WATER FOR PEOPLE AND DESERT BIGHORNS

The San Francisco Mountains south of the Arizona border in Sonora, MX, barely receive 3” of annual precipitation. The Wild Sheep Foundation, along with $10,000 from the Dallas Safari Club Foundation, has contributed $82,500 to drill a well to supply water to local people and provide a close and reliable water source for transport to fill water tanks for desert bighorn sheep and other desert-dwelling wildlife. Before this well, water had to be trucked daily 30 miles to supply the 78 families living in the area.

For nearly 25 years, residents have worked to conserve and re-populate desert bighorn sheep in this ejido. As a result of their program’s success, desert bighorn hunting on the ejido has expanded, as six permits were offered in 2020. Four of these permits were sold to generate money to pay for additional transplants of free-ranging desert bighorn sheep. The other two permits were sold to benefit the families and the ejido residents. Revenue from sheep hunts is/has been the primary source of income for this ejido, so the ejidotarians recognize the economic and ecologic value of healthy desert bighorn sheep populations.