Adopt A Wildlife Acre

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!