TX-Sized Conservation Coalition Restores Desert Bighorns To Franklin Mountains: Hope For The Future

Number 14 stood on the edge of the livestock trailer, its eyes fixed ahead on the rugged Franklin Mountains at El Paso, TX. The white tag bearing the number on the ear of this desert bighorn ram serves as an identification mark and symbolizes a groundbreaking effort to bring desert bighorn sheep back to their ancestral range.
The day before, Number 14 was captured, ear-tagged, medically examined, and affixed with a tracking collar as part of a collaborative effort at the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department's (TPWD) Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area (WMA) near Alpine. TPWD, Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF), Texas Bighorn Society (TBS), and other institutions were now gathered at Franklin Mountains State Park to make history.
After glancing back into the trailer, the beautiful ram burst out and ran into the mountains, eventually disappearing into the cactus-filled, rocky environment. It was one of 77 desert bighorn sheep (40 ewes, 37 rams) released in this mountain range that has not seen these majestic animals in many decades.
"The vision and years of work by TPWD with support from TBS became a reality this week. WSF is proud and privileged to be a part of the effort and provide needed support. We applaud all that contributed to the effort, both over the past years and through this week," said WSF COO and Executive Vice President of Conservation Corey Mason.
Landscape Level Commitment
WSF Grant-In-Aid funding of $302,800 for bighorn sheep restoration at Franklin Mountains State Park is a legacy-level project for West Texas. In addition to WSF's $115,800 contribution, the following partners also made significant contributions.
- Bass Pro/Cabela's Outdoors Fund
- WSF Midwest Chapter
- Campfire Conservation Fund
- Water For Wildlife Foundation (Guzzler Work)
- Eastern Chapter WSF
- Houston Safari Club Foundation
Also, TBS, and the Idaho, Oregon, and Washington WSF Chapters contributed funding for the mid-March 2024 guzzler installations which will be essential for the sheep in the coming months and years ahead.
"We had a great coalition of partners that stepped in a major way for this important project that we hope bears fruit for many years to come," said WSF Vice President of Conservation Kevin Hurley. The funding helped cover capture and transplant costs, testing, two helicopter surveys annually for three years, and guzzler installation.
"When we started looking at doing larger landscape-level funding through Grant-In-Aid, the Franklin Mountains project came along, and we knew it was something we wanted to be a big part of," said WSF President & CEO Gray Thornton.
Franklin Mountains State Park is unique in that it is mainly within the El Paso metro area. It's popular with hikers, campers, and photographers, which created a high-profile and safe release location for the sheep. More than 600 people were in attendance to watch the historic release, which had more significance than most knew.
Crucial Operation
In 2019, the Texas desert bighorn population stood at a historical high of between 1,200 and 1,500 animals, and unlike most states, it was disease-free. That is until the dreaded pathogen Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (Movi) struck a herd at Black Gap WMA and eventually hit most of the state’s herds. It also decreased the population by more than half. However, unlike most outbreaks which are caused by contact with domestic sheep, this one came through interactions with aoudad (Barbary sheep), a native of northern Africa, who were brought to Texas for hunting in the 1950s.
According to Dr. Sam Cunningham, WSF board member and TBS President, the discovery of the disease in aoudad has taken the concern to a new level. "Aoudad complicate things for our desert bighorns in Texas in a major way, and the situation inspires us to do even more to conserve our Texas desert bighorn populations," Cunningham said.
From left, Randall Kroll with TPWD, volunteer Renée Thorton, and TBS President Sam Cunningham process a captured bighorn.
In one study, researchers found that 100 percent of the aoudad populations tested across seven mountain ranges were positive for Movi. In one specific range, the prevalence rate of Movi infection was as high as 65 percent, indicating a serious threat. Additionally, habitat utilization studies have demonstrated that aoudad displace desert bighorns from their optimal habitats, forcing them into less desirable areas.
The Elephant Mountain WMA population had been Movi-free, but a recent nearby aoudad detection caused concern.
"It was a little nerve-racking when the tests of the captured sheep were sent to the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab. But we all rejoiced when the tests came back negative. That means we could establish a healthy herd at Franklin Mountains State Park and that’s what we did,” Cunningham said.
The Franklin Mountains are free of aoudad, and Cunningham said officials believe the city of El Paso itself will shield against aoudad migration around much of the range and that there are significant distance gaps where aoudad roam in neighboring New Mexico.
Cunningham noted that teamwork from the TPWD side was key in the entire process from work at Elephant Mountain WMA to paving the way for the sheep at Franklin Mountains State Park. "From habitat analysis, selection of sights for guzzlers constructed last spring, to working out the logistics of this monumental project, they did a great job. Also, it’s important to recognize all the TPWD biologists and technicians who spend their careers taking care of the sheep and other wildlife in West Texas," he said.
Hope For The Future
TPWD Desert Bighorn Sheep Program Leader Froylan Hernandez said this restoration project represents a positive stride that united many in the conservation community.
"It is projects such as this one that highlight the tremendous importance of partnerships. It would have been very challenging, if not impossible, for TPWD to pull this off on our own," Hernandez said. "Also, every animal was tagged with telemetry collars, which will help in post-release monitoring."
The morning after the release, Hernandez reported that all the bighorns appeared to be doing well. "We have not gotten a mortality alert for any of the animals, and they seem to have moved about making use of the mountain," he said.
Researcheres and volunteers conduct an ultrasound on a captured ewe.
The most promising news of all may be that 84 percent of the ewes were carrying lambs. This offers the potential for the Franklin Mountains' desert bighorn sheep population to grow to over 100 by spring—a poetic milestone, as it has been nearly 100 years since the species last roamed these rugged desert peaks.
Contributing Author: Chester Moore is an award-winning wildlife journalist, wildlife photographer, and lifelong hunter from Texas. He operates the Higher Calling Wildlife® blog and podcast and contributes to many outdoors publications.
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