In the late 1800s, Idaho’s bighorn sheep were killed nearly to extinction by overhunting, forage competition and diseases from domestic sheep. Today, there’s a new threat to Idaho’s bighorns — congressional derailment of science-based recovery efforts.
Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, authored a provision in the 2012 federal budget that would prohibit public land managers from taking necessary steps to recover Idaho’s bighorn sheep by separating them from disease-carrying domestic sheep on public lands.
Under this provision, public land managers can only stand by for five years and watch as domestic sheep mingle with bighorns in places like Hells Canyon and the Salmon River Canyon, exposing bighorns to diseases for which they have no immunity.
In the coming weeks the House of Representatives and the Senate will write a final federal funding bill for 2012. We hope the bighorn provision will be dropped from the final funding bill. Forcing bighorns and diseased domestic sheep together for five more years guarantees a continuing downward spiral for Idaho’s struggling bighorn population. And Idaho’s bighorns are struggling. Population numbers are in decline, and their numbers have dropped by half in Hells Canyon and the Salmon River Canyon since 1990.
Keeping bighorns and domestic sheep together guarantees the eventual loss of bighorns in Idaho, erasing a wildlife heritage that dates back far longer than domestic sheep grazing.
Published scientific literature is conclusive that domestic sheep transmit diseases to bighorns, resulting in continuing chronic die-offs of bighorns. Just one contact between the species can wipe out an entire herd of bighorn sheep. In Idaho’s rugged canyons, there’s no way to keep the two species apart if domestic sheep graze bighorn habitat.
This solid science formed the basis of a federal judge in Idaho enjoining domestic sheep grazing in bighorn habitat because of the severe risks to bighorns from disease-carrying domestic sheep.
Similarly, under orders from the chief, the Forest Service developed a plan, through years of public input, to phase domestic sheep grazing out of prime bighorn habitat in Hells Canyon and Salmon River Canyon. Now Idaho woolgrowers are asking Congress for a special favor to keep domestic sheep in Idaho’s prime bighorn habitat.
The Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) sent a letter to Simpson opposing his bighorn provision. WAFWA, which consists of wildlife managers from 19 Western states and Canadian provinces, including Idaho, wrote:
“We believe this provision, if approved, will end collaborative processes that have been ongoing for more than a decade. Such an outcome is most assuredly not in the best interest of bighorn sheep and other wildlife, the livestock industry, Western communities or economies.”
WAFWA also wrote:
“As recently as 2009-10, disease outbreaks in Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington devastated bighorn sheep populations, resulting in loss of more than 50 percent of some herds.”
Domestic sheep producers want another five years to develop vaccines. This is unrealistic and a stalling tactic to delay the recovery efforts that Idaho’s bighorns need right now.
In another five years, die-offs from domestic sheep diseases may well drive Idaho’s bighorns past the point of no return. Problem solved.
Idaho’s bighorn populations can’t take five more years of diseases from domestic sheep. The best available science tells the public land managers to separate the two species to prevent bighorn die-offs. Pretty straightforward.
Our public lands and the wildlife that live there belong to everyone. Simpson’s provision benefits a handful of individuals who graze sheep on public lands. When private users of public land resources impinge on the well-being of those resources, the land managers must step in to protect those resources for current and future generations.
Simpson’s provision keeping domestic sheep in bighorn habitat denies all Idahoans the best opportunity in decades to recover the state’s struggling bighorn populations in some of their best remaining habitat.
This article was co-signed by John Gale, National Wildlife Federation; Rob Fraser, Idaho Wildlife Federation; Craig Gehrke, The Wilderness Society; John Robison, Idaho Conservation League; and Jennifer Schemm, Hells Canyon Preservation Council.
