April 2014 a group of public minded citizens
replaced a section of fence around Lost Lake in the Gilpin Grasslands to better
protect the area from off-road vehicle traffic and damage by range cows. The
replacement fence was built as "wildlife friendly fencing".
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| New fence protecting riparian vegetation using minimal setback |
The
Original Fence: was built by Range Branch and Ministry
of Forests, Lands & Natural Resources (MFLNRO) a few years ago to partly
address cow damage and actions of off-road vehicles including mud-boggers. The
installation was one of several made in the Gilpin which included fencing and
waterers and were done at public expense. As is common, these installations
were poorly planned, badly executed and non-wildlife friendly. As in the Gilpin
and elsewhere these installations have usually failed to prevent the damage they
were supposedly designed to prevent. Much of the non-friendly fencing was
located along the edge of drop-offs substantially increasing the hazard to
wildlife. See Montana State Wildlife Friendly Fencing brochure: here
Public
complaints: despite several years of public
concerns over the effectiveness of the installations, no changes or improvements
were made.
A Waste
of Public Funds: The writer does not know all of
the motivations of the public-spirited group that re-fenced part of Lost lake
at their personal expense and time, but on the basis of his own experience has
surmised motivations would include a complete lack of confidence that MFLNRO and Range Branch are properly
representing the public interest on public lands. I could go on, and I will…..See expanded version: here
Waterer
not activated::June 19th 2014 we saw that a waterer
installed near Lost Lake had never been activated after cows arrived. New cow
damage to the Lost Lake fence and riparian areas resulted. After MFLNRO were
notified of the damage they offered some specious and ass-covering reasons why
the waterer was not activated and blamed the cow damage on the new fence. Their reasoning is simply not credible.
Although MFLNRO advised that cows were supposedly moved out of the area before
June 19th, the reality was that numbers of cows were still in the area and
continued to do damage. Cows remained in the area until October or later.
Ministry
Investigating ‘Random Act of Public Good’
We hear that MFLNRO is now
"investigating" the new Lost Lake fence, possibly with the intent of
punishing those responsible.
We suggest that MFLNRO acknowledge that the new
structure has partly fixed a problem of the Ministry’s own making and has done so at no taxpayer expense. The new fence
portion has provided an example and future model for "wildlife friendly fencing" that could address an issue that
the Ministry has so far avoided. While the Ministry might be acting to
discourage any further "Random Acts of Public Good," we suggest the
Ministry accept the new fence as a lesson and model and publicly congratulate
those responsible.
The Future
of Cattle Grazing on Public Land:
While the foregoing might suggest a call for MFLNRO
to do a better job, this writer is of the opinion that cattle grazing on public
lands should cease as it is environmentally and economically unjustifiable.
Future blog and web articles will cover these
issues.
An extended version of this post including other pics
