CPW, for its part, started to put GPS collars on bighorns to track their movements, on top of an already years-long effort to monitor herds by helicopter. The only recourse, however, was to go back to the drawing board and collect more data. “(The Forest Service) has the data, but they are in a tough spot politically,” Parkinson said. Dan Parkinson, with Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, said the move was likely a result of pressure from the wool industry as well as other ranchers who depend on public lands. The Forest Service’s first analysis, known as an Environmental Impact Statement, also drew this conclusion in the 2016 review of Brown’s permit, and it appeared the agency was set to reduce sheep grazing in the high country.īut ultimately, the agency backtracked and said it needed more data to support any decisions.
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We can’t directly attribute that to interaction with sheep, but we know interactions occur, and we know the risks involved with interactions.”
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“A lot of the herds in this area have been exposed,” Grigg said. In 2010, the herd was about 460 bighorns and has since declined to about 400, primarily due to stagnant reproductive numbers. It appears this is exactly what’s happening to the herd in the Weminuche near and around Brown’s grazing allotments, said Jamin Grigg, senior wildlife biologist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.Īfter evaluating the landscape and determining the size of bighorn population it can support, CPW set an objective of about 400 on the low end and 920 on the high end. Worse, an infected bighorn can bring the bacteria back to its herd, resulting in widespread die-off and reducing the survival rate of lambs for years to come. If bighorns, known for wandering long distances, come into contact with domestic sheep, they can contract the deadly bacteria, which can cause pneumonia and respiratory disease, and be fatal. “I’ve never seen a bighorn on our allotments,” Brown said.
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And all the while, he maintains bighorns do not interact with his herd. James Simino, Columbine District ranger for the San Juan National Forest, said it likely won’t be until at least late 2022 that the agency can resume the process, and from there, there’s no telling when a decision will be made.Īll of this at a time when bighorn numbers are falling dangerously low.įor more than 50 years, Brown and his family has led sheep from his ranch in Ignacio to graze the high country of the Weminuche Wilderness, Colorado’s largest wilderness area.Īll told, Brown’s permit allowed for about 5,200 sheep. But by 2018, the Forest Service threw out the study and postponed a final decision in order to “collect more data.” Over the past five years, substantial efforts have been made to further prove the risk sheep pose in bighorn territory, despite evidence elsewhere in the West.Īs it stands, the Forest Service says staffing issues and other projects with higher priority have delayed a final decision. In 2016, a Forest Service analysis of Brown’s permit clearly drew a connection between the domestic sheep and the disease in bighorns. Paul Brown – wildlife agencies and many conservation groups felt it was time to start phasing out sheep from the landscape. So when it was time in 2012 to re-evaluate the grazing permits for one of the largest sheepherders in the region – Ignacio rancher J.
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Tests have subsequently confirmed the presence of the disease in bighorn herds. Forest Service so long to come down on a final decision on domestic sheep grazing in the Weminuche Wilderness?įor years, bighorn herds in this part of the state have been stagnant or declining, a result of a number of factors including habitat loss, drought, herd isolation, as well as the overall impacts of change climate, to name a few.īut the most obvious reason, researchers say, is a bacterial disease – known as Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae, or M.ovi – that can only be given to bighorns by domestic sheep, usually when they are grazing the high country. With bighorn populations struggling to survive in Southwest Colorado, what’s taking the U.S.