A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
On a list of the most important technologies that have shaped the American West, barbed wire would have to be near the top. The sharp metal fencing transformed the open range because it divided the land into neat tracks, keeping cows in and trespassers out. It's still out there - all over the place, actually - and wildlife lovers say these fences are a problem. Here's Rachel Cohen of the Mountain West News Bureau.
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RACHEL COHEN, BYLINE: Rancher Philip Anderson is standing in the sagebrush expanse near Colorado's border with Wyoming. His cows? They're in another pasture over a hillside, across a road, but he can see them on his phone. They're marked by little cow icons, like in a video game.
PHILIP ANDERSON: I can be in Laramie, and I can see where my cows are. I could be probably in Chicago and see where my cows are. That's a kind of a neat deal.
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COHEN: Anderson hops on his 4x4 and explains. He's testing out a new technology called a virtual fence. It's like an invisible fence for dogs, but for cattle.
ANDERSON: This was our training pasture.
COHEN: He put GPS collars on his cows this spring and trained them in a few days. On the first day, they got an electric shock if they crossed an invisible fence line.
ANDERSON: The second day, that shock is increased a little bit, and the third day, it gets a beep before the shock. And the fourth day, it's the whole nine yards.
COHEN: He says his cows only went past the virtual fence once.
ANDERSON: And, boy, I tell you what - it worked. It worked really good. I was so surprised because I thought, nah, this funny business - it isn't going to work, but it did.
COHEN: Technology that reduces the need for barbed wire fences would be really good for wildlife. A study Utah State University professor Michael Conover published estimates that every 2 1/2 miles of barbed wire fence is responsible for killing one deer, elk or pronghorn a year. Conover remembers walking hundreds of miles of fences in Utah and Colorado with a graduate student.
MICHAEL CONOVER: We'd sometimes find animals still alive and trapped in a fence, and those were always heart-wrenching.
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COHEN: Meanwhile, in the mountains closer to Denver, volunteers known as the Barbed Wire Warriors are happily snipping the metal lines of an old drooping fence along the busy highway.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: You've got the big clippers, have you?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: I do have the clippers.
COHEN: Then they coil up the pieces and cart them away. This fence isn't being replaced. Lead warrior Patty Brown explains.
PATTY BROWN: Most of it's old. It's not useful and not functioning, and it's actually very dangerous. So we go out, we get permission from the homeowners or the landowners, and we remove it.
COHEN: The Barbed Wire Warriors have cut down about 40 miles of obsolete fences over the past several years, and they're part of a growing movement across western states.
BROWN: There's a lot of it out there. It's crazy how much is out there.
COHEN: Brown says removing fences is instantly gratifying. She's seen elk wander through places the Warriors have worked.
Back on Philip Anderson's ranch, he says the high-tech virtual fences won't fully replace the wire and wood varieties. Anderson doesn't want to take the chance his cows get onto the road, and federal agencies often require them.
ANDERSON: If you want to lease this piece of ground, you have to take care of the boundary fence.
COHEN: But those federal agencies are teaming up with a nonprofit called Backcountry Hunters & Anglers to work with ranchers like Anderson to test out the virtual fences. The hope is that maybe some fences could come down, clearing the way for wildlife to roam.
For NPR News, I'm Rachel Cohen. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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