University of Wyoming demos conservation tracker and fence‑prioritization tool to committee

Dr. Jared Merkel, a University of Wyoming professor and science adviser to the Migratory Big Game Initiative, told the committee his lab has built a conservation tracker that aggregates projects (EQIP, CRP, easements) so managers can visualize momentum at county and watershed scales. The tool reports percentages of private land under conservation and preserves landowner privacy by limiting detail on zoom. “We took some of our funding, and we put collars out there again this winter...Within a month, there were already 4 or 5 pronghorn using that habitat that was a 100% excluded last during that bad winter,” Merkel said, describing a fence repair success story.

Merkel also demonstrated a fence‑prioritization app that overlays GPS collar and field fence data to produce heat maps of problem fences and per‑site cost detail, allowing field crews to prioritize a few miles of high‑impact fixes. Committee members asked about coordination with transportation agencies on highway fences; Merkel said Wyoming Game and Fish and YDOT are working together, and noted an overpass is planned in one corridor.