Hunters, landowners and wildlife managers are gathering in Montana to discuss the need for novel approaches to elk management.

The 2022 Elk Management Symposium takes place this Saturday. Kathy Hadley is a board member with Montana Wildlife Federation and participating in one of the event's panels.

She said the symposium is a chance to brainstorm about management policies and gather hunters like herself alongside landowners. Hadley broke down some of the major issues facing the state.

"In Montana, hunters want more elk and they want more hunting opportunities," said Hadley, "and the landowners want fewer elk in places where they're really causing some serious problems. And, of course, the outfitters want guarantees for all those services. So it's a pretty complex situation."

The symposium is taking place as Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks begins to design a new elk-management plan. Hadley is part of a panel called "Shared Elk and Shared Values."

The event starts at 10 a.m. and will be streamed online. It's hosted by the Montana Citizens Elk Management Coalition.

Hadley said in some ways the challenges the state faces now are similar to those it faced decades ago, with conflicts between different stakeholders.

In the 1990s, Gov. Marc Racicot convened a committee of hunters, landowners, outfitters and lawmakers.

Hadley said one of the ideas to come out of that was the Block Management program, which provides funds to landowners for impacts from hunters in exchange for opening up access to those lands.

"It has existed ever since then and people in Montana and non-residents who come here have six to seven million acres of private land to hunt," said Hadley, "and it all came from that committee of people sitting down and trying to come up with new ideas."

Hadley said block management and another program from the time - called Habitat Montana, which is used to purchase conservation easements - have been successful.

She said she hopes this symposium will spark another moment of innovative policymaking.

"If we can get Montana people neighbor to neighbor talking with each other about our wildlife shared resources," said Hadley, "maybe we'll be surprised with some new ideas from people we haven't heard from."

This winter, volunteers counted more than 335,000 Western monarch butterflies in an annual survey, a big improvement over the last few years, but still far short of historical numbers.

Observers only counted 2,000 of the iconic black-and-orange butterflies in 2020, and then 250,000 in 2021.

Rebeca Quiñonez-Piñón, senior manager of the Climate-Resilient Habitat Program, and monarch recovery strategist with the National Wildlife Federation, said it still represents a 90% decline in numbers over the past few decades.

"In the late '80s and the early '90s, the count of monarchs was very high," Quiñonez-Piñón explained. "One of the highest numbers that was recorded was in 1997, with 1.2 million monarchs."

She said experts would need to see an average of 500,000 monarchs over a period of five years in order to consider the monarch population stable. In California, the public can visit large clusters of monarch butterflies for a few more weeks at Pismo State Beach, in Pacific Grove near Monterey, and at Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz County.

This winter, 250 volunteers conducted the butterfly counts at 272 overwintering sites, coordinated by the Xerces Society. The biggest clusters of monarchs were found on private property in Santa Barbara County.

Quiñonez-Piñón said going forward, California needs to work to protect butterfly habitat and continue the fight against global warming.

"Habitat loss and fragmentation, which is completely exacerbated by climate change, and the heavy use of pesticides are the three top threats to the monarch butterfly," Quiñonez-Piñón outlined. "That's where we need to focus."

She and other experts noted people can do their part by planting butterfly-friendly gardens, filled with native nectar plants and native milkweed.

Reducing the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions is the goal of a bill before the New Mexico Legislature this session.

Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, is a co-sponsor, after steering passage of the New Mexico Wildlife Corridors Act in 2019. Stewart said residential and commercial development combined with climate change have fragmented wildlife habitat, forcing animals to cross roads with heavy traffic in some areas.

"So, it's about a $20 million problem, between health and car accidents," Stewart pointed out. "It's hard to put a price on killing wildlife."

Eddy, Lincoln and Otero counties have been identified as having some of the most dangerous highways in the state for local wildlife, frequently killed by motorists. State data also shows between 2002 and 2018, more than 11,000 deer were involved in crashes, or about 671 each year.

The state's 2022 Wildlife Corridors Action Plan identified 11 safe-passage projects to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and restore habitat connectivity.

Jeremy Romero, regional connectivity director for the National Wildlife Federation, said the measure would create a $50 million dedicated fund to support implementation.

"Really, this bill is kind-of a next step to the Wildlife Corridors Action Plan, which was prioritized and developed via the first piece of legislation," Romero explained. "This is the most critical step, because without the funding, we can't accomplish these projects."

While expensive, Romero argued wildlife crossings can be an effective solution.

"I have a lot of friends and family that have hit wildlife in various different capacities, some having a little bit more damage than others," Romero noted. "You hear about it all the time, and it's a big issue not only across New Mexico, but the country."

He added it is estimated completing all 11 of the safe-passage projects would cost about $350 million.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Two state agencies have teamed up to make safer wildlife migration a priority in Utah.

The Utah Wildlife Migration Initiative relies heavily on GPS tracking data received from mammals, birds and fish, which gives coordinators a good picture of where animals are spending time, the routes they take, and areas where safe migration routes are needed.

It is a joint project of the state's Division of Wildlife Resources and Department of Transportation.

Blair Stringham, wildlife migration initiative coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, said they have now completed more than a hundred projects, and for them to be effective, they have to align with animals' tendencies and behaviors.

"Some of the really cool things we have done though, we've been able to install overpasses, which are essentially bridges going over roadways so animals can move back and forth," Stringham explained. "They've been really successful, with a lot of different animal species."

Stringham pointed out they have also been able to install underpasses, as well as fencing projects to keep wildlife off roads. They have even found ways to help fish move from one stretch of river to other tributaries if they were cut off by roadways.

Stringham emphasized helping animals migrate can save their lives in the process. Even so, about 4,900 deer were killed last year due to vehicle collisions. Stringham acknowledged many people do not realize the material damage which results from these accidents can add up quickly. He added keeping wildlife off the roads keeps people safer, too, and the evidence shows the projects are helping.

"We tend to see a huge improvement in the number of collisions with wildlife when we do these kinds of projects," Stringham observed. "We've seen anywhere from 75% to 90% success on most of these."

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources recently released an app, called the "Utah Roadkill Reporter." It allows anyone to report animals killed on the road as they come across them. Stringham stated it helps contractors locate and remove carcasses, and the data is also used to plan future projects to help prevent wildlife-vehicle collisions.