Once the snow starts accumulating at higher elevations, wildlife will start their seasonal movements to winter habitat. For Teton county, this means thousands of animals moving through human developments on migration and as a part of their daily lives in winter. The Valley bottom and buttes provide not only routes for migration, but also provide critical winter habitat for those animals who stay in the valley for the winter. Below are some simple things you can do to make winter less stressful for our wildlife.
Make the landscape more permeable and easier for animal movement:
Open gates, take down any fences, or drop rails to make wildlife passage easier on your property.
Take down any volleyball nets, hammocks, stringed lights, or other material that could impede movement and/or get tangled in antlers.
Turn off any pond aerators, which can make the ice thin, creating a danger for animals who may fall in, like this moose calf last winter. Running aerators in winter is against county code, but many people don’t know. Please spread the word, turn off pond aerators in the winter.
Thanks for thinking of your wild neighbors!
