucellosis.
Grazing cattle on WHMA's can also be beneficial to wildlife. "Grazing stimulates new growth in grasses and reduces competition for important shrubs like bitterbrush and sagebrush," says Jared Rogerson, Game & Fish Brucellosis Habitat Feedground Biologist. "If managed properly it's another tool that can be used to improve habitat for wildlife, just like prescribed fire."
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