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Conservation Impact

The Wild Sheep Foundation casts a very long conservation shadow given our relatively small membership size at about 11,000 worldwide. Through exceptional support from our membership, sponsors, donors, and industry partners, WSF has been able to raise and direct during the past ten years more than $63 million to Mission Program Funding which represents programs enhancing and restoring wild sheep worldwide.

This blog showcases the results of our most recent Grant-In-Aid funding and the impact these projects are having on the wild sheep resource and the habitat they depend on.

Conservation Impact Overview

FY 2023-2024 Summary

As noted in our inaugural FY 2022-23 Conservation Impact Summary last year, WSF revised our Grant-In-Aid (GIA) process in the spring of 2022 to focus on larger, bolder, more impactful, and multi-year legacy projects with nearly all of them coming to WSF through our chapter and affiliate network. This action transformed our GIA program, and our Board of Directors recently renewed this focus for our current fiscal year. We are very pleased to report a second year of record results and record funding toward our conservation, education, and advocacy mission in this expanded FY 2023-24 Conservation Impact Summary.

Worldwide Impact

The Wild Sheep Foundation supports a diversity of projects that have the potential to make a positive impact on wild sheep and goats around the world. We invest in big, landscape-level projects like habitat initiatives and translocations but also fund other grant requests that help us better understand conservation needs and that address issues facing wild sheep.

Can Man’s Best Friend Help Save Wild Sheep?

FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, TRAINED DOGS HAVE PROTECTED DOMESTIC FLOCKS FROM RAVAGING PREDATORS. NOW, CONSERVATIONISTS ARE USING A SPECIAL GROUP OF TRAINED CANINES TO DETECT DISEASE IN WILD SHEEP, WITH THE GOAL OF HELPING SAFEGUARD THEIR FUTURE. Working Dogs for Conservation (WD4C) in conjunction with Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF), Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, and Utah and Montana State Universities are putting these dogs' smelling capabilities to the test.

I.O.N. Partnership Invests in Future of California Bighorn Conservation, Hunting

California bighorns exist in an air of mystery. Despite their name, this subspecies modern range only touches a sliver of the Golden State. And, compared to their close cousins, the Rocky Mountain bighorn, they are smaller in stature, sport wider flaring horns and are darker in coloration.

Nebraska’s Bighorns Benefit From Collaring, New Testing Method

The rugged buttes, mesas, and canyons in Nebraska’s Panhandle dramatically contrast with the plains and sandhills of most of the state. Along with mule deer, prairie rattlesnakes, and coyotes here, live Rocky Mountain bighorns

How capturing more than 760 wild sheep is securing a brighter future for this iconic species.

In Fiscal Year 2023-24, Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF), through its Grant-In-Aid program, supported the capture, handling, sampling, and, for many, GPS collaring of more than 760 wild sheep across nine separate projects in North America. Why would WSF invest so much into this aspect of wild sheep conservation?

WSF Supports Massive Bighorn Conservation Project In Washington, Oregon and Idaho

THE TRI-STATE REGION OF WASHINGTON, OREGON, AND IDAHO HAS A RICH HISTORY OF PRODUCING MASSIVE BIGHORN RAMS. BUT ONE DOESN’T HAVE TO DIG FAR BACK IN THE RECORDS TO SEE INCREDIBLE SPECIMENS.

Hunter-Conservationists Unite For Harcuvar Desert Bighorns

Hunting desert bighorn sheep is an epic challenge. Their wary nature, combined with inhabiting extremely challenging terrain, is respected among sheep hunters. Add to that limited hunting opportunities, and you have a highly prized game animal

WSF, Bergara Funding Helps Create Epic Water Project

Nevada is the driest state in the union, and Clark County, which includes Las Vegas and the Muddy Mountains within its boundaries, is the driest in the state. The Muddy’s are also home to one of the southwest's largest desert bighorn sheep populations.

FY22-23 Additional Conservation Impact Summaries

Read quick summaries about additional Conservation Projects that the Wild Sheep Foundation funded and managed with the help of our members as well as all of our from Take One, Put One Back donors, the WSF Life Member Gregg Eriksmoen bequest, plus our conservation partners. With additional support provided by the numerous Wild Sheep Foundation Chapters & Affiliates.

600 hectares of habitat enhanced in 2024

Project Update 2024—Northeast British Columbia is home to nearly 50 percent of the world’s population of Stone’s sheep—making it imperative that habitat is maintained to sustain these iconic species.

Working Dogs Forge Ahead For Wild Sheep Conservation

"To a dog, there is no such thing as 'fresh air.'

Conservation Impact