A ranch owner may have to take down a disruptive fence around their property, according to The Colorado Sun.
Texas oil heir William Harrison erected roughly 20 miles of 8-foot-high fencing to keep unwelcome visitors from fishing, driving ATVs, dumping trash, and collecting antlers on his San Luis Valley property. He also has a herd of bison he needs to contain. Harrison purchased the ranch in 2017, when it was listed for $105 million.
Environmental advocates have argued that the fence has disrupted migration patterns for local wildlife and produced greater soil erosion. Such barriers can even be lethal if they block retreat routes during a wildfire.
Following a 2023 injunction on further fence construction by Harrison, Colorado Governor Jared Polis recently signed into law a new requirement for fencing construction in the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant area. An application to the local government is now required if the fence is more than 5 feet high, if the fence is more than a mile long and encloses a property, or if the fence is half a mile long but not enclosed.
Human-made barriers can isolate wildlife from food sources and mating opportunities. Roads are typically the biggest culprit in this kind of habitat fragmentation, but solutions are available. Canadian elk and grizzly bears have been able to cross over a road thanks to a custom naturalized bridge. A similar bridge is under construction in Arizona. Meanwhile, a tunnel under a Vermont road has been able to reduce amphibian mortality in the area by 80%.
When it comes to fences, there are a range of design options that can make them more wildlife-friendly, including low clearance and visual cues on top wires.
Environmentalists maintain the new Colorado law is a win for local ecosystems in the face of wealthy landowners.
"This will enable other counties to protect themselves from the destructive, obscene displays of wealth that the ultra-wealthy who are purchasing large mountain tracts in Colorado can engage in to separate themselves in their private sanctuaries from the regular people," said activist Joseph Quintana, per The Colorado Sun.
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