Air Force, Marines Are Key Players In Pronghorn Protection

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Arizona
ARIZONA CAPITOL TIMES
Air Force, Marines Are Key Players In Pronghorn Protection
Endangered Antelope Make Home On Goldwater Range
By Arthur H. Rotstein
December 22, 2003

It's not yet sunrise but Pam Landin's day is already swinging into high
gear on the Barry M. Goldwater Range in southern Arizona.

She has hiked 200 feet up a rocky slope to a ledge on Observation Point
Echo, overlooking a vast flat landscape where Air Force pilots routinely
practice bombing runs. With binoculars and a high-powered scope she
searches the desert below for endangered Sonoran pronghorns.

The presence of any of the deer-like animals within three kilometers of
a nearby array of targets resembling tanks can force pilots to detour to
other sites on the Air Force's 1.1 million-acre portion of the range, or
even scrub their missions.

The Air Force and the Marines, who also use part of this range, are key
players in efforts by federal and state agencies to ensure the survival
of the fleet, elusive pronghorns.

Both military branches provide money for studies and other support, even
pitching in thousands of dollars to drill desert wells in an adjacent
wildlife refuge to irrigate plots of forage for the animals, whose
population has been decimated by drought.

Air Force Col. James Uken, the Goldwater range's management officer,
said that for the Air Force's part, "when you total up all the different
projects we've been involved in over the period of time, I'm sure the
dollar value exceeds $1 million."

Pronghorn Recovery Team

That doesn't include the cost for the pronghorn spotters -- four or five
biologists including Ms. Landin -- who climb observation points
overlooking the north and south tactical ranges at least once every
weekday a few hours before every bombing run.

"The Air Force spends a lot of money annually simply to avoid the rare,
and probably unlikely, scenario of actually harming a pronghorn," said
John Hervert, wildlife program manager for the Arizona Department of
Game and Fish, a principal in a multi-agency pronghorn recovery team.

So does the Marine Corps, which manages another nearly 692,000 acres on
the Goldwater Range's western end.

"It's something that they've become accustomed to deal with," said John
Morgart, coordinator of the Sonoran pronghorn recovery team for the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service. "I have a lot of confidence in my military
counterparts."

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.azcapitoltimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=10&SubSectionID=24&ArticleID=366

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