Fiscal Year 2012 – House Interior-Environment Appropriations Bill – Part 3
Another provision of the House Interior-Environment Appropriations Bill would make it impossible for land management agencies to help bighorn sheep by reducing interaction with disease ridden domestic sheep if it might conceivably reduce livestock grazing. Because of the precedent set by the decision made by […]
Continue Reading →Public land ranchers concerned about candidate’s position that public lands ought be managed to preserve Idaho’s wildlife heritage
Idaho’s Gubernatorial candidate Keith Allred, challenger to “Butch” Otter, recently drew a distinction between wildlife management on public versus private land, standing behind Idaho sportsmen on the bighorn sheep issue :
Candidate’s Comments Cause for Concern […]
Continue Reading →Western Watersheds Project’s litigation and recent scientific studies changing the playing field.
Across the West domestic sheep operations threaten the viability of bighorn sheep populations and have caused serious declines because of the diseases they carry. Last winter there were ten populations that suffered from pneumonia outbreaks and many more are suffering the lingering effects […]
Continue Reading →A new study in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases confirms, unequivocally, that the domestic sheep disease Mannheimia haemolytica kills bighorn sheep after the two species co-mingle. This paper has been rumored for the last several months and was cited in the recent Payette National Forest decision to close 60% of sheep grazing allotments on the […]
Continue Reading →I posted this at the end of August. It’s time to get your comments in.
Don’t color outside the lines
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has released its Draft Bighorn Sheep Management Plan which essentially draws lines around existing bighorn sheep populations and prevents recovery to historical habitat. This is a big problem […]
Continue Reading →Don’t color outside the lines
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has released its Draft Bighorn Sheep Management Plan which essentially draws lines around existing bighorn sheep populations and prevents recovery to historical habitat. This is a big problem because the bighorn population has been in steep decline due to diseases spread by domestic […]
Continue Reading →Herd lives close to site of previous die-offs
After last winter’s disastrous die-off of bighorn sheep in Montana, Utah, Nevada, and Washington State it seemed the news couldn’t get any worse for bighorn sheep. Well, today comes news of another outbreak of pneumonia in a heard of 100 bighorn sheep east of Hamilton, Montana. Officials […]
Continue Reading →The Payette National Forest will be releasing its Record of Decision on July 30th
After several years of litigation, the decision on how to manage domestic sheep on the Payette National Forest to maintain viability of bighorn sheep populations will be released on July 30. Several options were considered but few actually meet the so […]
Continue Reading →Wyoming herd is a big tourist attraction
The Whiskey Mountain Bighorn Sheep Locatable Mineral Withdrawal may be extended to protect bighorn sheep habitat from development for another 20 years. The herd there is estimated to be about 1,000 bighorn.
Feds propose extending minerals extraction ban on bighorn habitat.
Casper Star Tribune
Rare lions are to be killed to protect rare bighorn sheep.
Ron Kearns, a frequent commentator on this site and retired wildlife biologist of the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, was recently interviewed for a story about mountain lion management on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona. The refuge has set a policy which requires […]
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