The Taos plateau is a high elevation basalt filled valley in north New Mexico.  It is bordered by the Tusas mountains to the west and the Sangre de Cristo in the east.  It sits at 7,000' elevation and experiences frigid winters and scalding summers.  In 2013 the area was designated the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument.  It encompasses 242,555 acres of sagebrush, grassland, piñon juniper forest and the Rio Grande gorge.  In the winter, large herds of elk migrate out of the Tusas mountains onto the plateau to forage on grasses and winter fat.  At the same time groups of pronghorn leave their summer range, high in the Carson National Forest and make their way to the plateau.  When these animals migrate to their winter range they face a variety of obstacles.  The most numerous being net wire and barbed wire fencing.  Sheep grazing was popular on the plateau, and net wire fencing was used to keep sheep in their allotments.  The net wire was good at keeping sheep in their allotments but bad at allowing pronghorn to move.  For years the Bureau of Land Management has been replacing the netwire fencing with wildlife friendly fencing.  BHA has joined the effort, with Habitat Stewardship Coordinator Bard Edrington working with the Taos BLM field office to inventory, modify and remove fencing on the national monument.  

On May 9-11 the NM BHA chapter held its first fence removal event of the season.  10 BHA members arrived on Friday night to camp at the base of San Antonio mountain on the National Monument.  On Saturday morning they drove out the the middle of the plateau, to the base of Cerro de la Olla (Pot Mountain). A 1/4 mile section of net wire fencing was identified to be removed.  The goal was remove the fencing and rebuild the section with wildlife friendly fencing.  

The volunteers gathered tools and began cutting the wire clips to free the net wire and top two strands of barbed wire.  A mini skid steer with a hydraulic wire winder attachment was used to roll up the fencing.  After the fencing was removed, volunteers rebuilt the new section to meet wildlife friendly standards.  The bottom strand is a smooth wire set at 16" off the ground, and the top 3 strands are barbed and set at 6", 8" and 12" spacing. The spacing of the top two strands is important because elk or deer may drop their hooves over them when jumping the fence, which can lead to entanglement.  When it is set to 12" spacing the chances of entanglement are reduced.  

A 1/4 mile section may seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of miles of fencing on the plateau, but short sections of fence have large impacts on ungulates ability to move freely.  

After the work, three groups of hunters went out to hunt turkeys in the national forest.  No turkeys were harmed over the weekend, though birds were chased.  

The next event on the plateau is set for June 7, were volunteers will be permanently removing a section of net wire fencing.  Check out the link for a list of all New Mexico stewardship events.

Thank you to all of our sponsors who help with our stewardship events.