Foundation Earmarks $10 Million For Sheep

The Foundation for North American Wild Sheep has committed $10 million toward the future of bighorn sheep in Hells Canyon.

The commitment was announced at the group’s annual convention. The foundation has never pledged so much money to one project. It anticipates concentrating efforts in Hells Canyon for 20 years.

Foundation President Pete Cimellaro said Hells Canyon is special because it contains some of the most vast and pristine habitat available for wild sheep in North America.

The Foundation for North American Wild Sheep has already spent more than $1.3 million in Idaho, Oregon and Washington for sheep conservation and much of that money went to projects in Hells Canyon, Cimellaro said.

The foundation provided the money for capturing diseased bighorns found in the Washington and Oregon portions of Hells Canyon in December 1995 and transporting them to the Idaho wildlife health lab in Caldwell.