Bighorn sheep get benefit of doubt

BOISE — A federal judge has denied a motion by a sheep rancher who sought to return domestic sheep to a grazing allotment along the Salmon River, citing concerns they might transmit deadly pneumonia to wild bighorn sheep.

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled last week that the risk of losing genetic diversity in native bighorn herds in western Idaho outweighed the financial loss of $75,600 to the sheep rancher, Guy Carlson of the Riggins, Idaho-based, Carlson Company.

The group had planned to return the domestic sheep to the grazing allotment in early November.

In his decision, Winmill noted that none of the experts on either side provided definitive proof on whether domestic sheep transmit fatal diseases to bighorns.

However, he noted that reports by experts on each side, when taken together, “suggests that domestic sheep transmit a deadly respiratory disease to bighorns.”

Unlike bighorns in nearby Hells Canyon, which were reintroduced from other herds after native bighorns disappeared due to disease and overhunting, the sheep inhabiting the Salmon River Canyon are descendants of herds in the region since prehistory.

Winmill noted that in his decision “the loss of that herd would be particularly devastating to the genetic diversity of bighorns.”

Three environmental groups — Hells Canyon Preservation Council, Western Watersheds Project and the Wilderness Society — had sought the domestic sheep ban because of the native herd.

“The Salmon River herd is the original herd going back 10,000 years plus,” said Greg Dyson, executive director of the Hells Canyon Preservation Council. “And that’s a factor in everyone’s consideration. We have a very rare resource.”

He said about 185 bighorns inhabit the area.

The Forest Service initially favored allowing domestic sheep grazing on the Allison-Berg Allotment on the Nez Perce National Forest. The Forest Service said there was little chance of domestic sheep and bighorns meeting.

However, the Forest Service changed its position last week and banned the domestic herd this winter after the Nez Perce Tribe on Nov. 5 filed documents that showed numerous sightings of bighorns in or near the grazing allotment.

Last spring, the Payette National Forest eliminated sheep grazing on five allotments in Hells Canyon