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More than $250,000 was raised in early 2003 to fund programs to help reestablish and manage bighorn sheep herds in Utah. The money came from the sale of conservation hunting permits at two conventions hosted by the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep (FNAWS).
Utah has a flourishing bighorn sheep population because of hard work by the Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) and FNAWS, said Jim Karpowitz, big game coordinator for the DWR. Utah is home to more than 4,000 bighorn sheep. That total includes more than 3,000 desert bighorns, more than 1,000 Rocky Mountain bighorns and about 200 California bighorns.
Most of Utah's desert bighorns live in the deserts of southern Utah, while Rocky Mountain bighorns are found mostly along the Green River corridor (from Flaming Gorge to the city of Green River) and on Timpanogos and Provo peaks near Provo. California bighorns live on the Newfoundland Mountains and Antelope Island State Park in northern Utah.
Sheep can sometimes be seen while boating on Flaming Gorge Reservoir, floating the Green River and hiking in some parts of the San Rafael Swell.
During the past 20 years, more than 1,000 bighorn sheep have been transplanted to areas of historic habitat within Utah. Bighorns for these transplant projects have come from both outside the state and from areas within Utah. "During that time, our bighorn sheep populations have tripled," he said. "In some other states bighorn sheep populations are declining, but in Utah they continue to do well."
Karpowitz says bighorn sheep are very drought-tolerant, so he doubts Utah's current drought will cause them major problems. "They were here thousands of years before we arrived and are pretty tolerant of Utah drought," he said.
Everything that's happening with bighorn sheep in Utah is very satisfying to Karpowitz, who calls bighorn sheep "a truly magnificent animal."
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