The Blackfoot Challenge (NGO) located in Western Montana has been working for more than 20 years to reduce human-grizzly bear conflicts on private agricultural lands using a host of tools including electric fences. We have experimented with a variety of electric fence designs and applications for containing attractants such as beehives, calving areas, transfer sites, and homesites. We have recently been testing and using an new electrified drive-over steel mat system for high-use ranch drive-ways or other areas where landowners need unfettered access (no opening and closing of gates) in conjunction with a 5-wire electric fences, Additionally, we have worked with local landowners who have designed and built portable e-fladry system that make deployment of this fence system efficient. We propose to share our two decades of practical field experiences with fencing at the Fence Ecology session at ESA.
