Military jet activity and Sonoran pronghorn

Abstract

Forty percent of the habitat for the endangered Sonoran pronghorn (Antilocapra americana sonoriensis) in the United States is on the Barry M. Goldwater Range (BMGR), a bombing and gunnery range located in southwestern Arizona, USA. Wildlife and land managers have expressed concerns that military aircraft activity may be detrimental to Sonoran pronhorn. We observed the response of Sonoran pronghorn to military jet activity from 4 vantage points, BMGR from February 1998 to June 2000. We obtained behavioral observations on 172 days and obtained 44,773 observation events (i.e., 1 observation / 30 seconds). Pronghorn were exposed to 109 direct military overflights, but only 6 were <305 m above ground level. Overall, behavior of males and females was not significantly different and the presence of military aircraft did not cause changes in behavior.