Aspen stands supply important food and cover for a host of wildlife species including elk and other big game.
They also increase water retention in creeks and rivers and serve as a natural fire break.
However, in many places across the West, aspen are under attack by encroaching lodgepole and limber pine, juniper and even sagebrush – all species that outcompete aspen for sunlight, water and space.
From 2015 through 2026, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation provided more than $111,000 that helped leverage more than $2.7 million for a joint project with the Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming Game and Fish Department and other partners to fortify aspen in the South Pass area of west-central Wyoming.
This historic landscape on the southern end of the Wind River Range and part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is where the California, Oregon and Mormon Trails converged, plus where the Continental Divide splits to form a large basin creating the lowest overall elevation gain to cross the Rocky Mountains.
It supplies critical winter, calf and fawn-rearing range for elk, mule deer and moose, as well as summer range for sage grouse.
The effort removed encroaching conifers from more than 3,700 acres of existing aspen stands.
Such actions for this disturbance-dependent species help aspen regenerate or reproduce and fall within RMEF’s programmatic focus of strengthening aspen forests.
The public can play a role as well.
Where allowed, locals can buy a permit and cut down Christmas trees from within aspen stands.
ONE SQUARE MILE A DAY.
OVER 10 MILLION ACRES BY 2030.
At RMEF, we’re not just conserving what’s here today, we’re creating what’s possible for tomorrow. That means more access, healthier habitats and a stronger future for all big game.