Species Recovery, Pronghorn

“In the early 19th century, pronghorn numbered between 30 and 60 million.”  Due to hunting and habitat loss, the pronghorn population experienced a historic decline.  In 1883 California imposed a moratorium on pronghorn hunting, and Montana, Nevada, and Oregon followed suit.  Today, approximately 700,000 pronghorn roam western North America from Canada to northern Mexico. While most pronghorn populations remain stable the , “the thoroughfares that link the summer breeding grounds and winter grazing areas are being fragmented by roads, cities, fences and energy development.” One of the most famous is “Path of the Pronghorn,” which stretches over 100 miles from Grand Teton National Park to the Upper Green River Basin. Scientists at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) discovered this to be the longest migration of an ungulate in the lower 48 states. They named it and helped make it the first federally protected wildlife migration corridor.