Welcome to AntelopeGatefreeParadise.org
Our mission:
Is to free the west of unnecessary fences, and replace or alter all unfriendly fences so that the Pronghorn Antelope can roam free.
By connecting volunteers with land owners and groups concerned about the plight of the Pronghorn.
About the Pronghorn:
The Pronghorn Antelope is the fastest land animal in North America and is the fastest long distance runner on the face of the Earth.
Before the encroachment of the west they had vast stretches of land to roam, and to thrive. Now they die from a lack of fresh water, a lack of enough grazing land, and from getting caught up in the fences and being eaten by predators that never would have caught a healthy Pronghorn.
Enemy Number One:
The standard barbed wire fence is devastating to the lives of Pronghorn, many other animals, and ecosystems 100's of miles away from these often arbitrary barriers.
Other large animals also don't go through these fences. Putting pressures of overgrazing on the side of the fencing where they were when the fence was put up. Depending on what time of the year the fence was built, animals can be stuck in their summer grounds, and get stuck in conditions to harsh for survival in the winter. On the other hand, if they get stuck where they winter, they can over graze the land, and deplete their water sources not meant for survival in the summer.
Old fencing that no longer serves any purpose is of grave concern to the Pronghorn and to the surrounding ecology .
It only takes one stretch of unfriendly fencing, a wire thick, to completely alter the migration of a heard.
Far Reaching Effects:
Alleviating the west of unnecessary fences has a multiplying effect for the overall health of an ecosystem.
These fences also disrupt the migration patterns of Bison, Elk, Moose and other large animals that are also not jumping over these fences. The vegetation can be a foot higher on one side of a fence, compared to the other, yet no livestock had grazed on the land in many years. This can upset everything from the fire cycle, to soil evaporation and erosion, to decreasing soil nutrients, allow invasive species into ecosystems, just to name a few.
Each of these factors that are disrupted have ripple effects, and since Pronghorn migrate such long distances, it effects huge stretches of land. Overgrowth of the land they can't access anymore, as well as overgrazing of the land that they have now been confined to.
A Better Solution:
Many of these fences were put up a long time ago and no longer serve any beneficial purpose for man or animal. Now they rust away, forgotten and unnoticed by man, yet forever altering the natural balance of so many different species and ecology's across Western North America.
There is millions of miles of fencing that is still utilized today. If you are a land owner looking for ideas of how to alter your fencing to a more animal friendly fence read DOW's article Fencing with Wildlife in Mind. Even altering a few vital stretches of fence out of many miles can make a huge difference.
An Antelope Friendly Fence is one that has a space on the bottom of the fence for them to go under. A normal fence out west has four horizontal barbed wires. If you remove the bottom two wires, and replace only the top of the bottom two wires with a non-barbed wire 18" off the ground it becomes Antelope friendly.
Most ranchers and land owners that have unfriendly fences don't realize that their fences are so bad for Antelope and other wildlife. Most ranchers, once informed of the facts, see NO problems being able to protect their livestock with an Antelope Friendly Fence. Goat owners are the only ranchers that I know of with some concerns.
By replacing them now we can help reverse a multitude of negative changes happening to nature, and prevent having a waste land of overgrown scrubs, over grazed pastures, and unhealthy brush fires in our future.
Great article to read:
http://www.npca.org/magazine/2008/winter/going-nowhere-fast.html