


North-central Arizona contains a checkerboard of National Forest and BLM lands leased for ranching, and in some places these sections are bordered by barbed wire fencing installed as early as 1890. Though originally intended to contain livestock, barbed wire fencing can entangle and kill mule deer and pronghorns, especially fawns, trying to pass underneath, when searching for forage and escaping from predators.
In this Hero for a Day project, volunteers from the Mule Deer Foundation and a local Boy Scout troop will replace lower strands of barbed wire with wildlife-friendly smooth wire, at an optimal height for fawns to pass underneath, along nearly three miles of fenceline in mule deer and pronghorn habitat. Removed wire, and coils that have been abandoned in the area over the years, will be recycled.
