Bighorn advocates butt heads
By LYNEA NEWCOMER & KATHLEEN TURNER
The Wood River Journal
Waiting for science to catch up to land-use disputes can take a while. Especially when that science is funded by tax dollars and perceived to be in conflict with long-standing ways of working the land. But waiting interminably for the full scientific report seems to be exactly what some Cassia County domestic sheep ranchers want to do.
In a letter to Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, dated Dec. 27, 2007, Cassia County sheep rancher Don Pickett asked for the remaining bighorns nearby his grazing operations to be relocated “while the science has time to develop.”
Fearful of limits being placed on their access to graze public lands due to Bighorn sheep die-offs, the ranchers wrote to ask that Idaho Fish and Game Department avoid contesting their established grazing privileges and to relocate the Bighorns.
Several allotments in the Payette National Forest and Nez Perce National Forest were not opened to sheep grazing permittees last year, and are expected to be closed again this year. Sheep ranchers elsewhere have grown wary of the Forest Service enacting such closures in other areas.
The ranchers who penned the letter are also feeling the pressure of increasing recommendations from wildlife experts who claim that separation of wild and domestic sheep is necessary to maintain healthy, viable Bighorn populations. Domestic sheep producers maintain that Bighorn die-out following exposure to domestic sheep is due to stress, rather than due directly to what appears to be a transfer of Pastuerella, pneumonia virus.
The Nez Perce tribe released a statement Tuesday afternoon stating, “Unfortunately, the draft policy the Tribe has reviewed is not commensurate with the Forest Service viable bighorn sheep populations. Instead of protecting bighorn sheep populations, Governor Otter's policy would create a no sheep zone where all bighorn sheep would be removed. The draft policy places the burden of creating and maintaining separation on bighorn sheep, not domestic sheep.”
Keith Lawrence, director of Wildlife Programs for the Nez Perce, said that his tribe has not been able to practices cultural activities practiced by ancestors for generations before this one due to the falling bighorn population. Lawrence said the tribe is open to working with the government, but also very concerned over some indications that guidelines provided by the data gained from the Payette seem to be falling on deaf ears.
Gov. Otter is expected to sign an interim Bighorn sheep management plan within the week, largely designed to address the concerns of domestic sheep ranchers. IDFG spokesperson Neils Nokkentved acknowledged the Governor and his working groups “are keeping a tight reign on it.” “We are in the process of revising the Bighorn sheep plan statewide,” Dale Toneill, Wildlife Program Coordinator with IDFG, explained. “I think the interim plan is being put forth to provide assurance to everyone that until the plan is fully rewritten we'll provide direction.”
Jim Unsworth, Big Game manager for IDFG, confirmed yesterday that the Fish & Game Commission will make a decision tomorrow regarding the interim Bighorn sheep management plan, during an 8 a.m. conference call. The public is invited to go to a Fish and Game office to listen to the call. “The interim plan deals with separation, as far as it being a tool to reduce the probability of disease between domestic and wild populations. It is proposed for 2008 so far,” Unsworth said.
Concerned citizens and conservation groups are not willing to trust the interim plan without further public involvement. Opponents to the interim plan claim that working groups organized by Governor Otter's office have been heavily populated with woolgrowers and ranchers, friendly government officials and certain Forest Service staff, making for a group of people with a pre-determined consensus and economic interests to dismiss much of the science.
Opponents to an as-of-yet unreleased plan object to the lines proposed to be drawn around domestic sheep operations known to overlap with Bighorn sheep populations, claiming that in some cases the boundaries eliminate Bighorn sheep habitat altogether. They fear the lines provide legal means for IDFG to remove Bighorn sheep even when conflict or interaction between Bighorns and domestic sheep doesn't occur.
“Bighorn sheep have very specific needs,” Toll acknowledged. “They don't particularly walk across flat ground and rivers. We are developing awareness to these movements, and revising data accordingly, as well as evaluating data where sheep show up unexpected. We are documenting their paths so we can either intercept them or enhance those movements in accordance with what's best for them.
When the Journal asked Toll if it would be easier to manage the problem by replicating what other states have done by simply limiting the elevation height that the sheep can graze, Toll responded, “Regulation affecting the elevation above which no domestic sheep can graze may have some application in Colorado. In Idaho, where most bighorns spend much of the year at very low elevations along major drainages like the Snake River in Hells Canyon and the Salmon River in the Frank Church, such a policy would only serve to concentrate the potential area of bighorn and domestic sheep contact.”
Lloyd Oldenburg, a member of the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep and a retired Idaho Fish and Game employee, believes the interim plan does not create realistic management goals. A working group attendee, Oldenburg says, “The interim plan is to remove Bighorn sheep when they come into contact with domestics. The separation zone they are talking about is not practical. The sheep move more than they are allowing for. It's more of a domestic sheep plan. If IDFG comes out with a plan that states they will remove any Bighorn sheep in proximity to domestic operations, someone is going to have to, and this will be impossible, delineate where the boundaries of Bighorn sheep are in Idaho, and see to it that none of these sheep go on public land. This is just totally unrealistic.”
Oldenberg, also voiced his concern about the political process, seeing too heavy a hand by the Department of Agriculture in drafting the policy. Oldenberg further cited Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter's use of the word “entitlements” as opposed to “permits” in a letter addressed to the tribes regarding the draft plan.
Jon Marvel, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, describes the interim Bighorn sheep management plan as a “political shut down of science and public involvement.” He emphasized the lack of science being used in management decisions, pointing to one largely disregarded conference that previously made progress towards addressing conflict due to interaction between the populations.
Idaho team leader on the Supplemental EIS done for the Forest Service over near the Payette, Pat Souchek, said she felt that perhaps the current working group had not adequately addressed the contact issue and had prematurely dismissed some important scientific data gained through research in other areas of the state.
The Bighorn/domestic sheep disease risk assessment workshop held in Tuscon, Ariz. on Sept. 27, 2007 offers the most current discussion from the scientific community. Yet its management guidelines are not apparent in the interim Bighorn management plan for Idaho despite the fact that the guidelines highlighted at the conference were developed by wildlife and livestock veterinarians and researchers during a domestic/Bighorn sheep meeting in Boise during November 2006.
(The report was sponsored by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, The California Department of Fish and Game, the U.C. Davis University of California Wildlife Health Center, and the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep).
The “Payette Principles,” as the guidelines are known, were developed as useful in laying common ground for further discussions of bighorn and domestic sheep interaction and disease issues. They state that “scientific observation and field studies demonstrate that “contact” between domestic sheep and bighorn sheep is possible under range conditions and that the contact increases risk of subsequent bighorn sheep mortality and reduced recruitment, primarily due to respiratory disease.”
The Principles acknowledge that “the complete range of mechanisms/causal agents that lead to epizootic disease events cannot be conclusively proven at this point,” but advise that “given the previous statements, it is prudent to undertake management to prevent contact between these species.”
While the science may point to very high probability of disease transfer between domestic and Bighorn sheep populations, economic history paints a decisive picture on each animal's role in Idaho's economy.
Domestic sheep currently account for one-third to one-half of a percent of Idaho's agricultural economy ($17 million). IDFG reported Monday, Feb. 11, that a Bighorn sheep tag sold for $65,000 during the Salt Lake City FNAWS conference. The record for such a tag is $180,000 (paid in 2005 for a Hells Canyon permit).
The auction and lottery permits raise money for sheep research and management. Since their inception, these permits have raised nearly $2 million for bighorn sheep management. The trickle down economic impact of Bighorn sheep tourism and hunting is presently being conducted under the direction of officials with the Payette National Forest.
Groups looking to restore Bighorn sheep numbers and health speculate that increasing populations would benefit the Idaho economy through the sale of valuable hunting tags, hiring of outfitters and other trickle down effects including tourism.
Mike Keckler of the Idaho Fish and Game Department stated that the working group was trying to develop a workable plan developed by a balanced team of experts. Keckler said that he felt the bighorn population was at least 3,700 by a conservative estimate, and that the interim plan would be a good one that would offer protection of both the domestic herds and the wild sheep. Keckler acknowledged that 84 bighorn sheep hunting tags were sold last year, with 2 in Hell's Canyon, 2 in the South Hills, 3 near Bruneau, 16 up north and 59 in central Idaho. Thus populations in some areas are not considered viable and healthy enough to be hunted more extensively.
Unsworth, co-chair of the working group that drafted the interim plan, felt that the recognition of separation of a management tool would adequately address the disease issue. Unsworth added that recent court decisions along the Payette have upset grazing areas and that ranchers were losing their allotments.
As the draft approaches its final form, ready for the governor's eyes by the end of the week, Toweill, Statewide Bighorn Sheep Program Leader, assessed the situation.
“The wildlife of Idaho belongs to everyone in the state. It's an important resource to those that value the bighorn sheep. It's an important resource to those that don't. There is a lot of economic value in Idaho's wildlife,” Toweill said of the sheep. “Such conflicts take a statesman to find the best way forward,” Toweill said, indicating Gov. Otter's position on the issue, noting that the process is, in fact, temporary and that he felt the governor was on the right track.
“I expect that as soon as the permanent statewide plan is ready it will be adopted by the governor,” Toweill stated, adding that he expected the permanent version to be ready in less than a year.
EXTRA
Nez Perce Tribe Expresses Concern Over Idaho Governor's Proposed Policy on Bighorn Sheep
Lapwai, Idaho -- Since time immemorial the Nez Perce people have regarded bighorn sheep as a symbol of cultural and spiritual significance and as an important source of food, clothing, and tools. In 1855 the Nez Perce entered into a treaty with the United States reserving, among other guarantees, the right to hunt bighorn sheep and other game on open and unclaimed land. Much of the territory ceded by the Nez Perce is now National Forest System land under the management of the United States Forest Service.
Since the Treaty of 1855 bighorn sheep populations in the Hells and Salmon River Canyons have declined dramatically, reducing harvest and cultural opportunities for tribal members. Remnant native populations exist along the Salmon River corridor but Hells Canyon populations were extirpated in the early part of the 20th century, prompting Hells Canyon reintroduction efforts in the last three decades by the States of Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and the Nez Perce Tribe. This effort has led to modest population recovery but die-offs and poor lamb recruitment in recent years due to disease has bighorn sheep managers very discouraged about bighorn sheep recovery. Samuel N. Penney, Chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe, said: "The United States has an obligation to protect the rights reserved through our Treaty. We will continue to work with the United States in protecting bighorn sheep and the habitat they rely on for survival."
Natural attraction between bighorn and domestic sheep in the wild is well-documented. Scientific research at Washington State University has confirmed that when bighorn sheep are placed in an enclosure with domestic sheep, most of the bighorn sheep died of pneumonia within days while the domestic sheep remained unharmed by the contact. Although research on the disease mechanism continues, a panel of national experts assembled by the Payette National Forest in November of 2006 concluded that domestic sheep must be kept separate from bighorn sheep to protect bighorns from disease transmission.
In 2005 the Chief of the Forest Service upheld an appeal of the Payette Forest Plan by the Tribe and others on the grounds that the Plan did not protect the viability of bighorn sheep. The Forest Service Chief concluded: "without immediate removal of domestic sheep from occupied bighorn sheep habitat, bighorn sheep within that habitat are likely at risk of extirpation." He directed the Payette National Forest to amend the Payette Forest Plan to provide, consistent with federal law, better regulatory safeguards to ensure bighorn sheep viability in the forest.
In 2007, almost two years after the Forest Service Chief issued his directive, the Forest Service had not modified domestic sheep grazing regulations, prompting advocacy groups, led by Western Watersheds Project, to sue the Forest Service in federal court to enjoin the agency from allowing continued domestic grazing on several allotments located in the Hells and Salmon River Canyons. This litigation prevented the domestic sheep producers from turning out their sheep onto the affected federal allotments for 2007.
Although the Payette Forest Plan is undergoing revision in response to the Forest Chief's directive and the lawsuit by Western Watersheds is still active, the PNF has taken interim measures to reduce domestic sheep grazing within and adjacent to occupied bighorn sheep range. This management strategy creates better separation between the two species and reduces the immediate threat of disease transmission to and catastrophic die-off of bighorn sheep. In the summer of 2007 the PNF also assembled a group consisting of representatives from the Forest Service, Nez Perce Tribe, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Shoshone Paiute Tribes and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the States of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho to assist the PNF in developing a set of recommendations that will, following public comment and approval by the Forest Service supervisor, become the PNF's amendment to the Payette Forest Plan.
Chairman Penney said, "The Tribe believes that the PNF's interim actions reducing domestic sheep grazing in or adjacent to occupied bighorn sheep habitat is a prudent first step toward resolving this issue". The Chairman added, "The Nez Perce Tribe believes a long term solution, consistent with the Chief's 2005 directive, must also provide permanent no-domestic sheep grazing buffers (zones) between occupied bighorn range and domestic sheep grazing that allow the bighorn sheep populations to expand and recover. The Tribe is pleased to be a cooperator with other sovereigns in the Payette Forest working group, working collaboratively towards bighorn sheep recovery on the forest."
Governor Otter has directed two State agencies to develop an interim state policy to separate bighorn and domestic sheep. Unfortunately, the draft policy the Tribe has reviewed is not commensurate with the Forest Service Chief's 2005 directive to reduce grazing by domestic sheep to provide for viable bighorn sheep populations. Instead of protecting bighorn sheep populations, Governor Otter's policy would create a no sheep zone where all bighorn sheep would be removed. The draft policy places the burden of creating and maintaining separation on bighorn sheep, not domestic sheep.
The Tribe believes that the policy will be detrimental to the conservation of bighorn sheep across the state. Rebecca Miles, Vice Chair of the Nez Perce Tribe, added: "We are troubled that Governor Otter, who agreed to work collaboratively with other Sovereigns to develop solutions to these concerns for the Payette National Forest, would leave the collaborative arena to unilaterally promulgate policy, that creates separation between bighorn sheep and domestic sheep by killing bighorns." The draft State policy does not provide for needed bighorn sheep restoration by allowing bighorn sheep populations to expand over time. Brooklyn Baptiste, Member of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee said, " The Idaho policy, as drafted, will not be effective since: 1) we can not track the location of each and every bighorn sheep through the year, and 2) the cost of having crews and helicopters on standby throughout the year to remove bighorn sheep would be prohibitively expensive and 3) we know, from radio telemetry data gathered by the States in Hells Canyon, that bighorn sheep move through domestic sheep allotments on the Payette National Forest and these movements are not detected by the livestock producers." The State policy, as drafted, simply and alarmingly perpetuates the already at-risk status of bighorn sheep, continuing the downward spiral pattern of the species in this area. This policy does not reduce or even address the risk of domestic sheep grazing to the continued viability of bighorn sheep and is therefore completely incompatible with the Chief of the Forest Service's appeal decision that continued domestic sheep grazing on the Payette National Forest threatens the continued viability of bighorn sheep across the forest.
The Tribe has asked Governor Otter to reconsider his approach to bighorn sheep in Idaho, inviting him to continue to work on the issue collaboratively with the Tribes, Forest Service, States of Oregon and Washington, under the process initiated by the US Forest Service to incorporate more protection for bighorn sheep in the Payette Forest Plan.
For More Information, Please Contact Darren Williams or Keith Lawrence at 208-843-7342, or Curt Mack at 208-634-1061.
Bighorn advocates butt heads, fish and game, sheep, journal, wood river, story, hailey, ketchum, Waiting for science to catch up to land-use disputes can take a while. Especially when that science is funded by tax dollars and perceived to be in conflict with long-standing ways of working the land. But waiting interminably for the full scientific report seems to be exactly what some Cassia County domestic sheep ranchers want to do.