Seasonal motorized closures and habitat work aim to secure the future of the Teton Canyon elk and deer herds

Idaho Fish and Game, in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and multiple private landowners, is implementing a seasonal motorized travel restriction on all BOR properties in the Teton Canyon Complex beginning Dec. 1 through April 15. These efforts are part of a holistic, long-term plan to maintain a healthy wintering deer and elk herd in the Teton Canyon area.

The Teton Canyon is vital winter range that currently supports an estimated 700 wintering elk and roughly 2,400 mule deer.  These animals rely on the canyon for the food, cover, and security that they cannot find outside the canyon during the winter months.

Why is a seasonal motorized closure needed?

The seasonal closure of BOR lands within the Teton Canyon Complex was created to reduce motorized disturbance from ATVs, UTVs, and snowmobiles, which have repeatedly displaced wintering deer and elk from the canyon. When pushed from the security of the canyon, elk often move toward Sugar City, Newdale, Teton, and other agricultural areas, resulting in damage to haystacks, cattle feedlots, and ornamental trees, and increasing the risk of wildlife-vehicle collisions along Highway 20.  Many private landowners in the area also limit snowmobile use on roughly 17,000 acres of private land, significantly expanding the winter security zone for wildlife.

What else is being done?

Earlier this year, Fish and Game staff and more than a dozen volunteers planted over 45,000 shrubs throughout the canyon to build long-term forage and cover. Additional plantings, cover-crop work, and restoration projects are planned over the next several years to continue strengthening the canyon’s winter-range capacity.

Minimizing the potential for disease transmission

Idaho Department of Fish and Game has provided suplamental feed to a portion of the Teton Canyon elk herd since the winter of 2018-2019 when elk first began to leave the canyon during the winter months. It became necessary to lure elk away from highways and local cattle operations. Given the proximity to CWD-positive elk in Wyoming, it has become increasingly important to begin eliminating this winter-feeding program and reduce situations that unnaturally concentrate animals which can increase disease transmission.

The future of the herd depends on the success of these actions

Elk and mule deer are vital to eastern Idaho—culturally, economically, and recreationally. But the Teton Canyon Complex is the only viable winter range for this herd. If disturbance pushes animals out of the canyon, the risks of agricultural conflict, highway collisions, feedlot incursion, and disease transmission rise sharply.

“Reducing motorized travel and disturbance in and around the canyon will be essential to maintaining a population in the area,” said Upper Snake Regional Supervisor Matt Pieron. “With the spread of CWD in nearby Wyoming, it’s increasingly important that we move away from feeding elk in the Teton Canyon and instead focus on improving natural winter range.”

Idaho Fish and Game would like to thank the Bureau of Reclamation, private landowners, and local partners for their support in implementing these essential winter closures.

For more information on the Teton Canyon winter travel restrictions or Fish and Game’s winter-range management efforts, contact the Upper Snake Region office at (208) 525-7290.