Wildfires are not discriminatory. They burn forestland, shrubs, grass, leaves, dead downfall and whatever else is in their way.
In 2012, lightning sparked the Gilead Wildfire, which charred more than 4,000 acres across the Bighorn National Forest, including part of the western boundary fencing between the forest and the Bud Love Wildlife Habitat Management Area in north-central Wyoming. The HMA covers 7,900 acres and is managed to provide important habitat for elk, pronghorn antelope, mule deer, moose, mountain lions, black bears, small mammals, upland birds, ducks, fish and other wildlife.
For more than a decade, managers pieced together makeshift fencing to keep grazing livestock out of the HMA and protect the forage, yet problems persisted.
In 2024, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation supplied funding to help purchase materials and contract a helicopter to fly them into the remote region. One year later, about 40 Wyoming Game and Fish Department employees gathered from across the state to install and rebuild almost a mile and a half of fencing, this time with fireproof materials.
The crew also improved the public parking area and roads, so hunters, anglers and others could more easily access it.
The HMA is about 35 miles south of Sheridan and 12 miles west of Buffalo.
(Photo credit: Wyoming Game and Fish Department)
