The Hub Conservation Area - Montanans 4 Safe Wildlife Passage

Moose occur throughout the Big Pipestone Creekupstream from Highway 2, and in WhitetailCreek; they winter on the west side of thelinkage (east of Butte).Pronghorn occur in the Pipestone area, but thehabitat is marginal; the herd currently existsprimarily on private land.Conservation ThreatsRecreation: There is a lot of pressure to openup this entire area to recreational vehicleuse, particularly from spring through fall inthe Pipestone area. There are many usercreatedroutes in this linkage and very littleenforcement of off road vehicles (ORV’s) onundesignated routes. In 2007 alone, 10,000 feetof user-created two track routes were createdin the Pipestone area. The current Beaverhead-Deerlodge Forest travel management plan haseffectively deemed the area around the LittleBoulder River as a “sacrifice” zone for off-roadvehicle use. The soils in much of this area areprone to displacement by ORV use. Road densityin the south end of the Boulders is very high, upto 2.5miles/square mile. This causes both directhabitat fragmentation and a loss of habitatsecurity for elk.Highways: Interstate 90 is a significant threatto wildlife as it fragments habitat and createsa barrier. Interstate 90 is a source of animalvehiclecollisions, particularly around Pipestoneand Homestake Pass. Highway 2 in the canyonand around Toll Mountains, from the ContinentalDivide to Roosevelt Drive, is a hotspot forcollisions. This road was recently repaved;animals from porcupine to moose are gettingkilled by vehicles in this area.Conflict has been occurring between livestockoperators and the elk, particularly betweenPipestone and the Whitetail area in late summerwhen elk move to agricultural lands; likewise,because of the number of livestock operators,there is low tolerance for wolves. Packs havenot been able to establish long term in thislinkage area.Forest management practices have allowedconifer encroachment in areas like LittleWhitetail Creek, thus lowering the habitatvalues for elk.Conservation OpportunitiesMost of this linkage area is within theBeaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest(BHDL); therefore, the public commentingprocess for forest management activitiesis a great opportunity for influencing howwildlife connectivity is factored into forestmanagement. The BHDL Forest is working ontravel planning by ranger districts. Within thislinkage area, the Jefferson Ranger District ofthe BHDL Forest is attempting to re-inventoryall the roads from a 2001 effort; this willcreate a baseline map of motorized use withinthe forest. Main considerations for wildlifeconnectivity under these forest managementrevisions include how to manage recreationalneeds with wildlife needs andhow to restrict ordivert access and travel routes across wildlifecorridors.Homestake Pass and Pipestone are two areaswhere wildlife crossing mitigation efforts maygreatly benefit wildlife connectivity and humansafety.143