Chinook salmon spawning in central Idaho's Cape Horn area can breath a sigh of relief thanks to NWF's recent efforts to retire domestic sheep grazing on the critical endangered Chinook spawning grounds.
The Cape Horn allotment lies in the headwaters of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in the Salmon Challis National Forest west of Stanley, Idaho. This grazing retirement will protect critically important spawning habitat for steelhead, threatened Chinook salmon and bull trout. The Chinook that spawn in Knapp Creek, Marsh Creek, Valley Creek, Beaver Creek, and Swamp Creek, within the Cape Horn allotment boundaries, represent one of the last remaining wild Chinook populations that has not been genetically influenced by hatchery fish. In total, the allotment includes 38 miles of Chinook spawning habitat.
Unfortunately, long-term grazing on Cape Horn has threatened recovery of the species. Historically, hundreds of sheep trailed across the vast 86,000 acre allotment in late August and they often waded through several critical spawning areas, known as redds, and trampled Chinook eggs.
In addition, the domestic sheep grazed on this high-elevation allotment during the summer months threatened the health of nearby bighorn sheep populations in the Salmon River area. This is Idaho's largest bighorn population and eliminating the risk of contact with domestic sheep will ensure their longterm stability.
The sheep rancher, the Forest Service and National Wildlife Federation were all seeking solutions. By compensating the producer to retire his grazing permit, it allows the Forest Service to permanently cancel the grazing permit. This solution benefits the Forest by cutting costly management and monitoring of the allotment and provides financial opportunity for the rancher to pursue alternate grazing in areas with minimal conflict with wildlife and secure his business.
We are currently fundraising to pay the rancher for the Cape Horn retirement, and have $60,000 yet to raise in the next 5 months. For the cost of less than $2/ acre, the conservation benefits of this grazing retirement are hard to match. Many thanks to our supporters who make this important work possible.
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The National Wildlife Federation, in close partnership with the Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation and the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, is celebrating another exciting victory for wildlife in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. In early November, 36,000 acres of domestic sheep grazing were permanently retired in the upper Green River region southeast of Yellowstone / Grand Teton National Park in the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
For well over a decade these (4) allotments were ground zero for grizzly bear and wolf conflicts south of Yellowstone. In fact, 68% of all grizzly bear conflicts in the Yellowstone Ecosystem over the last ten years occured on these domestic sheep grazing allotments. As a result of these conflicts, dozens of bears and wolves have been removed ,relocated and / or killed, significantly hindering their recovery. While NWF has worked with other ranchers to retire similar problem allotments over the past 15 years, this retirement is an important benchmark for species protection.
Not only does this win benefit wolves and bears, but bighorn sheep also come out big winners. The risk of contact between domestic and bighorn sheep has been significant on the allotments. This contact is especially troublesome as bighorn sheep face a high risk of becoming infected with pneumonia carried by their domestic counterparts. The disease, when transmitted to wild sheep, often results in all-age die offs and can decimate entire herds of bighorns. By eliminating this risk, bighorns will once again thrive.
The most important part of this work is all the agreements we negotiate with ranchers are completely voluntary. The agreements are designed to benefit both native wildlife and provide the rancher financial opportunity to acquire grazing elsewhere where there is minimal conflict with wildlife. This free-market approach protects the strong western tradition of ranching while at the same time shifting grazing patterns to benefit wildlife for future generations.
The support of our donors and partners has been invaluable in creating these long-term win-win solutions for wildlife!
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We are thrilled to report that last week, after three years of negotiation and collaboration with a Wyoming sheep producer, the National Wildlife Federation completed a grazing retirement to reduce wildlife / livestock conflict on 67,000 of public lands in the Wyoming Range south of Jackson, WY. This grazing retirement protects critical high-elevation habitat for mule deer, bighorn sheep and a host of other native wildlife. By compensating the rancher to waive his permit, he is able to purchase alternate grazing that minimizes wildlife / livestock conflict. It's a win for wildlife and a win for a rancher who can now continue raising domestic sheep without harming wildlife.
After a century of continuous domestic sheep grazing, many areas of the Wyoming Range have degraded wildlife habitat and additionally pose a significant threat to bighorn sheep herds who are especially susceptible to disease transmission from their domestic counterparts. In many situations, these disease outbreaks (a form of pneumonia) causes entire herds to die off. For a species that once inhabitat nearly every mountain range in the intermountain west, bighorn sheep have suffered tremendous declines over the past centuryand current populations remain only a fraction of their historic abundance.
We are making tremendous progress and are shifting grazing patterns in the West to accomodate wildlife and secure a future for domestic livestock production. To date, NWF has retired over 1.1 million acres in the West to benefit wildlife, including bighorn sheep, grizzly bears, wolves, and native fisheries.
We have several exciting opportunities on the horizon, including a critical 85,000 acre allotment in central Idaho where domestic sheep pose a significant risk to endangered Chinook salmon. Many thanks to our supporters for making this tremendous progress capable!
In a huge victory for wildlife, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock last month granted wild bison more room to roam around Yellowstone National Park. It’s the first time in 30 years that bison can migrate safely – and without harassment – outside the park!
Join us in thanking Gov. Bullock for expanding habitat for wild bison and helping public lands be the home to wildlife they were mean to be.
You may ask, Why now? Gov. Bullock pointed to reduced livestock/wildlife conflicts as the main reason for issuing his decision. That means NWF's Wildlife Conflict Resolution Program is working! NWF has worked tirelessly with cattle ranchers, the Park Service and the Forest Service to allow for year round tolerance of bison as they migrate out of the Park during the winter months searching for forage. By retiring key grazing allotments north and west of Yellowstone (Horse Butte, Slip n Slide, Royal Teton Ranch) concerns of disease being spread from bison to cattle has all but been eliminated.
Governor Bullock noted specifically:
-Cattle are no longer found on Horse Butte because of change in ownership and subsequent changes in land use
-On the west side of the park, there are no active cattle allotments on the public lands which constitute over 96% of the area to be accessed by bison.
Of course, this isn’t the end of our work restoring wild bison.
With help from generous people like you, we’ve eliminated conflict on over a million acres of public land, through voluntary negotiations, retiring grazing leases often provides long-term security to both western ranchers dependent on public lands to make a living and the wildlife who depend on those lands to survive. In the coming years, we hope to double the number, giving wildlife like bison and bighorn sheep safe spaces to roam their natural habitats.
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The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) continues to make excellent headway in reducing conflicts between wildlife and livestock on public lands. Due to the amazing success of the program and support of our donors for our work in the northern Rockies, we've been able to expand our Adopt-A-Wildlife Acre program to the southern Rockies. Last month we were able to complete our first grazing retirement in Colorado, laying the foundation for a successful expansion of our program and securing substantial additional habitat for wildlife.
We recently completed a grazing agreement with a private grazing permittee to address a prolonged conflict between livestock and wildlife that has been taking place outside of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The focus of this effort is the Sarvis Creek North Allotment on the Routt National Forest, which encompasses 31,000 acres in the USFS Sarvis Wilderness Area.
In particular, the geography of the allotment requires extensive management effort to move cattle outside of the Sarvis Creek drainage. This fact has resulted in the concentration of cattle in and around Sarvis Creek, resulting in streambank erosion, stream incision, sedimentation and damage to the fishery located in the Wilderness Area. The Sarvis Creek area also hosts prime fishing and hunting territory, and is increasingly sought after by hikers and wilderness enthusiasts during summer months.
The concentration of cows in the drainage has led to conflicts with recreationalists and additional management investment from the USFS to assure that access to the Wilderness Area is maintained. With increasing recreational use anticipated from nearby Steamboat Springs, conflicts between grazing and anglers, hunters and other recreationalists is likely to grow. Lastly, the concentration of cows along Sarvis Creek has led to trespass into the adjacent Sarvis State Wildlife Area. Due to grazing issues on the Sarvis Creek North Allotment, the Wildlife Area has seen a decline in conditions resulting in impacts to wildlife habitat and recreation.
This agreement seeks to find an equitable solution for livestock and wildlife interests. This market approach recognizes the economic value of livestock grazing permits and fairly compensates the producer for retiring their lease. We are excited about the future prospects of our work in Colorado and securing critical habitat for species such as bighorn sheep, trout, elk and deer.
*In addition to our expanded work in the southern Rockies, in February NWF's Northern Rockies Regional Center released a report titled, "Bighorns, Big Risks", documenting the decline of Montana's treasured bighorn sheep population. Most notably, 39 of Montana's 46 bighorn sheep populations are at risk of disease exposure from domestic sheep.
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