SUBLETTE COUNTY – As one of their timely topics at recent meetings, Sublette County commissioners discussed the Wyoming Game and Fish’s draft threat assessment for the potential Sublette Antelope Migration Corridor with county administrator Jeness Saxton to hone comments.

On Dec. 19, Saxton asked commissioners Doug Vickrey, Tom Noble, chair Sam White, Mack Bradley and Dave Stephens how and when they wanted her to finalize and submit them.

Publicly, commissioners seemed leery of the need for a pronghorn migration corridor designation.

At their Dec. 5 meeting, after learning Gov. Mark Gordon requested them at a Dec. 15 meeting after his mental health town hall in Pinedale, Bradley asked what topics they could bring up. One they considered was the Sublette Pronghorn Migration Corridor, which they wondered was necessary.

At their Dec. 19 regular meeting, Saxton asked the five if they had a consensus for pronghorn corridor comments to submit.

“The consensus from everybody is what are they trying to fix? Do we even need it?” White said.

Bradley agreed that he didn’t “think they needed a corridor.”

Noble’s main concern, he said, was private property rights, which would not be affected by Gov. Gordon’s executive order on wildlife migration corridors.

White expressed concern for existing energy facilities, although this executive order states they would not be affected.

With public comments due Jan. 5, Saxton asked commissioners to review what she’d written from their discussions.

“Outstanding,” White said, signing the letter as chairman, Saxton submitted it to the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission that day.

“We also appreciate your willingness to consider additional comments related to the potential designation of the corridor,” it states. “We have concerns with recent federal actions that may need to be addressed in the State of Wyoming Executive Department Executive Order 2020-1, which is the guiding document for future corridor designations and is the reason that this ‘threat evaluation’ was performed.”

The Jan. 2 letter questions “the range of distance” animals traveled relative to “migratory vs. resident status,” clarification of miles each animal traveled and additional acreage data, for example.

Commissioners also questioned the draft evaluation’s lack of current or future threats from human recreation after Game and Fish employees informed the public Nov. 16 that certain areas might need seasonal closures. The Forest Service closed an area in November between Fremont Lake and Pine Creek.

The letter questions whether the pronghorns’ migration corridor has been “functionally affected” in light of reporting few movement changes over the past 20 years.

And “residential development throughout the corridor” is listed as a threat, it says. “While this may be true, the executive order is clear that nothing (in the governor’s order) shall apply to actions taken by landowners on their private land or restrict state-issued permits a landowner sees on his or her own land or minerals.”

The letter adds, the Sublette County Federal & State Land Use Policy, adopted September 2021, clarifies the county “will work collaboratively with state governments to manage and conserve game species and their habitats in a manner that respects private property rights.

All comments submitted will be forwarded to the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission to review before its March 12-13 meeting in Pinedale. At that time, the state commission will decide whether to accept the threat evaluation and whether to pursue an official designation for the Sublette Antelope Migration Corridor.

To read the comments, go to https://www.sublettecountywy.gov/AgendaCenter, bring up the Jan. 2 agenda and click on Jeness Saxton’s underlined material “Update on Activities.”