Number: 1989-23
WHEREAS, California once had many bands of bighorn sheep along the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountains, and bighorn sheep were an important component of these pristine ecosystems; and
WHEREAS, bighorn sheep in the Sierra Nevada mountains are now extirpated from significant portions of their historic range and tread a fragile line between extinction and survival; and
WHEREAS, human impacts, such as introduction of disease, overgrazing on Federal lands, over-harvest, and destruction of critical habitat, have caused these populations to decline; and
WHEREAS, diseases transmitted from domestic sheep have often been the documented cause of bighorn sheep die-offs; and
WHEREAS, efforts to reintroduce bighorn sheep by the California Department of Fish and Game at Lava Beds National Monument and in the Warner Mountains are believed to have failed due to the transmission of disease from domestic sheep; and
WHEREAS, successful management programs for bighorn sheep elsewhere, include elimination of domestic sheep from adjoining grazing allotments;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in annual meeting assembled March 16-19, 1989, in Arlington, Virginia urges the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, in cooperation with the California Department of Fish and Game, to continue planning and implementation efforts to re-establish bighorn sheep populations in their historic range; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that these efforts include modification of grazing allotments to minimize bighorn sheep and domestic sheep conflicts, regulation of sport hunting, and acquisition and management of habitat; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation urges further research to assess methods of minimizing conflicts arising from transmission of disease from domestic livestock to bighorn sheep.