Category: Bighorn Sheep
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Public Lands Welfare Ranchers Again Subsidized By Taxpayers
Livestock are grazed on all federal lands, including national parks and wildlife refuges. Still, most livestock grazing occurs on lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the US Forest Service. Even specially protected landscapes that are supposed to be managed for natural conditions, like designated Wilderness areas, are grazed by domestic animals.…
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Bighorn Sheep vs. Domestic Sheep
As many of you know, domestic sheep are the primary impediment to bighorn sheep recovery because the domestic sheep transmit disease to the bighorn sheep. PBS did a decent video on the issue: What the video fails to mention is that livestock permits on our public lands are a privilege, not a right, and can…
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Gallatin Range Wilderness-The Time For Wilderness Preservation Is Now
The Gallatin Range south of Bozeman is the last major unprotected landscape in the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. A minimum of 250,000 acres of the Gallatin Range as advocated by the Gallatin Yellowstone Wilderness Alliance should be designated wilderness under the 1964 Wilderness Act. The Gallatin Range is a key area for wildlife, and home…
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Chronic illness is depressing bighorn sheep numbers, new study suggests
Paper from University of Wyoming PHd student sheds fresh light on a question that’s vexed biologists for decades. By Christine Peterson, WyoFile.com Wandering through the rolling foothills of the Wind River Range near Dubois, lives a bighorn sheep herd famous for both its abundance and scarcity. A herd that once helped reseed bighorn sheep populations…
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Bridger Teton NF Capitulation to Ranchers on Upper Green River Allotment
The Elk Ridge Complex grazing allotments were closed to livestock grazing in 2015. Now the BTNF wants to open them to cattle grazing. Photo George Wuerthner The Bridger Teton National Forest (BTNF) has recently issued an Environmental Assessment to restock four vacant grazing allotments in the Upper Green River drainage north of Pinedale, Wyoming.…
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BTNF Plans To Expand Livestock Grazing In Upper Green River Vacant Allotments.
The Upper Green River Valley and Wind River Range from the Elk Ridge grazing complex in the Gros Ventre Range. Photo George Wuerthner. In a breach of trust and faith, the Bridger Teton National Forest (BTNF) proposes to stock 30,577 acres with cattle in the Elk Ridge area of the Gros Ventre Range, including the…
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Centennial Range Safe from Domestic Sheep For Now
The Centennial Range straddles the Montana-Idaho border forming a natural migration corridor for wildlife. Photo George Wuerthner Due to a recent court decision, the Centennial Range, which lies along the Idaho-Montana border to the west of Yellowstone National Park, is that much closer to becoming a “safe zone” for wildlife. For decades, the U.S. Department…
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Domestic Sheep Threaten Wild Bighorns
Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep Ram. Photo George Wuerthner Bighorn sheep acquired their name for the large circular horns of the mature rams. They are strongly associated with mountain terrain, particularly steep hills and cliffs, which protect them against predators. They graze upon grasses and other plants. In general, bighorns are associated with drier parts of…