Commentary: Conservationists can work with Zinke to protect wildlife corridors

Americans support conservation. We have protections for water, air, land and animals, though many of these are now being called into question. The discord mostly arises about details: the what, the where, the how, and — of course — the cost. So consider this. The year is 2007, the state is Wyoming, and Dirk Kempthorne, the one-time governor of Idaho, sits at the helm of the Department of Interior for the administration of George W. Bush. The head of Agriculture is Mike Johanns. It was then that a little known and yet far-reaching conservation victory was achieved. It is notable for what was accomplished then, and for what has not been accomplished since: the protection of animal migration. What was protected was the Path of the Pronghorn, the first and still the only federally recognized wildlife migration corridor in the United States. Now that Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke has called for protection of big game corridors across the U.S., the experience of Path of the Pronghorn provides guidance for how to replicate this success...MORE