1990s HELLS CANYON LITIGATION & CONTINUED DIE-OFFS
In 1994, bighorn advocates sued the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) for allowing 7,300 domestic sheep to graze in the Hells Canyon Recreation Area (NWF 1996). Hells Canyon is prime wild sheep habitat. “The National Wildlife Federation [NWF] sued the Forest Service on behalf of five groups, including the Nez Perce tribe and NWF’s affiliates in Idaho and Oregon” (NWF 1996). As a result of the lawsuit, the USFS reduced the amount of Hells Canyon available to domestic sheep grazing from 57,263 hectares (141,500 acres) to 3,359 hectares (8,300 acres) and removed domestic sheep from the Oregon portion of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area in 1996 (NWF 1996; Cassirer et al. 1996). Nonetheless, disease transmission risk persisted (Hoffman 2007). Hoffman points out that: “Oregon wild sheep surprised biologists by regularly crossing the Snake River and moving dangerously close to sheep allotments in Idaho” (2007).
Telemetry data showed that Hells Canyon bighorns spent time on grazing allotments in the Payette National Forest (PNF) (Hoffman 2007). Hoffman says states “have transplanted more than 600 [bighorn] sheep up and down Hells Canyon since the 1970s, with a goal of having 2,000 bighorns in the huge Hells Canyon Initiative area by now” (2007). Hells Canyon held about 840 bighorns in 2010 (HCBSRC 2010). After 1995-1996 Hells Canyon disease outbreaks, pneumonia continued to be a problem for the area’s bighorns (Cassirer et al. 1996; Cockle 2008). In 2007, 80% of the bighorn lambs in Hells Canyon died from pneumonia. In an average year, Rocky Mountain bighorn lamb mortality is 60-65% (Cockle 2008).
THE PAYETTE DECISION
The 930,777 hectare (2.3 million acre) PNF of east-central Idaho borders the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area (USFS 2012). Hoffman explains that:
“Since 1985, environmental groups have been asking the Payette National Forest in Idaho to protect bighorn populations by limiting domestic sheep grazing. Forest Service managers—charged with maintaining a viable population of bighorns in the Payette but not eager to evict Idaho domestic sheep ranchers who’d long had grazing allotments there—delayed a decision for decades” (2007).
The PNF’s updated 20-year plan was released in 2003, and because of domestic sheep issues, “[six] environmental groups and the Nez Perce Indian Tribe challenged many of its provisions. In 2005, the chief of the U.S. Forest Service agreed that the Payette had not included adequate protections of bighorn sheep in its plan” (Hoffman 2007). However, the PNF continued to allow domestic sheep grazing up into 2006. In 2007, about 20,000 domestic sheep grazed in the PNF (Hoffman 2007). Hoffman describes what happened next:
“[In April 2007], after several last-minute attempts to reach an agreement, including offers to buy out some of the allotments, The Wilderness Society, an Idaho-based anti-grazing group called the Western Watersheds Project, and the Hells Canyon Preservation Council sued the Forest Service for failing to protect a viable population of bighorn sheep” (2007). He adds: “Faced with the lawsuit, the Payette National Forest quickly turned around and agreed to a bighorn-protection plan drawn up by the Nez Perce Tribe” (2007).
According to Barker, in 2007, “District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered ranchers to move their sheep off of five allotments on the Payette National Forest in Hells Canyon. The Forest Service was ordered to complete an environmental impact statement on sheep grazing in bighorn habitat” (2010).
In 2010, the PNF released a Record of Decision (ROD) forest plan amendment that clarifies their stance on bighorn-domestic sheep interaction policy. The PNF decided to phase domestic sheep grazing out of nearly 28,328 hectares (70,000 acres) over a 3-year period from 2010-2013 (Pramuk 2010). The phase-out would have eventually removed about 13,000 domestic sheep from the PNF (IPT 2011). Phase 3 (the final phase) would reduce PNF sheep grazing by more than 70% (Ertz 2012). By November 2011, 9,500 sheep had been removed (IPT 2011). According to a USFS press release, the agency “has participated in numerous public meetings since 2005 with a wide range of stakeholders, receiving more than 26,000 public comments on the issue” (Pramuk 2010).
Groups from both sides of the disease issue appealed the 2010 ROD. Two domestic sheep operations and the Idaho Woolgrowers Association appealed. The Nez Perce tribe and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation appealed. The Ada County Fish and Game League, Western Watersheds Project, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife also appealed (USFS 2010b). Bighorn advocates wanted domestic sheep grazing phased out sooner, and woolgrowers wanted to retain grazing privileges. In April 2011, USFS Chief Tom Tidwell upheld the ROD (Barker 2011). In the ROD, PNF Supervisor Suzanne Rainville (now retired) emphasizes that her decision needed to balance disease risk to bighorns with the USFS’s multiple use mission, which includes livestock grazing. Rainville acknowledges that not all Payette bighorns would have the same level of protection (IPT 2011; USFS 2010a). Rainville also addresses the economic impacts of the Payette decision:
“An extensive Socio-Economic analysis was completed. Under [the final plan], employment and income associated with estimated permitted sheep will be less than the current levels. A regional economic model estimates that up to 28 jobs could be lost. If habitat for bighorn sheep populations is provided, the unique nature of these hunts,demand for bighorn sheep permits, and increasing popularity of nature-based tourism suggest that the role bighorn sheep play in local recreation economies could remain stable or increase” (USFS 2010a, 15).
Only four sheep producers on the PNF were affected by the Payette decision (IPT 2011). According to E. Barker, in 2009, Idaho Department of Fish and Game Director Cal Groen “said the department determined 18 sheep ranchers in the state operate in areas where contact with bighorns is possible” (2009). Despite being a small minority, sheep ranchers have big worries. The sheep industry fears that the Payette decision will set a policy precedent for the rest of the country (IPT 2011). In the Payette area, bighorn advocates have tried to buy out grazing permits and help sheep ranchers find new grazing locations (Hoffman 2007; Barker 2011). These efforts have been greeted with refusal. For example, the Wild Sheep Foundation tried to buy Ron Shirts’s grazing permit for $250,000, but he refused because he was holding out for $2.5 million (Hoffman 2007).
For more information on developments regarding implementation of the Payette decision, visit the page covering the Simpson Riders.
REFERENCES
Barker, Eric. 2009. Fish and Game approves plans that include kill permits. Wild Sheep Foundation. http://www.wildsheepfoundation.org/Page.php/News/97/1249102800-1251691200 (accessed January 7, 2012).
Barker, Rocky. 2010. Payette supervisor decides to end sheep grazing in bighorn country. Idaho Statesman. July 28. http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2010/07/28/rockybarker/ payette_supervisor_decides_end_sheep_grazing_bighorn_country (accessed October 15, 2011).
Barker, Rocky. 2011. Battle for bighorns: Conservationists are struggling to protect bighorn sheep on public lands from disease-carrying livestock. National Wildlife, July. http://www.nwf. org/News-and-Magazines/NationalWildlife/Animals/Archives/2011/ Battle-for-Bighorns .aspx (accessed January 7, 2012).
Cassirer, E. Frances, Lloyd E. Oldenburg, Victor L. Coggins, Pat Fowler, Karen Rudolph, David L. Hunter, and William J. Foreyt. 1996. Overview and preliminary analysis of a bighorn sheep dieoff, Hells Canyon, 1995-96. In proceedings of Northern Wild Sheep and Goat Council’s 10th Biennial Symposium, Silverthorne, CO, April 29-May 3.
Cockle, Richard. 2008. The Northwest: Bighorn die-off – 2007 pneumonia outbreak killed 80 percent of Hells Canyon lambs. The Oregonian. January 6.
Ertz, Brian. 2012. Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012 Protects Bighorn Sheep Throughout the West. The Wildlife News. http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2012/01/10/ consolidated-appropriations-act-of-2012-protects-bighorn-sheep-throughout-the-west/ (accessed January 10, 2012).
Hells Canyon Bighorn Sheep Restoration Committee (HCBSRC). 2010. Hells Canyon Initiative: Restoration of bighorn sheep to Hells Canyon, Annual Report 2009-2010. N.p. https://research.idfg.idaho.gov/wildlife/Wildlife%20Technical%20Reports/Hells%20 Canyon%20Bighorn%20Sheep%202010%20Annual%20report.pdf (accessed January 2, 2012). [govt. doc.]
Hoffman, Nathaniel. 2007. Sheep vs. sheep: A legal battle over Hells Canyon grazing could determine the future of wild sheep and sheep ranching across the West. High Country News. October 1. http://www.hcn.org/issues/355/17251 (accessed March 4, 2009).
Idaho Public Television (IPT). 2011. Dialogue: “Bighorn Sheep.” IPT Website. Windows Media audio/video file. http://idahoptv.org/dialogue/diaShowPage.cfm?versionID= 234317 (accessed October 21, 2011).
National Wildlife Federation (NWF). 1996. NWF litigation helps save Hells Canyon bighorns. National Wildlife, August-September.
Pramuk, Laura. 2010. News and Events: Payette National forest Announces Bighorn Sheep Management Decision. USDA Forest Service. http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet /!ut/p/c4/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gjAwhwtDDw9_AI8zPyhQoY6BdkOyoCAGixyP g!/?ss=110412&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&cid=STELPRDB5203913&navid=1800000000 00000&pnavid=null&position=News&ttype=detail&pname=Payette%20National%20Forest -%20News%20&%20Events (accessed January 9, 2012).
U.S. Forest Service (USFS). 2010a. Payette National Forest: Record of Decision for the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement and Forest Plan Amendment Identifying Suitable Rangeland for Domestic Sheep and Goat Grazing to Maintain Habitat for Viable Bighorn Sheep Populations. McCall, ID. http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_ DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5238683.pdf (accessed May 17, 2012). [govt. doc.]
U.S. Forest Service (USFS). 2010b. Planning: Bighorn Sheep Viability Forest Plan Amendment. http://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/payette/landmanagement/planning/?cid= FSM9_033278&width=full (accessed January 9, 2012).
U.S. Forest Service (USFS). 2012. Payette National Forest. http://www.fs.usda.gov/payette / (accessed January 7, 2012).