Mesa Wildlife Winter Range
March 11, 2006
While some people are alarmed about declining number counts of deer and antelope within the heart of the Jonah Gas Field and Pinedale Anticline, others believe numbers aren't decreasing, rather the herds are just being displaced along the perimeter of the busy gas fields.
The final winter animal counts aren't in yet to determine actual population impacts. We saw many antelope and deer in the sagebrush hills adjoining the gas fields on a drive through the Jonah Field on Saturday. Even on the weekend, the area was busy with big trucks on the roads and people working the rigs.
Here, approximately 75 antelope cross just behind the closed gate to the Mesa on the southern end of Paradise Road off US Highway 351 not far from many active drill rigs.
Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online!
|