Grant will fund bighorn study

LEWISTON – Grant money recently received by the Nez Perce Tribe will be used to place radio collars on bighorn sheep along the Salmon River near Riggins as part of an effort to find out why so few lambs survive into adulthood, an official said.

Keith Lawrence, director of the tribe’s wildlife program, said the tribe learned Wednesday it had been awarded a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“We need to get more collars on ewes and find out where their lambing pastures are and find lambs that are dying and document what they are dying from,” Lawrence said.

The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management could use information from the study to make decisions about domestic sheep grazing allotments in the area.

The number of Idaho bighorns has dwindled by half since 1990 to about 3,500 after several mass die-offs. Wildlife managers believe bighorns can catch diseases such as pneumonia when they come into contact with domestic sheep.