Adopt A Wildlife Acre

Following nearly two decades of success in the Northern Rockies eliminating conflicts between livestock and wildlife on 1.3 million acres public lands, in 2017 the National Wildlife Federation expanded its Adopt an Acre program to Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah. Like in the Northern Rockies, over the last century populations of bighorn sheep populations in Colorado have dramatically declined to small remnants of their historic numbers due largely to a number of diseases that are transmitted from domestic sheep to their wild cousins. Once infected, bighorn herds can experience an all age die-off that wipe our 60-90% of the herd. Since bringing on a new employee to manage the Southern Rockies and Great Basin region, we have been laying the groundwork necessary to achieve our goals of retiring several hundred thousand acres of grazing allotments over the coming decade. Working with partners from a number of state wildlife agencies and partner organizations, we have identified the domestic sheep allotments that pose the greatest threats to bighorns developed a network of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management personnel that manage these allotments. Following this background work, we began reaching out to the ranchers that hold the permits for this high risk grazing allotments.

The first fruit of these labors is our April agreement with a multi-generation ranching family to retire their two domestic sheep allotment on the Rio Grande National Forest, high in the South San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado. The Cornwall and Willow Mountain allotments cover approximately 9,000 acres and fall directly in the middle of the core range of a very high priority herd of bighorns. The total cost of this deal is $82,500 of which we have, raised $40,000. To complete our commitment to the ranching family, we have a goal of raising an additional $42,500. At approximately $9 per acre, we believe this is a very good value for permanently protecting one of Colorado’s highest priority bighorn herds. This is the first of what will be many thousands of acres of grazing allotment retirements in Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah as step by step, we work to restore bighorn sheep to the Southern Rockies, the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin. As always, we are grateful to our supporters for investing in this innovative conservation solution, we could not do it without your help.

Links:

• Short video of bighorn sheep in Colorado

It's flu season and humans aren’t the only ones suffering.

Wild bighorn sheep across the west are contracting pneumonia and dying in alarming numbers.  Biologists are pointing their fingers at bighorn’s domestic cousins, as a primary vector of disease causing large-scale die-offs in herds across the American West and severely limiting recovery of the species.  Across the west, domestic sheep graze on millions of acres of multiple-use public lands permitted for livestock grazing. Bit by bit, NWF is working to shift livestock grazing patterns to make sure there’s plenty of room for wildlife and historic ranching operations to thrive.

Program History

Since 2002, National Wildlife Federation has been a leader in resolving conflicts between livestock and wildlife on public lands.  NWF’s voluntary approach to conflict reduction—offering direct payment to ranchers to waive conflict grazing leases on public lands-- has resolved issues between bighorn sheep, bison, wolves, grizzlies and livestock on over 1.1 million acres in the west.  This has resulted in significant wins for wildlife.  From increasing the range of grizzly bears in the Yellowstone Ecosystem to expanding bison habitat to protecting bighorn sheep from disease, NWF's work is making a big difference.

Recent Wins for Wildlife

Our most recent conservation agreement protects at-risk wildlife such as bull trout and bighorn sheep on over 7,000 acres and cost $30,000.  This is extremely important because sheep grazing on the Fisher Creek allotment posed a significant risk of disease to the East Fork of the Salmon River bighorn population.  The allotment is just next door to the recently designated Cecil D. Andrus White Clouds Wilderness Area.  This is good for wildlife because it qualifies for permanent grazing retirement to further protect the wilderness and wildlife values of the area.

You Can Help!

National Wildlife Federation is working across the west to expand wildlife populations and provide habitat connectivity.  NWF members have played a significant role in this work through our “Adopt a Wildlife Acre” program where for only $3/acre, conflicts on public land can be permanently resolved.  NWF looks forward to protecting even more habitat in 2019!