Helping Pronghorn Cross the Interstate 80 Wildlife Barrier in Wyoming

Follow along with Wyoming Migration Initiative graduate fellow Benjamin Robb as he maps pronghorn movements along Interstate 80, the largest wildlife movement barrier in Wyoming.


While researchers have long known that Interstate-80 is a barrier to ungulate movement across Southern Wyoming, it's only recently that enough data has been available to map this wildlife barrier from Rawlins to the Utah border.


Robb's research is focused on trying to identify where to improve the habitat permeability and connectivity for ungulates along the I-80 corridor. He used a massive pronghorn GPS-collar dataset from multiple researchers to study where pronghorn are most affected by the barrier, and where would be optimal locations to try to mitigate this barrier to movement with crossing structures.



Additionally, Robb monitored underpass movements of pronghorn and mule deer along Interstate-80 to inform where movements still occur.


His work was conducted through the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Wyoming, in a major collaboration with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and WYDOT.