The Wildlife News

domestic and bighorn sheep

  • Bighorn Sheep/Domestic Sheep Advisory Group Meetings Suspended.

    Ken Cole

    Collaborative effort to save public lands domestic sheep grazing suspended in favor of a more closed process mandated by the Legislature and the Governor. The Governor, Legislators, and sheepmen apparently didn’t like the direction the Bighorn Sheep/Domestic Sheep Advisory Group was headed so the whole effort was scuttled…… for now. Many of the groups participating…

  • Governor Signs Bighorn Sheep Bill into Law

    Ken Cole

    S1232 was signed into law yesterday by Governor Otter. The law mandates the Idaho Fish and Game Department to “cooperatively develop best management practices with the permittee(s) on the allotment(s)”. To many this is a non-starter and does not address the fundamental problems with grazing domestic sheep in proximity to bighorn sheep. S1232a – F&G,…

  • House backs Hell's Canyon sheep bill

    Ken Cole

    Now it’s up to the Governor. This bill is not just going to affect bighorn sheep in Hell’s Canyon, it affects bighorn sheep throughout the state. It is political game management which can be changed at the whim of livestock industry pressure. It does not address important issues regarding disease transmission and basically writes off…

  • Midvale residents say Gov. Otter has abandoned rural Idaho

    Ken Cole

    Otter pushes for road money, but residents gripe about feds, wild sheep Here in Idaho the legislature has gone into overtime because Governor Otter vetoed 35 appropriation bills over the course of a few days because he wants the legislature to raise gas taxes for road construction projects. They are not complying. Each month Governor…

  • Senate OKs new bill to help resolve sheep conflict

    Ken Cole

    Will this save the collaborative group? The new bill, SB1232, passed the Senate but will it save the Bighorn Sheep Domestic Sheep Advisory Group? Some of the members of the advisory group are saying the new bill interferes with what the group was formed to do and is still bad for bighorn sheep. Will the…

  • Officials to reconsider sheep grazing

    Ken Cole

    Nez Perce National Forest will write a new EIS to reconsider sheep grazing in the Salmon River Canyon. The Allison-Berg Allotment, which lies east of Riggins, is in occupied bighorn sheep habitat where disease is a real concern. It appears that the Nez Perce Forest may follow the Payette National Forest’s lead on how to…

  • Otter vetoes bill that called for killing bighorns

    Ken Cole

    The Governor has vetoed SB1175 leaving SB1232 in its place. Presumably SB1232 will pass the legislature and the Governor will sign it into law. How much valuable time has been spent on this issue by the legislature, state and Federal agencies, interest groups and the Governor? Is this the best use of time in this…

  • Yet Another Bighorn Sheep Related Bill

    Ken Cole

    Just introduced today. A new bill was introduced this morning which appears to replace SB 1175.  The bill is virtually identical to SB 1175 except for the following changes: S1232 F&G, bighorn sheep relocation (E) The Idaho department of fish and game: (1) shall develop a state management plan to maintain a viable, self-sustaining population…

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‎”At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour.”

Edward Abbey

“The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.”

Jim Fowler

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Raveena Tandon

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