Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne on Monday announced $1 million in funds for the pronghorn migration corridor from Bridger-Teton National Forest to Sublette County.

Kempthorne, who made the announcement at the Western Governors’ Conference in Jackson, pledged $1 million from the Jonah Compensation Mitigation Fund to the Green River Valley Land Trust and formally recognized the corridor. The money will go toward examining the impact of and making improvements to fencing — which can also impact species such as mule-deer, elk and white tailed deer — along the 75-mile corridor.

“The West, and this stretch of Wyoming in particular, are home to world-class energy resources sitting right below world-class wildlife habitat, but the two are not mutually exclusive,” Kempthorne said in a release. “By taking a holistic, ridge-top to ridge-top view, today we are demonstrating that, through the power of partnership, we can protect that world-class wildlife while still developing the energy resources this country needs.”

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal said he applauds efforts to protect the corridor.

“We hope it is just the beginning,” he said in the release. “This effort is an example of the right way to approach this challenge, by sitting down with landowners and negotiating with them on how best to protect corridors that border or cross their land. An important ingredient here is the recognition of the paramount nature of private property rights as we work with our federal partners.”

Lara Ryan, executive director of the Green River Valley Land Trust, said the money will help give landowners “tools to conserve the things they love about their land.”

“We are now able to offer the tool of wildlife-friendly fencing to agricultural and other interested landowners,” she said. “We look forward to providing a tangible, on-the-ground and immediate opportunity to work with landowners to conserve wildlife corridors.”

Kempthorne’s announcement included a commitment to defer oil and gas leasing on critical land controlled by the Bureau of Land Management within the corridor. The deferment will continue until a final Pinedale Resource Management Plan is completed, which is expected later this year.  

Bridger-Teton Supervisor Kniffy Hamilton has signed an amendment to the forest plan that protects the pronghorn migration corridor on Forest Service land.