A pinch point on the Path of the Pronghorn now has lasting protection

A narrow crossing on the Path of the Pronghorn is in better shape than it was three years ago, WyoFile reported on October 21, 2026. The Sublette herd funnels across the New Fork River on a bottleneck southwest of Boulder. Mike and Catherine Looney's Wild Horse Ranch, 233 acres of riverside pasture, now has a conservation easement on 169 of the 183 acres that fall inside the private part of that bottleneck, about 92 percent of it. The easement also covers 1.3 miles of river, 104 acres of wetlands, and 60 acres of sage-grouse core habitat. The whole ranch sits inside the designated migration route.

PureWest Energy has held a surface agreement on the ranch since 2005 and already has one well pad there. The company agreed to give up further surface pads so the rest of the land could be eased, and said later wells could be drilled directionally from the existing pad. Money for the easement came from the Jackson Hole Land Trust, the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust, The WYldlife Fund, and 10 other partners. In June the state designated the Sublette Pronghorn corridor. On the neighboring state parcel, which Kirkwood Oil and Gas leased in 2023, that designation does not rewrite the old lease. State policy still says new development inside bottlenecks on pre-existing oil and gas units should not be allowed, and any application to drill would go through that review. The lease runs until 2028. Kirkwood has no firm plan for a new pad and has not ruled one out. The private acres are protected for the long term. The public parcel is constrained, not retired.