Sheep Grazing Buyout in Colorado
- Thread starter BigHornRam
- Start date
rogerthat
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2015
- Messages
- 2,918
Back to the prairie for you, prairie maggots!
Great to hear.
@Oak, you do so much of this work and then you hide from the journalists when the time comes to get some accolades for the decades of work you and RMBS have also added to this effort with NWF.
Thanks to all of you, RMBS, NWF, and the others who continue to do what is going to secure a future for bighorns in Colorado.
@Oak, you do so much of this work and then you hide from the journalists when the time comes to get some accolades for the decades of work you and RMBS have also added to this effort with NWF.
Thanks to all of you, RMBS, NWF, and the others who continue to do what is going to secure a future for bighorns in Colorado.
Always the bridesmaid...
This is a doozy that I started working on in 2017. Very, very exciting. Both RMBS and WSF contributed very significant funds to NWF for this one.
elkduds
Well-known member
Last edited:
@Oak and RMBS thank you very much. So great to see this and the vail herd helped out in the same year. You all have been busy.
Now for everyone else. Buy some raffle tickets and hurt my odds. It helps them do more of this stuff!
www.bighornsheep.org
Now for everyone else. Buy some raffle tickets and hurt my odds. It helps them do more of this stuff!
Raffles | Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society
www.bighornsheep.org
marksjeep
Well-known member
That's a lot of real estate. And 2 federal agencies in the mix. Big lift, well done and thank you!
ETA:
https://www.durangoherald.com/artic...sheep-grazing-on-100000-acres-near-silverton/
ETA:
https://www.durangoherald.com/artic...sheep-grazing-on-100000-acres-near-silverton/
Last edited:
Viruses, specifically bacteria! Ah well, he’s not a scientist.
And 4 jurisdictions among them.
I was contacted by a reporter a couple of days ago and asked to expound the significance of this agreement, what it means, and what it's "avoiding." I wrote a lengthy, sometimes tangential, reply that may effectuate a ghosting. 
But the public needs to hear it regardless, so I'm pasting it below.
*There are several links to newspaper articles for which you'll hit a paywall on your 4th link click if you're not a subscriber.
*********
The grazing permit waiver agreement negotiated between NWF and the Etchart family is an important step towards securing the future of the San Juans West bighorn sheep herd, which is identified as one of the most valuable bighorn sheep herds in the state. It is an endemic herd that has received few augmentations via animals introduced from other sources, and its range includes some of the most expansive, high quality, and well-connected bighorn sheep habitat in the state. The Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society welcomed the opportunity to contribute significant funds to NWF to make this deal happen.
Numerous conflicts between domestic and bighorn sheep have been documented on the allotments. Significantly, the agreement is the largest of its kind ever negotiated to benefit bighorn sheep, and will reduce the risk of a pathogen spillover event from domestic sheep to bighorn sheep, which can lead to a respiratory disease outbreak in the herd.
The risk of respiratory disease to bighorn sheep is not speculative. This herd most recently suffered an all-age die-off in the late 1980s that reduced the population to about 45 animals. The herd began to recover in the mid-2000s and reached an estimated 400 animals in 2011. Subsequently, the herd suffered several years of low lamb recruitment likely related to disease issues, and dropped to 340 in 2018. The herd has increased to about 390 animals now, but remains threatened even following this agreement between NWF and the Etchart family.
Unfortunately, there are still 10 permitted Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) domestic sheep grazing allotments that directly overlap the occupied range of the San Juans West herd and continue to put the population in jeopardy. Despite the documented risk of interaction between bighorns and domestic sheep, the USFS and BLM refuse to complete environmental analyses of the risk when they renew grazing permits in the area. When the agencies do undertake analyses, those proposed decisions languish under political pressure to avoid any actions that may reduce the availability of federal lands for livestock grazing.
One such BLM analysis includes 3 of the still active allotments overlapping the San Juans West herd, and has been ongoing since 2012. The BLM issued proposed decisions on the analysis in 2021, but have yet to sign a decision. Meanwhile, the domestic sheep return to the alpine bighorn sheep habitat each summer, risking another catastrophic die-off event.
A USFS grazing analysis in the nearby Weminuche Wilderness, which analyzed domestic sheep allotments affecting the high-value Weminuche bighorn sheep herd, has likewise stalled, with no timeline for restarting. The Forest began a scoping process for an Environmental Assessment in 2012, which was subsequently suspended in 2014 so that the Forest could begin an Environmental Impact statement process. A draft EIS and proposed decision were released in 2016, but the project was again stalled that winter. That EIS found that several of the analyzed allotments were high risk to bighorn sheep, due to "contact rates [between bighorns and domestic sheep] more frequent than the levels thought necessary to maintain the [bighorn sheep] herd persistence for the long term."
In 2018, the Forest Service again announced a delay in the process while they "gathered more data." Note in the linked article that I am quoted saying that it would result in a minimum 4-5 year delay in the process. No effort has been made by the Forest to move forward on the analysis since then. Last February I was told that they intended to move forward in Fiscal Year 2024, but just two weeks ago I was told that they have no timeline for renewing the analysis now. All the while, high risk grazing continues on the allotments, and the the nearest Weminuche bighorn sheep subherd to the allotments has dwindled from 125 animals in 2011 to just 80 last year. And all indications are that the number could be significantly lower when Colorado Parks and Wildlife releases their annual population estimates next month.
So, while I am thrilled that an agreement has been reached on the Etchart family allotments and the threat to bighorn sheep has been reduced, I remain dismayed at the lack of action on the part of the federal land management agencies. Federal grazing is an agency-permitted privilege, not a right. Each time the agencies choose to reauthorize grazing on high-risk allotments without environmental review, they fail their statutory responsibility to manage lands in a way that creates no significant impacts to the human environment, or to inform the public about the impacts of their permitted actions. We should not be relying upon third party NGOs to negotiate settlements and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in private funds to protect our bighorn sheep herds.
But the public needs to hear it regardless, so I'm pasting it below. *There are several links to newspaper articles for which you'll hit a paywall on your 4th link click if you're not a subscriber.
*********
The grazing permit waiver agreement negotiated between NWF and the Etchart family is an important step towards securing the future of the San Juans West bighorn sheep herd, which is identified as one of the most valuable bighorn sheep herds in the state. It is an endemic herd that has received few augmentations via animals introduced from other sources, and its range includes some of the most expansive, high quality, and well-connected bighorn sheep habitat in the state. The Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society welcomed the opportunity to contribute significant funds to NWF to make this deal happen.
Numerous conflicts between domestic and bighorn sheep have been documented on the allotments. Significantly, the agreement is the largest of its kind ever negotiated to benefit bighorn sheep, and will reduce the risk of a pathogen spillover event from domestic sheep to bighorn sheep, which can lead to a respiratory disease outbreak in the herd.
The risk of respiratory disease to bighorn sheep is not speculative. This herd most recently suffered an all-age die-off in the late 1980s that reduced the population to about 45 animals. The herd began to recover in the mid-2000s and reached an estimated 400 animals in 2011. Subsequently, the herd suffered several years of low lamb recruitment likely related to disease issues, and dropped to 340 in 2018. The herd has increased to about 390 animals now, but remains threatened even following this agreement between NWF and the Etchart family.
Unfortunately, there are still 10 permitted Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) domestic sheep grazing allotments that directly overlap the occupied range of the San Juans West herd and continue to put the population in jeopardy. Despite the documented risk of interaction between bighorns and domestic sheep, the USFS and BLM refuse to complete environmental analyses of the risk when they renew grazing permits in the area. When the agencies do undertake analyses, those proposed decisions languish under political pressure to avoid any actions that may reduce the availability of federal lands for livestock grazing.
One such BLM analysis includes 3 of the still active allotments overlapping the San Juans West herd, and has been ongoing since 2012. The BLM issued proposed decisions on the analysis in 2021, but have yet to sign a decision. Meanwhile, the domestic sheep return to the alpine bighorn sheep habitat each summer, risking another catastrophic die-off event.
A USFS grazing analysis in the nearby Weminuche Wilderness, which analyzed domestic sheep allotments affecting the high-value Weminuche bighorn sheep herd, has likewise stalled, with no timeline for restarting. The Forest began a scoping process for an Environmental Assessment in 2012, which was subsequently suspended in 2014 so that the Forest could begin an Environmental Impact statement process. A draft EIS and proposed decision were released in 2016, but the project was again stalled that winter. That EIS found that several of the analyzed allotments were high risk to bighorn sheep, due to "contact rates [between bighorns and domestic sheep] more frequent than the levels thought necessary to maintain the [bighorn sheep] herd persistence for the long term."
In 2018, the Forest Service again announced a delay in the process while they "gathered more data." Note in the linked article that I am quoted saying that it would result in a minimum 4-5 year delay in the process. No effort has been made by the Forest to move forward on the analysis since then. Last February I was told that they intended to move forward in Fiscal Year 2024, but just two weeks ago I was told that they have no timeline for renewing the analysis now. All the while, high risk grazing continues on the allotments, and the the nearest Weminuche bighorn sheep subherd to the allotments has dwindled from 125 animals in 2011 to just 80 last year. And all indications are that the number could be significantly lower when Colorado Parks and Wildlife releases their annual population estimates next month.
So, while I am thrilled that an agreement has been reached on the Etchart family allotments and the threat to bighorn sheep has been reduced, I remain dismayed at the lack of action on the part of the federal land management agencies. Federal grazing is an agency-permitted privilege, not a right. Each time the agencies choose to reauthorize grazing on high-risk allotments without environmental review, they fail their statutory responsibility to manage lands in a way that creates no significant impacts to the human environment, or to inform the public about the impacts of their permitted actions. We should not be relying upon third party NGOs to negotiate settlements and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in private funds to protect our bighorn sheep herds.
sneakem
Well-known member
Great news, thanks for your continued work on this!
D
Deleted member 52098
Guest
Great work as usual @Oak
