Volunteers combine their muscle with help of machinery from Bobcat to help remove three miles of fencing near Grassy Butte on the Kostelecky ranch to improve conditions for wildlife along with the family’s cattle herd. DEO Photo by Cara Greger/NDWF.
By Cara Greger
On a beautiful August morning with a slight chill in the air, eight others and I are going up and down ravines and carrying our tools and clip aprons. Aspen, sage, creeping juniper, prairie grasses and wildflowers are our backdrop as we climb and descend the coulees of western North Dakota followed by the hum of a Bobcat with a winder which spools the barbed wire and removes the fenceposts we cannot through our efforts of leaning back and forth on them until the soil relinquishes its prisoner.
The Kostelecky ranch located just east of Grassy Butte has amazing habitat for elk, mule deer, grouse, pheasants, pronghorn and other wildlife. Logan Kostelecky has been working with the Mule Deer Foundation (MDF), the North Dakota Game and Fish Department (NDGF), the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF), and the North Dakota Wildlife Federation (NDWF) to make improvements to his family’s ranch which benefit both his livestock and local wildlife.
Logan and has a strong passion for both and wanted to take down three miles of fence that had caused injuries to wildlife and fragmented their habitat. He is working with MDF and NDWF to replace a mile and half of old fence with wildlife friendly fencing and remove another mile and half of the barrier altogether.
Volunteers from Rainbow Energy Center coming from Underwood, ND; a volunteer from Minot Air Force base; MDF staff; NDWF staff; and the Kostelecky family teamed up for the project. The Bobcat company provided the machine at no charge to assist in pulling posts and winding wire.
Logan’s parents, John and Brenda, own the ranch and Logan is in the process of taking over the family business. Supporting young ranchers as they do so is key to protecting North Dakota grasslands that benefit both operations and conservation in the generational shift occurring on the landscape. North Dakota is losing its grasslands and by connecting with ranchers, conservation organizations like NDWF can save the prairies we have left. The work done near Grassy Butte preserves and improves these areas for mule deer, grouse, pheasants, elk and pronghorn antelope.
Logan is an avid hunter, and each year allows hunting on his land with permission, including elk hunters lucky enough to draw one of the state’s once-in-a-lifetime tags. Throughout the autumn deer seasons Logan gives permission to different hunters each weekend. He has signs posted with his phone number so hunters can call and ask. Additionally, each year Logan hosts a participant from The Outdoor Adventure Foundation – a Fargo-based organization which offers hunting and fishing adventures to young people suffering from major, life-threatening illnesses and disabilities, as well as injured veterans – to come and hunt on his land. Typically, his guest is a young person with cancer or other serious illness.
Working with private landowners and ranch operators is a winning combination for conservation. This creates a connection between hunters and landowners which benefits both and most of all benefits the species of wildlife we want to protect.
Cara Greger is the Western North Dakota Conservation Coordinator for the North Dakota Wildlife Federation and a Dakota Edge Outdoors Contributing Writer. Learn more about her efforts and that of the organization at northdakotawildlife.org.