The report--titled The Wildlife and Energy Development Report--represents initial data of a yet-to-be-completed five-year study by WCS, funded by Shell Exploration & Production Company, Ultra Resources, Inc., and others. The study focuses on how natural gas development influences wildlife in a region that serves as a critical wintering ground for pronghorn antelope, the focus species of the study.

"The Upper Green River Valley Basin contains some of the nation's most spectacular wildlife, including pronghorn, one of the most prominent and wide-ranging species of the western United States," said WCS researcher Dr. Joel Berger, co-author of the study with WCS scientists Dr. Jon Beckmann and Kim Murray Berger. "With support from our energy producing partners, this study will provide empirical information on how pronghorn respond to energy development, which will not only inform the process for responsibly managing the valley's resources, but can serve as a model to balance wildlife needs with energy development across the Rocky Mountain region."

While subject to change after further data are collected, preliminary findings from the first year of the five-year study point to the following:

1) Pronghorn can adapt to the presence of humans when not hunted or harassed, but tend to avoid areas that are fragmented by gas fields, roads, and other types of development.

2) Based on statistical models, pronghorn are more prone to use undisturbed parcels greater than 600 acres in size.

3) Animals captured both in and among gas fields and outside of petroleum development areas had no differences in either body mass (a measure of an animal's health), mineral deficiencies, d
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Contact: John Delaney
jdelaney@wcs.org
718-220-3275
Wildlife Conservation Society
15-Jun-2006