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Pinedale High Schoolers Help With Sage Grouse Conservation Efforts

Ben Ramsey

A Pinedale high school teacher used math to teach kids about the importance of sage grouse conservation last week. CamiDudrey’s Algebra I class collaborated with the Wyoming Wildlife Foundation to solve real world math problems related to putting reflective tags along fences in a critical sage grouse breeding area outside Pinedale.

“Kids don’t see the application of math ever. The most common question I get is when are we ever going to use this?” Dudrey says. “Math’s everywhere. So just finding something to apply any type of math to helps the students connect.”

15-year-old Dallon Cox says fence tagging sounds simple but it can save a large number of birds.

“They have very poor eyesight so when they fly at a certain level, they’re max flight level is at the height of the fence. So when they fly they can’t see. They basically get clothes lined by it and then die. By tagging the fence they see a reflector and know whether to go higher or lower.”

The students used math to estimate walking rates and tag numbers for some 14 miles of wildlife fence. 15-year-old Steven Metz said they spent the semester learning about sage grouse and wildlife friendly fences.

I think in the last four years we found about 60, 65 carcasses that have died in these fences between grouse, pronghorn and mule deer.

“What we had to do was we had to figure, we had to go in and figure out how many markers we’d need, how many miles we’d have to walk and how many people per group. We figured out how many marks we’d need for a mile so we’d know that we’d have enough.”

Wyoming Wildlife Foundation project coordinator Nic Rogers says the kids are doing real work to help preserve the bird.

“We’re preventing umpteen wildlife deaths in 45 miles,” he says. “I think in the last four years we found about 60, 65 carcasses that have died in these fences between grouse, pronghorn and mule deer.”

Sage grouse numbers have dropped in recent years from in the millions to only 300,000 total in the Western U.S. A decision about whether to list the bird as an endangered species is due out this fall.

Melodie Edwards is the host and producer of WPM's award-winning podcast The Modern West. Her Ghost Town(ing) series looks at rural despair and resilience through the lens of her hometown of Walden, Colorado. She has been a radio reporter at WPM since 2013, covering topics from wildlife to Native American issues to agriculture.
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