Progress for Pronghorn (WAITLIST)

Why jump when you can run? 

Across 830,000 acres on the north rim of the Grand Canyon, the Grand Canyon Trust, in collaboration with a ranching family, federal and state agencies, universities, and hundreds of volunteers, is leading efforts to improve the health of the landscape. As the livestock grazing permittee of North Rim Ranches, we strive to be stewards of this landscape, which includes minimizing the impacts of livestock fences on wildlife.

We need help fixing fences to reconnect habitats and facilitate pronghorn movement in House Rock Valley. Pronghorn are highly adapted to speed throughout flat grasslands, but their inability to jump means a simple fence can stop them in their tracks. Unfortunately, the Southwest is crisscrossed with miles of barbed wire cattle fences that pronghorn must navigate as they search for food and water. These wires are typically strung too low for pronghorn to move underneath; and if they do, the barbed wire can scrape the hide off their backs, leaving them susceptible to infection and disease. Research has shown that moving the bottom wire up a little is enough for pronghorn to scramble under, but low enough to contain cattle.

Who can sign up?

Many of our trips are family friendly! Please see our FAQs for more information or email us with questions about particular trips.

Membership is optional, but we ask that participants who are comfortable financially become members of the Grand Canyon Trust with a $25 donation. Members receive a subscription to our biannual print magazine, The Advocate. Please contact us if you have any questions. You’ll also need to submit your volunteer application form to secure your spot on the trip.

Sign up

NOTE: This trip is currently full. Sign up for a spot on the waiting list. 

What to expect

We'll start our days fueling up with coffee and breakfast while enjoying the view of the Vermilion Cliffs from the Kane Ranch porch. After traveling to the nearby project site, we'll spend the day pulling old barbed wire from the bottom fence rung and replacing it with smooth wire. Arizona Game and Fish staff and our Arizona public lands director, Cerissa Hoglander, will share about the vital link between habitat connectivity and climate adaptation. In the evenings, we'll return to Kane Ranch for tasty appetizers, delicious dinners, and good conversation. On the last day, we'll finish work in the morning, break camp, and head home. 

Accommodations

We will stay at the historic Kane Ranch cabin in House Rock Valley. There will be limited indoor sleeping spaces, so please plan to camp outside, where we have ample tent platforms and space for vehicles. We will have limited running water, a full kitchen, and a pit toilet. 

The Trust provides: All meals, snacks, field equipment, tools, and training.

Participants provide: Personal transportation to the site (most vehicles can make it, but high clearance may be helpful if it has rained recently), individual camping gear, coffee mug, lunch container, work clothes, work gloves, wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, rain gear, and clothes for warm days and cold nights. Please come prepared.