Wyoming project protects bighorn sheep, enhances forage for elk

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Abstract: Home to 48 peaks over 12,500 feet high and seven of the largest glaciers in the Rocky Mountains, the Bridger-Teton National Forest stretches across 3.4 million acres. Wild herds of elk, moose, bighorn sheep and mule deer roam this land of rocky outcrops interspersed with grassy meadows and pine, spruce and fir stands. Domestic sheep also wander throughout the national forest in designated grazing allotments leased out by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). The forest's Wind River Range is home to about 4,600 ewe/lamb pairs. The sheep graze along the Continental Divide, often mingling with wildlife. Despite a seemingly coexistent relationship, there is increasing evidence that domestic sheep pose a threat to bighorn sheep populations. Studies have shown that domestic sheep can transmit various strains of Pasteurella, a bacterial pneumonia, to wild sheep through direct contact. Although each species carries a different strain of the virus, bighorns are highly susceptible to the strain carried by domestic sheep, while domestic sheep are immune to the strain carried by bighorns. Wild sheep usually die after exposure to Pasteurella. To help protect the area's bighorn sheep population and enhance habitat conditions for other wildlife, the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep (FNAWS) negotiated a buyout of several domestic sheep allotments within the Wind River Range. FNAWS used allotment waiver guidelines they developed several years ago with help from the Elk Foundation. With support from the foundation and Safari Club International, FNAWS asked one permittee to voluntarily waive six domestic sheep allotments back to the USFS in exchange for $115,000 compensation. After this was done, another permittee worked with the partners to move his sheep from five allotments along the Continental Divide into portions of the waived allotments. The move redistributed domestic sheep allotments more than 15 miles away from the bighorn sheep population. "Increasing the distance between domestic and wild sheep will, in the long run, decrease disease transmission," says Doug McWhirter, Wyoming Game and Fish Department (GFD) wildlife biologist. Removing domestic sheep from those allotments will also improve forage conditions for elk, moose and mule deer. "The redistribution of domestic sheep grazing allows for habitat improvements in spring, summer and fall range primarily for elk, but moose and mule deer will definitely benefit also," says McWhirter. He adds that better forage conditions could potentially eliminate the GFD's supplemental feeding program for elk during the winter months. Tom Toman, the Elk Foundation's habitat conservation program manager, says that while the foundation supports some allotment waiver projects, they are not viewed simply as a prescription to remove livestock from public rangelands. "In certain cases, the wildlife values may exceed the domestic livestock grazing values, and we will entertain those projects under our guidelines," Toman says. "As an organization we still subscribe to multiple-use on public lands and support good stewardship on forest and rangelands throughout elk country." The allotments will remain vacant until the Bridger-Teton National Forest Plan is revised in 2008.

Keywords: Bridger-Teton National Forest, animal, mammal, ungulate, Cervidae, wapiti, elk, Cervus elaphus, moose, Alces alces, sheep, bighorn sheep, Ovis canadensis, deer, mule deer, Odocoileus hemionus, habitat, livestock, grazing, food , forage, grazing, human activity, Wind River Range, disease, management