Adopt A Wildlife Acre

While our Adopt-an-Acre program has often centered on conflicts with grizzly bears and wolves, bighorn sheep are another important wildlife species that frequently have been a focal point of our efforts. When domestic sheep come into contact with bighorn sheep, there's strong potential for disease transmission. Bighorns do not seem to have resistance to many of the pathogens that are carried by domestics. Consequently, bighorn sheep herds that range near areas that have domestic sheep frequently have large die-offs. Over the last decade these episodes of mass mortality have occurred in numerous locations. The conflicts between bighorn sheep and domestic sheep became so severe on the Payette National Forest in Idaho that environmental groups filed lawsuits to remove the domestic sheep. The National Wildlife Federation believes our approach of negotiating agreements is a superior approach if livestock producers are willing to meet us halfway. To date, we have retired over 600,000 acres surrounding Yellowstone National Park.