Deliberate Attempt to Reduce Bighorns in Idaho

[Bullelk1]

Our esteemed congressman Jeff Siddoway from Fremont County is at it again. Siddoway is a sheep rancher who has pushed thinning deer herds near their winter range, which is also where he runs his sheep herd.

According to today's Idaho Falls Post Register, Siddoway is attempting to push through a bill that would permit Idaho Fish and Game to kill bighorn sheep that are found in or near domestic sheep herds. This guy is the most selfish and short-sighted crook ever elected in my opinion, yet they keep putting him back in office.

 

[NVBighorn]

Flip side is, if the bighorns are with domestics and happen to be exposed to some strain of disease that will kill them, you don't want them making it home to spread the disease to other bighorns. By the same token, I hope it would include regs that allow Id F & G to kill domestics found anywhere near wild sheep.

PS. I know nothing about Jeff Siddoway so what you say about him may be true. I'm not arguing that. And if he is a sheep grazer he will definitely have his own agenda for bighorns. Where does he run his sheep.

 

[littlebighorn]

NV has a point for sure. Mixing domestics with wild sheep is death to the wild sheep. And it appears to be a conflict of interest for a sheep rancher to be introducing wild sheep legislation. If the killing of sheep goes both ways, then it may be a good thing. It is common for rams to wander during breeding season and when they come back from a herd of domestics, it certainly spells trouble. How about they issue a depredation permit if they find a lost ram in a group of domestics?

 

[dwalton]

Not here to debate about the congressman. However, I think this type of legislation should be part of every state that has bighorn sheep. If a wild sheep mixes with domestics, that sheep will more than likely be dead from disease. That wild sheep should be put down before it returns to the wild sheep population and spreads the disease to the entire herd.

The problem with killing domestics mixing with wild sheep is that the damage will have already been done: the wild herd will more than likely have a die off. I do think it's a good idea to put a domestic down if it is seen mixed with wild sheep, just in case.

I believe Montana passed similar legislation after losing an entire herd after a ram mixed with domestics.

 

[NVBighorn]

dwalton, I agree. Let me rephrase what I said about domestics. I think F&G agencies should have the authority to remove domestics in proximity to wild bighorn herds. If the domestics are off their prescribed range and thus are trespassing, and they are within some specified distance of a wild population, they should be immediately removed by whatever means is necessary including lethal methods.

Geez, that almost sounds like legislation.

littlebighorn, your idea of a depredation tag isn't at all bad, as long as it can be done quickly.

 

[Bullelk1]

Good points raised by all and I agree. I just have a feeling this guy isn't looking out for the good of the bighorns as much as he is looking out for his wallet.

 

[ramslam]

LAST EDITED ON Apr-11-09 AT 09:47AM (MST)[p]Rest assured this legislation has nothing to do with saving bighorns and everything to do with saving domestic sheep grazing on public land in bighorn habitat. It is common for bio's to dispatch bighorns suspected of coming in contact with domestic sheep/goats. This legislation is in response to recent federal court rulings siding with wild sheep on the Payette and Nez Perce National Forests.

In addition, last month the NPNF issued an Annual Operating Permit that prohibits domestic sheep grazing this spring on the Allison-Berg allotment (lower Salmon River area). I'm sure it will be challenged in court. Newly radio-collared bighorns have frequently been shown to inhabit the boundaries of this grazing allotment. A similar situation is ongoing on the Payette NF on the Snake River breaks.

Many elected officials in Idaho are claiming this is their "Spotted Owl" controversy. The difference is several (that I know of) of the domestic producers have been offered other public grazing areas (far from bighorns) to utilize or the opportunity to convert to cattle permits in most areas. All offers have been declined. If Gov. Otter and the state legislature gets their way no future growth/expansion of current bighorn herds near domestic sheep allotments will be tolerated (hence the shoot bighorns that are near domestics) and other historic bighorn ranges will not be open for new bighorn herds.

I've tried to keep this post based on facts. I am not anti-ag/grazing/farming. In fact, I make my living in ag. A solution is out there that serves both sides but domestic producers need to be willing to modify/move their operations. I wish Idaho would learn from Wyoming--a state with far more wild AND domestic sheep than Idaho. WY puts bighorns in bighorn habitat and domestics far enough away and in non-bighorn areas.

 

[Bullelk1]

Thanks for sheding some facts on this, Glen. Good synopsis.

 

[NVBighorn]

Thanks ramslam

 

[wadsworth]

bullelk is right about our govt, though. Otter is a rancher and an original sagebrush rebel--remember he proposed selling public lands for hurricane relief only a couple of years ago so it is not like he has moderated himself over the years.

The guys who run the ID house & senate are farmer/ranchers. Public land ranching is around 2% of IDs economy, but I argue that they are the most powerful body in the state, in association with the ID cattleman assoc. Remember "cougargate" and what happed to the last F & G director. The ID cattleman assoc got Kempthorne to get rid of him within weeks after the incident, and his position was only that the director could not legally "fix" a ticket, and to let the process play out (which it did, and the charges were dropped).

I also make my living in Ag as well as mining but I think our power structure is out of balance. But as bullelk says we just keep putting the same guys in there every year.

Unless we get more balance in ID govt. these types of battles will always go against sportsmen/women.

 

[PleaseDear]

Thanks for your Heads-Up Mike.

I am not certain--- but is this the issue that you have presented?

Thanks,

Robb


Dear Wild Sheep Advocates:

Below is a recent article regarding recent legislation in Idaho that could hinder the future of Idaho and the surrounding states ability to manage bighorn sheep. This bill has been pushed by some very misinformed lawmakers.

The bill will be signed into law by Idaho Governor Butch Otter unless YOU call him and let him know that this is bad for wild sheep!

Contact his office at: 208-334-2100

Sincerly,

Neil Thagard
Director of Operations


Bighorn bill expresses lawmakers' frustration with feds
Submitted by Rocky Barker on Tue, 04/14/2009 - 11:12am.
Idaho lawmakers want to send a message to the U.S. Forest Service than they will not stand by as the agency forces the Shirts family off of its grazing allotment in Hells Canyon.

But they appear to be sending a message that will have as much success as their early 1990s message to the federal government that they don't want wolves.

The House Resources and Conservation committee voted 18-3 Monday to send a bill to the floor that would require the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to move or kill any wild bighorn sheep that walks on to public land where domestic sheep are allowed to graze. Under the law, no domestic sheep need to be present for the requirement to be in place.

The bill comes in response to the U.S. Forest Service?s rewriting of its Payette National Forest Plan, which as proposed, would close down grazing in part of Hells Canyon where bighorn sheep populations have dramatically dropped. The Forest Service, under pressure from the Nez Perce tribe, national environmental groups and bighorn hunting groups, would keep Ron Shirts of Weiser from returning sheep to the area he and his family have grazed for years.

Its scientists say that bighorn sheep die when they come in contact with domestic sheep. This problem has long been known but Marie Bulgin, a past president of the Wool Growers Association and director of the University of Idaho's Caine Veterinary Teaching Center, says while the disease is transmitted between the wild and domestic sheep in pens that there's no evidence of that taking place in the wild.

This difference in scientific opinion between Idaho and other wildlife and land management agencies is at the heart of the frustration that sheep ranchers hold. The Forest Service has final say on managing grazing allotments and its scientific view will prevail in the end along with its regulations that require it to manage for viable wildlife populations throughout its forests.

Lawmakers also are angry that Payette?s decision, triggered by a federal judge?s decision, breaks a 1997 agreement reached between ranchers, the Forest Service, bighorn hunters and Idaho Fish and Game, which said those pushing bighorn transplants would accept the risk of disease transmission and not force the ranchers to quit grazing.

Several efforts have been made to have the Shirts paid to retire their grazing allotment or to find them alternative grazing. Those effort have been unsuccessful and for Idaho lawmakers the issue is private property rights. A rancher should not be forced to take a buy-out, they argue passionately.

Lawmakers took their frustration out on the Idaho Conservation League?s John Robison Monday, who opposed the legislation. Robison, who is a member of an advisory committee organized by Gov. Butch Otter to seek a collaborative solution to keeping bighorns and domestic sheep a part, was portrayed as an opponent to grazing on public lands, which he denied.

The conservation league had nothing to do with the 1997 agreement. It was not involved in the lawsuits that are forcing the Payette to rewrite it plans.

Today Robison will be joining with Owyhee County ranchers and private property rights advocates in celebrating the Owyhee Initiative law signed by President Barack Obama that protects wilderness and wild rivers while keeping ranchers there whole.

In the early 1990s some of the same people on the House committee succeeded in banning Fish and Game from having anything to do with wolf management in the state. The Idaho Legislature?s intransigence didn't stop the federal government from transplanting wolves into the state in 1995 and putting the Nez Perce tribe in charge of their management.

If wild bighorn sheep populations keep dropping, there may be a call for protecting them under the federal Endangered Species Act. That's why the state needs a collaborative solution that meets the needs of both ranchers and bighorn sheep, Robison said.

But lawmakers are pinning their hopes on the message they send with this bill.
?I don't know that the Forest Service is going to give this consideration,? said Republican Sen. Jeff Siddoway, a sheep rancher himself. ?I hope they do.?





Wild Sheep Foundation
Neil Thagard
Director of Operations
720 Allen Avenue
Cody, WY 82414
[email protected] www.wildsheepfoundation.org
307-527-6261 phone 307-527-7117 fax