Full Curl

The exploitation of the West pushed wild sheep into remnant ranges and decimated their numbers. But values are changing. For a growing number of people, just knowing that healthy herds of wild sheep are still a part of our natural heritage adds to the quality of their lives. Indeed, the sight of wild sheep is heart-pounding excitement, and providing memories for a lifetime and stories to tell grandchildren. Full Curl is your invitation to be a partner in management of wild sheep on your national forests.

Sheep Maps 2017 Sheep Show in Reno Dates: January 19 - 21, 2017 Facility: Reno-Sparks Convention Center, Reno, NV Registration - Online This is the Wild Sheep Foundation convention. There are no agency specific meetings, as is often found at other partner meetings (e.g., RMEF, TWTF, etc.). The Wild Sheep Foundation does one major fundraiser a year and this is it. There will be a WAFWA bighorn sheep working group meeting and a wildlife professionals meeting in conjunction with this event. Forest Service/Full Curl will have a booth again this year. Come by our booth and find about Wild Sheep and Goats on your national forests.	Find-A-Photo: Bighorn Sheep by Bruce Thompson, BLM	Wild Sheep In the News Catalina Bighorn Sheep Reintroduction Project The goal of the project is to establish a self-sustaining population of bighorn sheep in the Catalina Mountains that coexists with resident predators without administrative intervention. Bighorn sheep are being reintroduced because the Catalina Mountains are a part of their historical range; the project is trying to restore them to a natural ecosystem that they were an important part of for thousands of years. As long as one of its key pieces—bighorn sheep--is missing, the ecosystem is in some ways incomplete. Arizona Game & Fish Award Winning Program Wild Sheep Foundation: Federal Outstanding Statesman Award - Melanie Woolever, R2, (former) Wildlife Program Leader, and Full Curl program lead, won the WSF Award in 1998 and again in 2015. Melanie is the only person to recieve this award twice for cooperative work benefitting wild sheep throughout her career with the Forest Service. This award has also been given to former USFS Chief, Dr. Jack Ward Thomas (1997) and President George Bush (1990). In 2012 Melanie was inducted into the WSF Wild Sheep Biologist Wall of Fame. Find-A-Photo: Devil's Canyon
Publications: Recommendations for Domestic Sheep and Goat Management in Wild Sheep Habitat 2012; Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) - Wild Sheep Working Group

Inventories of occupied and vacant habitats help establish priorities for range restoration or restocking only. Keeping track of sheep with the aid of collars and radio transmitters helps biologists learn of their movements and home range needs.

Water

Sheep are absent from even the best forage and cover when water is not available. Developing springs and installing watering devices such as catch dams, holding tanks and "guzzlers" are the kind of projects that volunteer partners make possible.

Goals of Full Curl

1. Restore the quality and quantity of wild sheep habitat to generate an increase of 150 percent in population and 300 percent in recent recreational opportunities.
2. Foster partnership, cooperation and understanding among government bodies, private organizations, landowners and the general public in support of wild sheep conservation.
3. Provide opportunities to participate in habitat restoration through volunteer efforts and financial contributions.
4. Implement US. Forest Service plans to achieve wild sheep management objectives.

Partnerships

Other partners in this program are the State wildlife agencies of AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, ND, NM, NV, OR, SD, WA, and WY.

How you can be a Partner too!

• Join the Wild Sheep Foundation or any of their local chapers and affiliates.
• Look for a future posting, at this site, on new and on going field work needing volunteers.
• Start watching sheep in the wild! You can also find locations for viewing wildlife, plants and fish through our NatureWatch Viewing Sites website at 'iNature'.
  

Sheep Biology

• Desert Bighorn Council
• Northern Wild Sheep and Goat Council
• Wild Sheep Foundation - Curriculum for Educators

References & Publications

• A Review of Disease-related Conflicts Between Domestic Sheep and Goats and Bighorn Sheep; Schommer, Timothy J.; Woolever, Melanie M. 2008; RMRS-GTR-209
  See comments at top of page. RMRS no longer makes this GTR available even though the court order does not preclude the underlying scientific literature reviewed by the Payette Principles Committee nor the scientific literature referenced in this GTR.
  
  Research between bighorn sheep and domestic sheep and goats can lead to respiratory disease and fatal pneumonia in bighorn sheep. We reviewed experimental methods and evidence regarding respiratory disease in bighorn sheep relative to domestic sheep and goats based upon the contact hypothesis and categorized by experimental approach. Although efforts to identify organisms causing pneumonia in bighorn sheep following contact with domestic sheep have identified multiple bacteria species, the complete range of mechanisms/causal agents leading to epizootic disease events are not completely understood. However, based upon the effect of disease transmission, spatial and/or temporal separation between domestic sheep and goats and bighorn sheep is prudent when the management objective is to maintain bighorn sheep populations.
  
  
• A Process for Finding Management Solutions to the Incompatibility Between Domestic and Bighorn Sheep; Tom Schommer and Melanie Woolever; (white paper) August 2001; 742 KB pdf
  Download pdf file
  
  
• Transmital Letter of the final Bighorn/Domestic Sheep document; 19 KB pdf
  Download pdf file
  
  
• Selenium/pH/Precipitation/Sheep Lamp Survival; 21.4 KB pdf
  Download pdf file
  
  

Learn More

You can find out more about Wild Sheep by contacting one of these organizations:

Wild Sheep Foundation 412 Pronghorn Trail Bozeman, MT 59718 Phone: 406.404.8750

Western Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies Mike Cox - Wild Sheep Working Group Chair Nevada Department of Wildlife 6980 Sierra Center Pkwy, Suite 120 Reno, NV 89511 Office Phone: 775-688-1556 Email: mcox@ndow.org

Full Curl Coordinator for the Forest Service

VACANT
USDA Forest Service

Updated 11.08.16