A Landowner's Guide to Wildlife Friendly Fences, Montana, Second Edition
A Landowner's Guide to Wildlife Friendly Fences:
How to Build Fence with Wildlife in Mind, Second Edition, Revised and Updated 2012
Many wildlife friendly fence designs are easy and low-cost, or save money by reducing future fence repair.
Please download and share the latest, greatest guide to wildlife friendly fences. Thanks to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks! Sage grouse are specifically addressed on pages 12-13.
Excerpts from the book here:
Since the original publication of A Landowner’s Guide to Wildlife Friendly Fences in 2008, the idea of “building fence with wildlife in mind” has taken off like wildfire across the West. Other states have built on that original publication and produced their own fence manuals, and this author wrote a companion volume for Wyoming, A Landowner’s Guide to Fences and Wildlife, published by The Wyoming Land Trust. For this second edition, the material has been revised and updated, benefitting from the creative ideas and practical experience of landowners and resource professionals who have adopted a wildlife friendly approach to their operations. Joe Weigand, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks private land wildlife specialist, provided department funding and personal guidance for the project, as well as his extensive expertise from testing various fence solutions with landowners.
Why build wildlife friendly fences?
Fences are essential for controlling livestock and trespass, and countless miles of fence crisscross the West like strands of a spider’s web. Fences define and separate ranches and farms, outline property boundaries, enclose pastures and rangelands, and prevent livestock from straying onto highways.
Yet those miles of fence can also create hazards and barriers for wildlife, from big game animals to birds. Fences can block or hinder daily wildlife movements, seasonal migrations, and access to forage and water. Wildlife may avoid areas with too many fences to negotiate. For example, pronghorn choose seasonal ranges with lower fence densities (Sheldon 2005). When animals collide with or become entangled in fences they can be injured or killed, and wildlife damage to fences can be costly and frustrating for landowners.
