Domestic sheep....

[Oak]

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regi...cle_4ac4d480-000d-5940-9a2f-4a72e66d3fda.html

Some Wyoming lawmakers are pushing to protect domestic sheep in the state from a possible federal effort to remove them from public lands.

The U.S. Forest Service recently curtailed domestic sheep grazing on the Payette National Forest in Idaho to protect bighorn sheep from disease.

The agency is developing a larger plan to consider whether it needs to curtail domestic sheep raising in Wyoming and other Western states to reduce the threat to bighorns.

Last year, domestic sheep producers in Idaho and elsewhere appealed the Forest Service's decision to curtail grazing on the Payette National Forest to a federal appeals court in San Francisco.

Wool growers' associations in Wyoming, Colorado and Idaho have joined the fight.

Amy Hendrickson, executive director of the Wyoming Wool Growers Association, said Thursday that the prospect of coming federal cuts to grazing allotments has created great concern among sheep operators in the state.

"It's hard for a lot of our producers to make management decisions, decisions what to do, because they just don't know whether they're going to be able to graze or not," Hendrickson said.

Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, is sponsoring a bill to codify in Wyoming law a plan that state agencies have used for the past 10 years to resolve possible conflicts between wild and domestic sheep.

Recognizing the plan in state law will put the state on firmer legal ground if it has to fight any federal effort to evict domestic sheep producers, he said.

State management agencies, hunting groups and grazing interests worked together to devise the Wyoming plan in 2004. It ranks sheep areas in the state according to their value, placing the greatest restrictions on domestic sheep in the prime bighorn areas.

"For the last 10 years, we've been operating under a handshake," Hicks said. "In Wyoming, it works really well, to the point that the agencies have adopted it."

The Wyoming Wool Growers Association and the Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation, a wild sheep conservation group, intervened together against environmental groups that filed a federal lawsuit alleging that domestic sheep grazing threatened a small bighorn herd in the Medicine Bow National Forest. A decision in that lawsuit is pending.

Two years ago, Hicks sponsored legislation that became law specifying that if concern over bighorns in the Medicine Bow National Forest threatened existing domestic sheep operators, the state would remove the wild sheep.

This year, Sen. Stan Cooper, R-Kemmerer, is sponsoring similar legislation. His bill specifies that the state would remove a herd of bighorns from the Darby Mountain area of the Bridger-Teton National Forest if the federal government proposed to cut domestic sheep operations there.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert wrote to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last summer expressing concerns about the Forest Service's development of its forthcoming sheep plan.

The governors told Vilsack that new grazing allotments had to be identified before any domestic sheep producers were displaced from grazing allotments. Members of Congress from around the West have voiced similar concerns to agency officials.

Jessica Crowder, a policy adviser for Mead, said Thursday that the Region 4 office of the U.S. Forest Service, headquartered in Ogden, Utah, is preparing the sheep risk assessment.

Crowder said she expects that the Forest Service will share more information with states in the West in coming months.

Attempts to reach Forest Service officials Thursday for comment on the pending plan were unsuccessful.

Lauren M. Rule, an Oregon lawyer, represents environmental groups challenging domestic sheep grazing on both the Payette and Medicine Bow national forests.

Rule said Thursday that she doesn't see how codifying Wyoming's existing sheep plan would help the state if the Forest Service proposes cuts in grazing.

She said the existence of a state sheep plan in Idaho didn't stop federal action to reduce grazing there.

 

[mtmiller]

But Larry belongs to the WY Wild Sheep Foundation.

 

[Oak]

But Larry belongs to the WY Wild Sheep Foundation.

I wouldn't be surprised if WY WSF is behind him on this.... :W:

 

[Oak]

http://mtpr.org/post/bighorns-and-domestic-sheep-are-incompatible-worries-sheep-producers

Regional sheep producers are concerned that fears about their herds transmitting disease to wild bighorn sheep might jeopardize their livelihood.

Last spring, the Forest Service banned domestic sheep grazing on about 70 percent of the Payette National Forest in West Central Idaho to prevent domestic sheep from infecting bighorns.

"We feel it's just a way for environmental groups to try to try and remove livestock from public grounds."

That’s Greg Wichman, president of Montana Wool Growers Association. Wichman says the Forest Service’s move last year to curtail sheep grazing was devastating to Idaho producers.

“It put some ranchers out of business. Literally, once they lost those allotments, it put them out of business."

He says Idaho sheep producers are appealing the ruling, but the Forest Service is also developing a plan to consider whether domestic sheep in Wyoming and other states threaten bighorns. Wyoming lawmakers and producers are pushing back and bracing for a fight. One state lawmaker is pushing a bill to codify in Wyoming law a plan that state agencies have used for the past ten years to resolve possible conflicts between wild and domestic sheep.

Wichman says scientists at Washington State University are conducting research that may eventually prove the Forest Service in Idaho is acting too hastily.

"As they work through that, it's becoming quite evident that the bighorns naturally carry the pathogens that cause these disease outbreaks and die-offs, it's just a matter of stress that brings them out."

Wichman won't say domestic sheep never transmit disease to wild populations, but notes that bighorn die-offs have occurred hundreds of miles away from any domestic sheep.

Pneumonia has killed significant numbers of Montana bighorn. Most recently, the disease has sickened a wild herd near Gardiner, north of Yellowstone National Park.

Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim:

"We've been real diligent at working with producers , the Woolgrowers Association, sheep hunters (Montana Wild Sheep Foundation) and our staff to hopefully minimize the potential problem, but it's a real one, Ed. No question."

Assheim says his agency closely monitors wild sheep.

"In the case of individual (wild) sheep, if they move into an area with domestic sheep we'll take those out just so they don't return to that wild population. Otherwise, what we do, again, is try to cooperate. We also don't reintroduce sheep in Montana. We have a policy within a certain distance of domestic sheep when we know there are allotments."

Assheim says he's not aware of any effort to curtail domestic sheep grazing in Montana.

Greg Wichman points out his organization, the Montana Woolgrowers Association isn't anti-bighorn sheep. Members just don't want to see herds get too close to domestic herds and put people out of business.

 

[Big Fin]

If hunters don't start standing up for wild sheep, a bighorn sheep hunt may be something you only get to talk about in the historical sense. And there are big plans to increase some special sort of wool production in Montana, making the fate of wild sheep here even more tenuous.

Our legislature has a heavy thumb on FWP as it relates to improving our sheep herds, both in numbers and in range of native habitat occupied. When you go to a hearing, it is all about what it takes to keep the sheep allotments in place, with about zero consideration given to the wild sheep. We do have a few small producers here that are actually quite progressive in their thinking. Yet, their lobby group in Helena conveys and impression that if all the bighorns died, they would lose no sleep.

Thanks for all you do, Oak. Your commitment to wild sheep is remarkable.

 

[BigHornRam]

Working with the Wool Growers is bad?
The us against them mentality is a loser, Fin.

Care to comment on this article, Randy?
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.co...94e-7fd4-11e3-bae5-0019bb2963f4.html?mode=jqm

 

[Oak]

Working with the Wool Growers is bad?

Care to quote Randy saying that? Let's face it, the us vs. them tactic is the primary one being used by the domestic sheep industry right now, despite the efforts of wild sheep advocates to work with them.

 

[trotsky]

The more I read the more I realize that I will probably never hunt a wild sheep. Unless the stars align and I draw in New Mexico, I will probably never catch up to the point creep in other states and I can't justify the money to go to Canada/Mexico. It is a sad state of affairs that wild sheep face such stiff uphill climbs. Too bad they aren't as tough as feral pigs. You can not kill enough of them to save your life in the wild but walk into a domestic pig barn and cough and you have a calamity on your hands. Thanks for the update Oak. Your dedication to sheep and sheep habitat is admirable to say the least.

 

[LopeHunter]

I can understand why conservationists would come to the conclusion that wool producers are focused on making a living primarily and most, if not all, producers are not supporting any effort that would result in the producers giving up access to lands that will profitably allow them to raise sheep.

I would think there are a few wool producers that admire wild sheep. Some are certainly hunters.

That leads me to hope there is some common ground. Perhaps research into a vaccine that is more effective and would have lifetime protection for wild sheep. A vaccine that could be feed via airdrops to wild sheep (nearly impossible to catch all wild sheep).

 

[BigHornRam]

Care to quote Randy saying that? Let's face it, the us vs. them tactic is the primary one being used by the domestic sheep industry right now, despite the efforts of wild sheep advocates to work with them.

Oak,

I have yet to see you cut livestock producers any slack, on this site, ever. Works both ways. Tom Carlsen is pretty smart guy. His approach and the Wyoming WSF guy's is a better way, IMO.

Did you read my link? Care to comment on it yourself?

 

[BigHornRam]

http://onyourownadventures.com/hunttalk/showthread.php?t=236153&highlight=Elkhorn+bighorn

Here's a good example of the prevailing attitude towards livestock producers on this site. Buzz's comments are typical Buzz. Why would anyone want to work an idiot like him? Interesting to note that it was squatters on the BLM that were determined responsible for this dieoff.

 

[BuzzH]

The Anaconda, Blackfoot, Highlands, Upper and Lower Rock Creek, East Fork, etc. herds that all died off, appreciate your collaborative approach to working with the domestic sheep industry.

The results speak for themselves...impressive.

 

[BigHornRam]

The Anaconda, Blackfoot, Highlands, Upper and Lower Rock Creek, East Fork, etc. herds that all died off, appreciate your collaborative approach to working with the domestic sheep industry.

The results speak for themselves...impressive.

That response was truly ignorant Buzz. All of those dieoffs were due to contact with hobby livestock owners. Had nothing to do with the domestic sheep industry.

How would King Buzz propose to deal with all the hobby sheep owners in Montana?

 

[BuzzH]

Ask the wool growers association for their help, you seem to think they have all the answers and that the bighorn groups aren't reaching out to them enough.

Good luck with that...

 

[greatwhitebuffalo]

I find it very troubling and difficult to understand why anyone would ever compromise the potential for a wild sheep habitat. I've never been on a hunt, and may never go. But, I still realize the value of the animals and the importance of their habitat.

I own sheep and graze them on my own private land, but would never want to do anything to threaten a wild species. Some of these propositions just seem like such a waste. Guess I need to educate myself some more about what exactly is going on in some of these places.

 

[Elkmagnet]

It just seems like anyone and everyone would want to limit the impact of domestic on wild. I really feel that politics have all but doomed wild sheep in the lower 48. But thanks to those who continue to work through this crap.

 

[Oak]

Oak,

I have yet to see you cut livestock producers any slack, on this site, ever. Works both ways. Tom Carlsen is pretty smart guy. His approach and the Wyoming WSF guy's is a better way, IMO.

Did you read my link? Care to comment on it yourself?

I have yet to see a domestic sheep a producer in Colorado come to the table proactively to solve conflicts with wild sheep.

I did have a producer who held a permit that had been in nonuse for 10 years, in the middle of bighorn sheep occupied habitat, come to me prior to the last grazing season before a NEPA analysis was to begin and tell me that he was going to put 1000 sheep on that allotment that summer, but that he would consider a buyout if we made him an offer. He told me the BLM had told him he was "good to go,"which was a blatant lie.

I have also had producers fight proposed closure of vacant allotments in occupied bighorn sheep habitat that have not been grazed by domestic sheep for 46 years.

Tell me how many buyouts or conversions occurred prior to the Payette decision in areas where producers were not having other problems such as grizzly bears and wolves.

Wyoming is doing what they think is best for their state. I can tell you that not all bighorn sheep advocates feel the same way. The federal land management agencies cannot legally follow the "Wyoming plan" when it comes to bighorn sheep management on public lands. So when the land management agencies try to follow the law, you get something like the current SF133 bill that forces the state wildlife agency to remove bighorn sheep from bighorn sheep habitat. And you also get landowners like Frank Robbins who don't care about a handshake agreement and do whatever they want anyway.

 

[BuzzH]

Not to hijack, but both the WY sheep bills, SF133 and 134 passed out of the Ag committee yesterday. For some reason they were not heard by the TRW Committee???

Very dangerous precedent being set for public wildlife if these bills pass, become law, and are acted on.

 

[BigHornRam]

If hunters don't start standing up for wild sheep, a bighorn sheep hunt may be something you only get to talk about in the historical sense. And there are big plans to increase some special sort of wool production in Montana, making the fate of wild sheep here even more tenuous.

Our legislature has a heavy thumb on FWP as it relates to improving our sheep herds, both in numbers and in range of native habitat occupied. When you go to a hearing, it is all about what it takes to keep the sheep allotments in place, with about zero consideration given to the wild sheep. We do have a few small producers here that are actually quite progressive in their thinking. Yet, their lobby group in Helena conveys and impression that if all the bighorns died, they would lose no sleep.

Thanks for all you do, Oak. Your commitment to wild sheep is remarkable.

Some hunters are standing up for wild sheep in Montana, working with ALL parties involved, and not by posting biased opinion on the internet. Some sportsmen's groups are actually getting things done.
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.co...cle_f684161c-9608-11e4-9997-8f2d0705b12d.html

I talked to Julie last year about Region 3 mountain goats, and the discussion moved on to sheep. MT FWP has a very good, enthusiastic employee in Julie. Thanks for the good work on this trap and transplant Julie

 

[tjones]

Some hunters are standing up for wild sheep in Montana, working with ALL parties involved, and not by posting biased opinion on the internet. Some sportsmen's groups are actually getting things done.
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.co...cle_f684161c-9608-11e4-9997-8f2d0705b12d.html

Who is getting what done? Be specific.