Bighorn sheep to be moved from area near Insterstate 84

BIGGS, Ore. – The state Department of Fish and Wildlife plans to capture about 30 bighorn sheep from what’s become known as the “I-84” herd.

Motorists traveling on the stretch of freeway between Arlington and Biggs in north-central Oregon have come to expect bighorns loitering like out-of-luck hitchhikers. And that’s a problem, said Nick Myatt, a wildlife biologist in the agency’s Baker City office.

State officials would prefer that drivers on that 22-mile stretch watch the road instead of trying to figure out if a particular ram’s horns have a full curl.

“Some of the sheep have been seen right down on the freeway,” he said. “It’s getting to be a safety concern.”

Biologists will haul the trapped bighorns to other parts of Oregon, including 10 that will be released in the Burnt River Canyon about 20 miles southeast of Baker City.

The trap-and-transplant operation is tentatively scheduled for the first week of December.

The bighorns will help augment the Burnt River Canyon herd. For most of the past decade, the herd’s population has hovered around 70. But biologists counted just 47 in 2006.

“We probably missed some, but it does appear the population is declining,” Myatt said.

ODFW first brought bighorns to the Burnt River Canyon in 1987, when biologists released 15 sheep. Those bighorns came from Leslie Gulch in Malheur County.

Myatt says biologists speculate that cougars are somewhat responsible for the decline. But to get more exact information, the bighorns from the freeway herd will be fitted with a collar that emits a radio signal. Biologists can track those signals and monitor the bighorns’ movements.