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ACTION ALERT TO BIGHORN ADVOCATES
Action Needed to Stop Congress from Derailing Bighorn Sheep Recovery
Efforts
The House of Representatives FY12 Appropriation Legislation included a provision
that would stop public land managers from taking actions to protect Bighorn
Sheep from exposure to disease-carrying domestic sheep grazing on public lands.
In the coming weeks the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate will be
preparing the final FY12 Appropriation legislation. NOW is the time to take
action to make sure the U.S. Senate DOES NOT support including anti-Bighorn
provisions the final FY12 Appropriation Legislation.
Background: Bighorn Sheep are one of the West’s most iconic wildlife
species, conjuring images of wild, rugged mountains and deep, sheer-walled
canyons. What was once one of the most widespread wildlife species in the
West is now only at a fraction of its former number. One of the leading
causes for declines in Bighorn Sheep is disease passed from domestic sheep
grazing on public lands in Bighorn Sheep habitat. Domestic sheep carry
diseases that do not affect them but are lethal to Bighorns. For years now
whole Bighorn populations that come into contact with domestic sheep have died
from disease. As recently as 2009-2010, disease outbreaks in Montana, Oregon,
Utah and Washington resulted in the loss of more than 50 percent in some Bighorn
herds.
Recovery Effort Launched: After years of analysis regarding Bighorn Sheep
recovery in Central Idaho, federal land managers have recognized that Bighorn
Sheep and domestic sheep cannot occupy the same landscape without exposing
Bighorns to catastrophic disease die-offs. The U.S. Forest Service and
Bureau of Land Management are in process of taking the most up to date science
and management recommendations generated by the Central Idaho analysis and
research to determine how to best achieve separation between bighorn sheep and
domestic sheep.
Congress’ Anti-Bighorn Action: The effort to recover Bighorn Sheep by
separating them from domestic sheep is now threatened by a provision contained
in the House of Representatives FY12 appropriation legislation. At the
behest of domestic sheep producers, the House of Representatives FY12
appropriation legislation included a provision prohibiting federal land managers
from taking any action to separate domestic sheep from Bighorn Sheep on
public lands for the next five years. If implemented, this special favor to
domestic sheep producers would be a devastating setback to Bighorn Sheep
science-based recovery efforts. Federal land managers could only stand by,
prohibited by Congress from taking action, while domestic sheep on public lands
in Bighorn habitat mingle with and fatally infect Bighorn Sheep herds.
Separation is the Key: Separation of Bighorn Sheep from domestic sheep is
the only available management tool that will remove the risk of disease
transmission between the two species. Vaccines are years away from being
practical. More domestic sheep herders and guard dogs have been shown to be
ineffective in rugged landscape of Bighorn Sheep habitat.
Researchers, scientists and wildlife managers have concluded that for
Bighorns to recover and survive in the western United States, they must be
protected from the risk of disease from domestic sheep. Federal land managers
must be allowed to take proactive steps to separate domestic sheep from Bighorn
Sheep on public land if Bighorn Sheep are to have any chance of protection from
disease.
TAKE ACTION: The U.S. Senate must oppose any provisions in the FY12
appropriation legislation that delays or stops efforts by public land managers
to recovery Bighorn Sheep. Please contact the Senators listed below on the
Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee and ask that they oppose ANY
provision in the FY12 Appropriation legislation that delays or stops efforts to
recovery of Bighorn Sheep.
Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee: http://appropriations.senate.gov/sc-interior.cfm
<http://appropriations.senate.gov/sc-interior.cfm>
Senator Jack Reed, Chairman
Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee
728 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-4642
Fax: (202) 224-4680
http://reed.senate.gov/ <http://reed.senate.gov/>
Senator Diane Feinstein
Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee
331 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3841
Fax: (202) 228-3954
TTY/TDD: (202) 224-2501
http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=AboutDianne.Home
<http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=AboutDianne.Home>
Senator Tim Johnson
Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee
136 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
p. (202) 224-5842
f. (202) 228-5765
http://johnson.senate.gov/public/ <http://johnson.senate.gov/public/>
Senator Ben Nelson
Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee
720 Hart Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: 1-202-224-6551
Fax: 1-202-228-0012
http://bennelson.senate.gov/ <http://bennelson.senate.gov/>
Senator Jon Tester
Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee
724 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-2604
Phone: (202) 224-2644
Fax: (202) 224-8594
http://tester.senate.gov/ <http://tester.senate.gov/>
Senator Patrick J. Leahy
Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee
437 Russell Senate Bldg
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-4242
http://leahy.senate.gov/ <http://leahy.senate.gov/>
Senator Barbara A. Mikulski
Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee
503 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-4654
http://mikulski.senate.gov/ <http://mikulski.senate.gov/>
Senator Herb Kohl
Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee
330 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-5653
Fax: (202) 224-9787330 Hart Senate Office Building
http://kohl.senate.gov/ <http://kohl.senate.gov/>
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PO Box 71238, Reno, NV 89570
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