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.

Federal and state agency personnel, along with volunteers from the Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn and the Wild Sheep Foundation move a tank into position on the Desert National Wildlife Refuge in southern Nevada.

 

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Fraser River BC Surveillance, Recovery, and Management

 
British Columbia’s Fraser River Bighorn Sheep Disease Mitigation Program is the province’s first test-and-remove showing promising results clearing Movi from Canada’s largest California bighorn sheep population. In February-March 2023, officials conducted a helicopter net-gun capture of 75 bighorns between Kelly Creek and Big Bar Creek. These efforts included capturing the entire migratory band of Marble Range sheep. Four bighorns were determined to be infected. One was sick at the time of capture and died on its own in the days following capture. Three were relocated later and lethally removed. WSF funding paid for helicopter net-gun captures outside Kamloops and in Echo Valley and lamb surveys flown in the Chasm, Clinton, and Lillooet areas and along the Fraser River.
 

Grant-In-Aid Funding: $100,000
Partners: Wild Sheep Society of British Columbia & WSF Life Member Gregg Eriksmoen bequest

 

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Hart Mountain Oregon Bighorn Recovery

 
In 1992, 400 sheep lived in Oregon’s Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge/ By 2017, they had declined to 150, and by 2020 it was down to 48 animals. The chief culprit is mountain lions, which are highly abundant in the area, according to the Hart Mountain Bighorn Sheep Management Plan & Environmental Impact Study. Wildlife officials have integrated a management approach focusing on short-term predator control (mountain lions) and long-term habitat management involving juniper control and added water sources.  Wild Sheep Foundation and partner funding have paid for a portion of the USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Service cougar removal efforts within a pre-defined bighorn sheep focal area. In addition, WSF funds paid for juniper/limber pine removal from 212 acres of critical seasonal bighorn habitat.
 

Grant-In-Aid Funding: $100,000
Partners: Pope & Young Club; Oregon Wildlife Foundation, Oregon Wild Sheep Foundation

 
 

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Peace Region British Columbia Ungulate Enhancement

 
Stone’s sheep live in some of the most remote, rugged, and harsh environments in North America. Winter can be brutal, especially with predators like wolves that can get an edge on sheep in heavy snow cover. With numerous issues facing Stone’s sheep, the Wild Sheep Foundation wanted to enhance their management with focused predator control efforts. WSF has provided fuel reimbursement and trapping incentives for predator control in this winter range to specifically help reduce predation on Stone’s sheep in Region 7.
 

Grant-In-Aid Funding: $100,000
Partner: Northern Guide Association

 

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Transmission Film Editing

 
The award-winning documentary “Transmission” has impacted audiences at select events nationwide. Showing all sides of test and remove and positive ways to make a difference for wild sheep, the film has touched everyone from wildlife biologists to mountain hunters and legislators. The Wild Sheep Foundation has committed funding to edit and modify “Transmission” from filmmaker Jesse Bone’s original nearly hour-long vision to a 15-minute high-impact condensed version.  The goal is to make it suitable for sharing with local, state, provincial, and federal legislators to educate them on the disease issue between domestic stock and bighorn sheep and pathways forward to mitigate transmission.
 

Grant-In-Aid Funding: $7,600
Partner: Wild Sheep Society of British Columbia

 

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Desert Sheep Collaring on the Desert National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada

 
Due to poor body condition and depressed numbers of desert BHS, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Nevada Department of Wildlife, and Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn decided to not capture/collar desert bighorn on Desert National Wildlife Refuge. Approved WSF funds ($19,500) were re-directed to underwrite helicopter costs associated with late January 2023 construction of a new guzzler.  
 

Grant-In-Aid Funding: $19,500
Partners: Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn and Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s Outdoor Fund

 

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Prescribed Burns for Wild Sheep Enhancement in NE British Columbia

 
Prescribed burning is a powerful management tool for enhancing wildlife habitat. It benefits wild sheep by increasing the nutritional value of vegetation and opening cover for safe travel in predator-rich areas. The Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF) is helping fund prescribed burns in a proven winter and lambing area. The annual treatment will impact 1,200-2,500 acres of crucial habitat during spring. WSF and partner funding have helped purchase materials needed for aerial ignition, helicopter fuel, flights to survey habitat and lamb recruitment as well as wildlife consulting fees.
 

Grant-In-Aid Funding: $250,087
Partners: Wild Sheep Society of British Columbia and Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s Outdoor Fund

  

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Chronic Carriers and Bighorn Population Density in Wyoming

 
Chronic carriers of Movi constitute a significant problem for bighorn sheep populations as they can spread the pathogen for years, impacting multiple herds. Wild Sheep Foundation funding has covered contract costs for bighorn captures, including collaring 70 ewes across three study areas. This funding has impacted a long-term project across the Jackson, Whiskey, and Upper Shoshone bighorn sheep herds in Northwest Wyoming. The objective is to better understand seasonal changes in nutritional condition, reproduction, survival of young, presence of respiratory pathogens, immunocompetence, forage quality, and micronutrients.
 

Grant-In-Aid Funding: $40,000
Partner: Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation

 

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Water Distribution and Delivery in Sierra El Alamo 

 
The extremely arid environment of Mexico’s Sierra El Alamo is home to a growing herd of desert bighorn sheep. Most water comes from drinkers and water catchments in this area that is home to a ground-breaking conservation program for desert bighorn sheep.  Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF) funding has expanded the ongoing gravity water distribution and delivery system project to benefit desert bighorns on Sierra El Alamo and neighboring properties where herds are expanding. At Sierra El Alamo funds have increased the reach of watering systems across a wide area, where water availability is the top factor impacting herd expansions.
 

Grant-In-Aid Funding: $30,000
Partner: Dallas Safari Club Foundation

 

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OTHER PROJECTS FUNDED IN FY2022-2023 

Landscape-scale Water Projects on BLM-managed Public Lands — New Mexico

Partners: Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s Outdoor Fund, Pope & Young Club
Grant-in-Aid Funding: $106,000

 

Feral Horse Gathering — Wind River Reservation

Partners: Wyoming WSF, WSF Midwest Chapter 

Grant-in-Aid Funding: $50,000

 
Trap, Test, Transplant Desert Bighorns from Al Campo to Sierra El Alamo — Sonora, Mexico
Partners: Texas Bighorn Society 

Grant-in-Aid Funding: $40,000

 

Ungulate Enhancement — Yukon Territory

Partners: Yukon Outfitters Association

Grant-in-Aid Funding: $25,000

 

Movi Sampling Kits for Hunters — Yukon Territory

Partners: Yukon Wild Sheep Foundation
Grant-in-Aid Funding: $6,095