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A new study has found that oil and gas development contributes to population decline in Wyoming pronghorn herds. Researchers examined pronghorn productivity—the number of fawns born per 100 adult female pronghorn in a herd—and found that two major factors drove productivity declines in nearly half of Wyoming's pronghorn herds from 1984 to 2019. One major factor is oil and gas development; the other is "woody encroachment," a term that refers to trees creeping into landscapes that previously did not have trees, including the sagebrush ecosystem that is favored by pronghorn. This can happen for a variety of reasons, including catastrophic wildfire that destroys sagebrush and creates conditions for trees and other invasive species to move into the landscape.
Oil and gas development and increased tree cover are both "disturbances" that pronghorn avoid; new disturbances in otherwise suitable habitat result in a decrease in available habitat, squeezing pronghorn herds onto smaller and smaller areas. Productivity declines are concerning because they mean that a pronghorn herd will be less likely to recover from another stressor, such as a tough winter, since fewer fawns were born to bolster the herd's population. "The thing that made these populations resilient in the past was productivity,” said Jeffrey Beck, one of the co-authors of the study. “Now, when they take a big hit, they’re not able to bounce back as quick."
While pronghorn are not currently considered to be an especially at-risk species, studying them now can help biologists understand how they respond to stressors and pursue conservation strategies that support healthy pronghorn populations before they decline. As the study points out, "While the Wyoming Basin is viewed as a stronghold for pronghorn populations, increasing oil and gas development and tree encroachment may be increasing pronghorn population susceptibility to decline."
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Bringing Tribal voices to the forefront of land management is not just a moral imperative—it is key to ensuring that our natural legacy can be protected for generations to come.”
