RENO, Nev. (AP) — The U.S. Interior Department has announced a $282,975 research grant for the state of Nevada to study migration corridors of pronghorn antelope.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Monday the money is part of a larger effort across 11 Western states intended to improve the federal government’s collaboration with states to enhance and improve the quality of big-game habitat across their winter ranges.
Zink says the Nevada Department of Wildlife plans to capture and place GPS collar on up to 60 pronghorns to track their movements.
State Wildlife Director Tony Wasley says the effort will help fill data gaps in biologists understanding of a herd of 2,000 animals that migrates annually in Elko County and northeast Nevada.
Conservationists say Nevada’s pronghorns are losing key habitat to development and are threatened by oil and gas drilling especially along the Ruby Mountains.
