Under a hot July sun, the wire shined, and our core body temperatures rose. We dug, pulled, cut, and wrestled the fence. The mixed woven and barbed wire barrier was deeply entrenched in a mountain shrub community north of Hayden Colorado. It was draped across the hillside tired and rusted. Put there years ago, it no longer serves its purpose of managing grazing. No longer would there be an obstacle ready to cut, ensnare, trap, separate, deprive, or redirect the wildlife that live here. Then it was done. The last few feet were captured in a growing roll of wire. Someone let out a hoot. Cold sports drinks and water were handed around. This was the 9th such BHA lead project this year. 

One mile gone, thousands more to go. Overwhelming as it can be to think of the vast stretches of wire fences that transect the American west, it is so satisfying to see a small section gone. There in the morning, all traces gone by days end. Removing fences is one of the few habitat treatments that can have immediate impact. Like a snap of the fingers, it was like it was never there. I have been asked how long it takes for animals to get used to the fence being gone, and I don’t know the answer. I imagine it depends but one day this spring I sat eating a sandwich and watched a cow elk casually stroll through where that morning she would have been met with a six-foot-high fence. I smile.  

There is more than a mile to be thankful for this year. Backcountry Hunters & Angler’s stewardship work in Colorado has removed more than 8 miles of fence in priority habitats and modified another .5 mile into wildlife friendly fence. To accomplish this, we relied on BHA members' commitment to landscapes they love. Through nine events and counting I have had the pleasure of working side by side with folks from all walks of life with the goal of improving habitat in common.  I have been overwhelmed with the enthusiasm and general work ethic that the volunteers pour into gritty tasks. After all removing wire fences is physically demanding, dirty, sweaty, and just plain hard work. Here is a brief recap of the projects so far:  

The field season got rolling back in April with a member led project on Boulder County Open Space near Longmont, CO. BHA member Craig Thomes saw the miles of old dilapidated fence on the open space property as the problem they were. He worked with Boulder County to iron out the details of removing the fence and BHA to recruit volunteers. He initiated two separate fence pull events and more than 60 volunteers removed nearly 1.5 miles of fencing. Craig saw the need and took action his dedication to giving back embodies the spirit of BHA and we thank him for all his hard work! 

The Meeker fence pull, and Lek Viewing originally scheduled for the last week of April had to be postponed for a week due to a spring snowstorm. I apologize to everyone who originally signed up for the event and could not attend the rescheduled dates. Despite this, 10 BHA volunteers joined together to remove .8 mile of woven and barbed wire fencing over two days! Volunteers were also treated, thanks to Brian Holmes of CPW, to a greater sage grouse lek viewing and a Columbian sharptail grouse lek viewing. We Had to wake up very early with temperatures in the teens to witness the spectacle but seeing the ancient mating ritual of these icons of the sage was truly inspiring. Not to mention the fence we removed was an area estimated to winter between 4- 5000 elk. Our work there will not go unnoticed, and we plan to be back to take out some more. 

Next, 12 BHA members in the southwest converged on Perins Peak SWA near Durango, CO. Our mission was to support the efforts of CPW in replacing a boundary fence with a wildlife friendlier version. Our role was to remove .5 miles of woven wire fence in preparation for installing the new one. It is no joke to remove woven wire fence from a scrub oak covered hillside like the one that this fence ran across. But BHA members jumped in with relish and after a long day and many scrapes we had the bulk of it gone. These were folks hunted and fished the mountains and foothills of SW Colorado and am grateful for them sharing their stories with me as we worked side by side. There were several families with young babies in tow showing me that it is a part of their culture and tradition to give back. I am proud to work with partners like CPW and BHA is uniquely positioned to assist agencies with their science-based management. Special Thanks to Bob Watson of CPW for putting this project together. I hope we can work together again soon. 

May kept rolling with the 2nd annual Beers, Bands, and Barbed Wire Strands event to celebrate Colorado Public Lands Day. The weekend got started at the I Bar Ranch in Gunnison, CO with the best and biggest wild game potluck dinner I have ever attended. Fueled up on such delicacies as smoked duck, mountain lion chili, moose sausages, and deer tacos, more than 70 volunteers dispersed to 3 project sites and removed 2.3 miles of fence. The projects were on a mix of BLM and CPW-managed state lands. After the day of pulling fence, we returned to the I Bar to enjoy a BBQ dinner, live music, and a silent auction. The event was also a successful fundraiser to help support BHA’s efforts in Colorado and beyond.  

At the beginning of June, we were once again camped on a ridge above the town of Eagle, CO to continue a project started the year before. Working with CPW and the BLM we worked to remove a particularly bad for wildlife fence made of a combination of woven and barbed wire. Once again BHA members from all over the state came joined BLM and CPW staff. The fence was above six feet in height in some areas and buried in the ground in others. It ran parallel a new fence that was more thoughtfully constructed but combined it created a real barrier in an area rich with elk and deer. This was a very physically demanding project that required the removed fence materials to be hiked out 1/3 mile to where it could be collected later by BLM staff. After two days of work, we had removed just shy of a mile of the fence. There remained many miles of the fence, and we plan to be back again next spring to keep working on the project. Big thanks to Layton Stutsman of the CPW and Nick Jaramillo of the BLM for their commitment to cleaning up the landscape and improving habitat.  

In the middle of June found the BHA stewardship team in the cooler elevations of the Uncompahgre Plateau. Spring was in full vigor as volunteers met up with Sean Brown from the USFS. Sean has dedicated many of his weekends to trying to clean up fencing in the national forest. Removing fence where he can and modifying others to minimize the impacts fencing has on the large ungulates of the area. This project was again the first step in a fence modification; removing the old woven wire fence to be replaced by a wildlife friendlier design. The fence work went quickly and by lunch the crew of 8 volunteers had the ¼ mile of project fence pulled up, rolled up, T-posts pulled out, and all loaded in a dump trailer. Huge thanks to Sean Brown of the USFS for your leadership on this project and I hope BHA can be an important partner in your future work. 

July got going with another collaboration with the BLM’s Gunnison field office. The staff biologist Kathy Brodhead organized and hired a youth core from Western Colorado Conservation Core to modify an existing fence to a wildlife friendly version. BHA Stewardship team stepped up to lead the crew in rebuilding the fence to protect sensitive riparian areas from grazing. The eight crew members spent the week learning about fence construction, digging holes, pounding posts, and learning about fences' potential impact on wildlife and the landscape. Special thanks to Kathy Brodhead of the BLM and her dedication to identifying projects and going above and beyond to bring funding and resources to bare. We hope Backcountry Hunters and Anglers stewardship work continues to partner with the BLM on projects in the Gunnison Basin. 

After a hot and dusty week of rebuilding a fence with the youth Core Colorado Habitat Stewardship team packed up and headed north again to the Howe Ranch. This project was different from the rest in that it was entirely on private land. The Howe’s have been dedicated to managing the more than 600-acre ranch for wildlife values. They have invested considerable time and money into habitat improvements on the property that occupies critical elk and deer habitat. Their leadership is a shining example of private land stewardship that is critical in protecting important habitats. For these reasons BHA was happy to be invited onto the property to help remove obsolete interior fencing. The beauty of the place was enough to forgive the July heat that rose to the mid 90’s on day one of the two-day project. Again, BHA Volunteers from around the state made the journey and together we removed .65 of a mile of fence. Most of which was the dreaded woven wire fence that was overgrown in a patchwork of mountain shrubs like service berry and mountain mahogany. The gracious Howe family treated us to a meal to remember with smoked elk steaks, wild caught paddle fish and homemade chokecherry wine. The Howe’s commitment to the land is inspiring and we hope to continue to work with the Howe ranch and other properties in the area to protect and enhance this important habitat.  

To date BHA’s stewardship work in Colorado has removed 7.8 miles of fence and modified another .5 mile. That's over eight miles of fence that no longer impedes wildlife movement or causes direct or indirect mortality. It feels great to write this. When I reflect on all the hard work, we have engaged in over the past months It is not the struggles of pulling wire out of bushes or the cuts and scrapes that I come to mind first, it is the people I have met along the way. It is all the passionate BHA members and agency staff that show their pride and dedication every day that makes all the work worthwhile. Knowing that we share a common goal of making tomorrow better than today for wildlife is reason enough to keep going. And keep going we will. There are many more opportunities planned to give back to a resource that has given us so much. If you are interested in joining the next fence removal project, then please check out the BHA events page. One of my favorite quotes from Aldo Leopold sums it all up pretty well: “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”