http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/nrdcaction_062409

Speak out to save Yosemite's Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep

California's Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep are the signature species of the eastern Sierra Nevada. Found nowhere else, Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep live on steep, precipitous terrain located almost exclusively on public lands in the Inyo and Humboldt-Toiyabe national forests and Sequoia-Kings Canyon and Yosemite national parks.

These magnificent animals were designated as endangered in 1999, when only about 125 bighorn sheep remained in five small isolated herds and extinction appeared virtually certain. Now, thanks to federal protections, more than 300 bighorn sheep are re-occupying historic habitat areas. As they do so, they face increased threats -- especially the threat of transmission of a domestic sheep pneumonia that is fatal to bighorn.

Transmission of this disease could wipe out all the gains that have been made and lead to the extinction of an entire bighorn herd that lives in the high country in Yosemite National Park. Despite this grave threat, domestic sheep are scheduled to graze this summer on national forest and other public lands near bighorn habitat that pose the highest risk of disease transmission.

Now that summer has arrived, federal agencies could give the final go-ahead for domestic sheep grazing in bighorn habitat any day, putting the bighorns ' survival at risk.

What to do

Send a message right away urging officials at the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management not to permit domestic sheep to graze in the five areas that pose the gravest risk to the survival of Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep.

http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/nrdcaction_062409

I urge you to close high elevation domestic sheep grazing in the eastern Sierra Nevada to protect Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep. As you know, the population of this iconic species has increased three-fold since these magnificent animals were first included on the federal endangered species list, revealing clearly how important Endangered Species Act protections are for their continued survival. This survival is by no means ensured, however, and indeed today these sheep face a very real and heightened threat of disease transmission from domestic sheep, particularly in the northern portion of their range.

According to the recovery plan for the Sierra Nevada bighorn, high elevation domestic sheep grazing in the eastern Sierra Nevada should be ended to limit the risk of transmission of a form of domestic sheep pneumonia that is fatal to wild sheep. Leading bighorn scientists recently announced that the risks of disease transmission are very high, especially to bighorn that inhabit the back country in and near Yosemite National Park. As it has in the past, this disease could wipe out entire herds and potentially a significant portion of the entire population. All of the progress that has been made to save this animal -- and the time and resources that the state of California, federal agencies and private parties have invested -- could be undone if this fatal pneumonia were introduced to Yosemite's small and struggling herd.

To protect Yosemite's wild sheep, I urge you to end domestic sheep grazing on five grazing areas:  the Cameron Canyon, Tamarack and Rickey (south) allotments on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and the Green Creek and Dog Creek allotments on Bureau of Land Management-administered lands in the Bishop Field Office. Please act now to prevent a disaster by closing these five grazing allotments that pose the highest risk to survival of the endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep.

http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/nrdcaction_062409