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Migrating with Antelope

From: Addie Goss
Length: 00:06:34

Pronghorn antelope trek 340 miles each year, the longest land migration in the lower 48. But the route is filling in with homes and oil and gas wells. Some hope to create the first National Migration Corridor to protect it. Read the full description.

3_small The longest land migration in the lower 48 happens in Wyoming. Each spring, 200-300 pronghorn antelope trek 170 miles from southwestern Wyoming to Grand Teton National Park. Part of the path is through booming southwestern Wyoming. It's filling in with homes, and oil and gas wells. Some fear it might be pinched off, ending the migration forever. This has prompted calls for Congress to create the first National Migration Corridor, a kind of 90 mile by 1 mile national park. Meanwhile, federal land managers are protecting the corridor piece by piece. In this story, I follow part of the pronghorn's route on foot, alongside a woman who is living with the antelope for the next year. Listen for campfire-side interviews, hikes through sagebrush, and a scene at a bottleneck where pronghorn crawl on their knees under a fence, as dogs bark and four-wheelers rumble.

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Piece Description

The longest land migration in the lower 48 happens in Wyoming. Each spring, 200-300 pronghorn antelope trek 170 miles from southwestern Wyoming to Grand Teton National Park. Part of the path is through booming southwestern Wyoming. It's filling in with homes, and oil and gas wells. Some fear it might be pinched off, ending the migration forever. This has prompted calls for Congress to create the first National Migration Corridor, a kind of 90 mile by 1 mile national park. Meanwhile, federal land managers are protecting the corridor piece by piece. In this story, I follow part of the pronghorn's route on foot, alongside a woman who is living with the antelope for the next year. Listen for campfire-side interviews, hikes through sagebrush, and a scene at a bottleneck where pronghorn crawl on their knees under a fence, as dogs bark and four-wheelers rumble.

Broadcast History

June 13, 2008
June 16, 2008

Timing and Cues

Suggested Host Intro

The longest land migration in the lower 48 happens in Wyoming. Every spring, 200-300 pronghorn antelope dodge cars, march up mountains and ford rivers on their 170-mile trek from the Red Desert to Grand Teton National Park. Wyoming Public Radio's Addie Goss followed part of that trip...and she tells us how some people are trying to protect this ancient corridor from development.