WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:03.319 Welcome to More Outdoors on News Top five sixty k 2 00:00:03.560 --> 00:00:06.599 lv I. This is Chester Moore and I'm super excited 3 00:00:06.599 --> 00:00:09.199 to have my friend Kevin Hurley. He is vice president 4 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:13.599 of Conservation with the Wild Sheep Foundation, and Wild Sheep 5 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:19.320 Foundation just released the Conservation Impact Document that details their 6 00:00:19.399 --> 00:00:23.600 granted aid projects doing all kinds of conservation work for 7 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:25.239 wild sheeap around the country. 8 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:27.679 So welcome to the program. Kevin. 9 00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:29.440 Yeah, thanks, good morning, Chester. 10 00:00:30.359 --> 00:00:32.759 We were just together it seemed like yesterday, but a 11 00:00:32.759 --> 00:00:36.920 couple of weeks ago at this point in Alpine, Texas 12 00:00:36.920 --> 00:00:39.840 and then El Paso for sort of one of the 13 00:00:39.880 --> 00:00:43.439 highlights of this conservation Impact document the restoration of desert 14 00:00:43.479 --> 00:00:45.159 big horns of the Franklin Mountains. 15 00:00:45.479 --> 00:00:47.359 It was only two weeks ago, but it seems a 16 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:50.200 whole lot longer ago than that. We have a standing 17 00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:53.960 joke that as as the sheep world turns, it turns rapidly. 18 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:55.640 I like it. I like it. 19 00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:58.280 So this program has been something that's. 20 00:00:58.079 --> 00:01:00.799 Sort of been in the works for a long time 21 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:03.719 where the Franklin Mountains that literally are in the city 22 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:06.239 of El Paso haven't had desert big horns for over 23 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:10.400 one hundred years. A great area to restore populations from 24 00:01:10.599 --> 00:01:15.799 Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area. But this this was really 25 00:01:15.799 --> 00:01:19.599 if a crucial timing on this because of something that 26 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:22.120 hit Texas a few years ago. We're gonna be talking 27 00:01:22.120 --> 00:01:24.680 about this and other project. Let's talk about get it 28 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:28.079 out of the way. Micae Plasma ovineumonia. Yeah, let's talk 29 00:01:28.120 --> 00:01:30.480 a little bit about that and how that impacts wild cheap. 30 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:35.319 That's a mouthful. Michael or m OV is the acronym 31 00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:42.200 everybody uses our abbreviation, and so basically it's a respiratory 32 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:48.079 bacterium that the first thing it does is it compromises 33 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:55.480 the little beating hair cecilia in an animal's windpipe, whether 34 00:01:55.480 --> 00:01:58.439 it's a human or a bighorn shape or whatever. And 35 00:01:58.519 --> 00:02:03.239 so when those sillia, those little hairs are beating up, 36 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:04.920 you know, that's when you know and I could you 37 00:02:05.159 --> 00:02:09.479 cough up if we had some cooties and some something 38 00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:12.280 we had to get rid of. But MOV tends to 39 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:17.439 compromise those sillia, and so it affects any other pathogens 40 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:21.400 that can get in and into the air way. They 41 00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:25.080 don't have that defense mechanism, and so a lot of times, 42 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:27.879 you know when a while like bat does a knee 43 00:02:27.879 --> 00:02:30.960 cropsy on a dead big orange sheep, they'll open it 44 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:33.560 up and look at the lungs, and they might refer 45 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:37.280 to the consolidation in the in the lungs as fifteen 46 00:02:37.319 --> 00:02:40.800 percent or forty percent or seventy five percent consolidated. And 47 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:44.120 basically what that means is all the fluids and all 48 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:47.759 the junk that goes into the into the lungs, they 49 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:52.039 can't get it out, and so unfortunately those animals sadly 50 00:02:52.199 --> 00:02:55.919 die of their own bodily fluids. They basically drowned. And 51 00:02:56.080 --> 00:02:59.960 so it's a it's a real issue in wild sheep 52 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:01.599 conservation around the West. 53 00:03:02.919 --> 00:03:05.800 And it is believed to be the main reason that 54 00:03:06.199 --> 00:03:10.919 wild sheep numbers, especially big one populations went down dramatically 55 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:13.599 from the eighteen hundreds until like up to the nineteen 56 00:03:13.639 --> 00:03:15.319 fifties before recovery kind of began. 57 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:20.719 It is, you know, and if you look at early 58 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:25.080 guestimates and early maps that showed where mountain sheep occurred 59 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:29.080 in the western US and Canada and Mexico prior to 60 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:33.120 eighteen fifty, it was pretty incredible, you know, really widespread distribution. 61 00:03:34.199 --> 00:03:37.560 And back then, of course, nobody had any ability to 62 00:03:37.639 --> 00:03:42.319 fly or you know, conduct periodic surveys or systematic surveys 63 00:03:42.960 --> 00:03:45.719 come up with a population estimate. So there was an 64 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:50.960 early naturalist, Ernest Thompson Thompson Seaton that published a series 65 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:53.319 of books in nineteen twenty eight called The Lives of 66 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:57.599 Game Animals and his Best Guestimate, and that clearly is 67 00:03:57.639 --> 00:04:00.319 what it was. He figured there was one and a 68 00:04:00.360 --> 00:04:03.840 half to two million big own sheep in the West. Well, 69 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:09.000 you know, nobody can validate that number, and it was 70 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:12.360 the seat of his levi's back then that he made 71 00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:18.920 that estimate. But suffice it to say, wild cheap numbers 72 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:24.160 in the western US decreased dramatically, so that by the 73 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:29.879 nineteen fifties there was an estimated fifteen to seventeen thousand 74 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:34.040 left in the Western States. So that's an even if 75 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:37.639 Seaton's estimate of one and a half million was close 76 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:41.240 to correct, that was a ninety nine percent reduction down 77 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:46.000 to fifteen thousand, and so whether it was a ninety 78 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:48.600 eight or a ninety seven or a ninety five percent decline, 79 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:52.639 it was a dramatic decline and reduction in wild sheep 80 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:58.759 numbers and distribution across the West. Prior to what I 81 00:04:58.759 --> 00:05:03.199 would call Europeans settlement opening up the West, early mountain 82 00:05:03.240 --> 00:05:08.639 and early explorers, railroad crews, all the folks that came west, 83 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:12.399 and with them they brought their livestock. Obviously they needed 84 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:18.120 that and you know, for not only ranching for themselves, 85 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:21.519 but also meat for these railroad crews. And you know, 86 00:05:21.639 --> 00:05:24.319 you had to feed an army of hungry railroad workers. 87 00:05:25.319 --> 00:05:29.720 And so there was some unlimited hunting. You know, back then, 88 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:32.959 it wasn't hunting, it was subsistence, and so you know, 89 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:38.680 mountain sheep are very tasty, and so there was unregulated 90 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:44.759 take back then. And there were also large predators, you know, 91 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:48.639 that roamed the landscape, and they certainly co evolved with sheep, 92 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:50.600 and they knew how to take a sheep if they 93 00:05:50.600 --> 00:05:54.120 could get it. Mountain lions, maybe, coyotes on lambs, golden 94 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:59.399 eagles on lambs, wolves in some places, grizzlies in other places. 95 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:06.120 But with the introduction of domestic livestock, particularly domestic sheep 96 00:06:06.639 --> 00:06:11.319 or grazing, you know, these some of these respiratory bacteria 97 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:16.600 are I won't say endemic, but they're they're pretty ubiquitous 98 00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:21.959 in domestic sheep, and obviously their industry and their producers 99 00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:27.040 deal with their challenges weight gain shipping fever some people 100 00:06:27.079 --> 00:06:31.879 call it, but you know, they've been able to manage 101 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:37.399 that in their industry. But my analogy says, similar to 102 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:42.560 some of the pathogens that European settlers brought to Native 103 00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:46.720 Americans in the West, smallpox, cholera, things like that that 104 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:50.879 they had no natural resistance to. I think it's pretty 105 00:06:50.920 --> 00:06:55.519 analogous to the situation with domestic sheep and whatever pathogen 106 00:06:55.600 --> 00:06:59.279 load they brought with them and introduced some of those 107 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:02.360 too naive bighorn sheep in the West. 108 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:07.240 Yeah, and Texas had got its population back up, Texas 109 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:11.360 being on the eastern fringe of desert big Horn range 110 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:15.639 late eighteen hundreds estimates maybe fifteen hundred to two thousand, 111 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:18.600 and in twenty nineteen it was around fifteen hundred or so. 112 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:23.040 And then we had a disease event. But this disease 113 00:07:23.079 --> 00:07:25.319 event seems to be a little bit different because of 114 00:07:25.319 --> 00:07:29.800 the cause of the disease. What transferred to them a 115 00:07:29.879 --> 00:07:33.439 non indigenous animal called the awdad or the barbary sheep, 116 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:37.399 which was actually stocked in Texas in the nineteen fifties 117 00:07:37.399 --> 00:07:40.519 for hunting purposes and this has kind of created a 118 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:42.639 crucial situation for desert big horns. 119 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:46.319 It has. And so if you look at the Texas 120 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:50.079 desert big horn numbers through time, you know their numbers 121 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:54.240 and distribution shrenk and so I think, you know, maybe 122 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:58.959 they were pretty much eliminated extra paint from West Texas yep. 123 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:03.199 And then starting maybe in the fifties and sixties, with 124 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:09.360 you know, some captive breeding facilities and some propagation facilities 125 00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:12.399 that Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in the Texas Big 126 00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:16.800 Own Society and private landowners ranchers in West Texas worked 127 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:21.279 collaboratively to have enough sheep to put back on the landscape. 128 00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:25.519 And as you said, between say, just take an arbitrary 129 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:30.560 number of nineteen sixty till twenty nineteen, West Texas had 130 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:34.600 increased its desert big win populations to maybe add or 131 00:08:34.600 --> 00:08:38.440 above their historic highs, you know, fifteen hundred and eighteen hundred, 132 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:41.679 whatever the right number was, and now unfortunately it's down 133 00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:47.879 around maybe five to six hundred left. And so I 134 00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:54.000 think some of the evaluations that have gone on in 135 00:08:54.039 --> 00:08:58.120 other Western states and provinces have said, you know that 136 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:00.919 this contact with domestic sheep and then if you get 137 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:04.600 infected big horns coming in contact with naive bighorns. There's 138 00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:10.120 also the pathogen transmission risk. But odd AD seemed to 139 00:09:10.120 --> 00:09:16.159 be implicated pretty significantly in the West Texas situation. As 140 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:20.279 you said, you know, and we can't we can't criticize 141 00:09:20.360 --> 00:09:22.519 folks fifty sixty years ago. They did the best thing, 142 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:27.600 and so TPWD when they brought ODDAD into Texas, I 143 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:32.720 think in Paladero Canyon introduced them there. Well, if they 144 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:35.360 could put that genie back in the bottle now, they 145 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:39.480 probably would. It's you know, that genie's been out for 146 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:43.360 six decades and the numbers I keep here in is 147 00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:47.000 maybe there are twenty thousand odd AD in the transpenkos 148 00:09:47.080 --> 00:09:49.120 and statewide. I don't know how many. 149 00:09:49.320 --> 00:09:51.679 When we come back, we'll talk more with Kevin Hurley 150 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:55.559 from the Wild Sheep Foundation about Texas bighorns and more 151 00:09:55.960 --> 00:09:59.320 here on More Outdoors on These Talk five sixty klv I. 152 00:10:00.919 --> 00:10:03.639 Welcome back to More Outdoors on These Talk five sixty 153 00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:08.240 k LVI. This is Chester Moore continuing our conversation with 154 00:10:08.360 --> 00:10:10.799 Kevin Hurley from the Wild Sheep Foundation. 155 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:15.039 The Wild Cheap Foundation, Texas Biggorns Society, and others have 156 00:10:15.159 --> 00:10:19.120 helped fund some research into looking at, well, what pathogens 157 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:23.840 do odd AD carrey and is there a risk there? 158 00:10:23.879 --> 00:10:26.759 And so some work at Texas A and M by 159 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:29.960 doctor Walt Cook, a longtime colleague of mine from when 160 00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:32.080 his days in Wyoming when I worked for Wyoming Game 161 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:37.000 and Fish, and his graduate student Logan Thomas. They looked 162 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:41.679 at Colemingland situations where they had some odd Ad and 163 00:10:41.720 --> 00:10:47.039 some desert bighorn in captivity and not right on top 164 00:10:47.080 --> 00:10:50.399 of each other, but separated. Well, it seems like they 165 00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:53.919 shared a water source, maybe there was a creek or 166 00:10:53.919 --> 00:10:57.320 some drainage that went through. And so a lot of 167 00:10:57.320 --> 00:11:02.840 work since then looking at is that the athogen transfer passway, 168 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:06.120 is it through water is whatever? But the thing with 169 00:11:06.200 --> 00:11:10.159 thought ad kind of like domestic sheep. Maybe they've had 170 00:11:10.840 --> 00:11:15.080 MV or similar pathogens and they've adapted to them, so 171 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:19.399 it's present, but it doesn't really, you know, crush their populations. 172 00:11:19.720 --> 00:11:23.639 But when that's introduced to a naive population of desert 173 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:27.759 big ones, say it Black Gap or somewhere in Texas, yeah, boom, 174 00:11:27.799 --> 00:11:31.000 things you know start tipping over. And so it's been 175 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:35.159 tragic to watch the climb back to add or above 176 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:37.480 historic numbers, and then, like you said, in the last 177 00:11:37.559 --> 00:11:42.320 five years, numbers have dropped like a rock from historic 178 00:11:42.360 --> 00:11:44.639 highs down to five hundred or fewer. 179 00:11:44.840 --> 00:11:48.200 Yeah, and this is where the Wild Cheap Foundation, Texas 180 00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:51.759 Big Horns Society, collaborating the Texas Parks and Wildlife and 181 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:55.519 other groups we're going to talk about come together. Elephant Mountain, 182 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:57.639 Wildlife and an instrument area in your alpine is sort 183 00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:00.759 of the epicenter of the Texas Desert Big One program. 184 00:12:01.240 --> 00:12:03.960 It was believed that it's a clean herd in terms. 185 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:07.600 Of disease, and there was going to capture happened two 186 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:10.279 weeks ago to take animals from there and transfer them 187 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:13.360 into the Franklin Mountains in El Paso, which Parks and 188 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:16.360 Wallace says are odd Dad free. But let's talk now 189 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:20.200 about what wild Sheet Foundation does, what kind of support 190 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:23.320 I know, financially, but otherwise, how does wild Sheet Foundation 191 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:24.960 get involved in a project like this. 192 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:27.759 Well, let me get to that in a second. But 193 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:31.240 one thing I do want to note in the Texas 194 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:35.200 scenario is Elephant Mountain has been like you said, these 195 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:38.720 sources of the go to population for TPWD and TBS 196 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:42.759 and others to work on transplants, and so I always 197 00:12:42.759 --> 00:12:45.000 call my brother from a different mother. But Clay Brewer, 198 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:46.759 he was the head of the there's a bigg Round 199 00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:51.559 program for TPWD in West Texas for long time, and 200 00:12:51.639 --> 00:12:55.679 so he and I worked on a collaborative collection of 201 00:12:55.720 --> 00:12:59.360 all the transplant information in the Western States and provinces. 202 00:13:00.039 --> 00:13:02.399 Started that in nineteen ninety six and Clai finished it 203 00:13:02.440 --> 00:13:05.799 in twenty fifteen. It's a really cool document that says 204 00:13:06.759 --> 00:13:10.039 where have we moved sheep? And so we did a 205 00:13:10.200 --> 00:13:16.000 jurisdictional or jurisdiction by jurisdiction, we said what did you 206 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:18.960 get from somewhere else? What did you give away in 207 00:13:19.080 --> 00:13:21.360 terms of sheep to elsewhere, and what did you do 208 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:25.759 at home? So we've got a really good publication printed 209 00:13:25.799 --> 00:13:27.759 in twenty fifteen, and as soon as it was printed 210 00:13:27.799 --> 00:13:32.720 it became obsolete because of continuing transports. But as we 211 00:13:32.840 --> 00:13:37.200 drove from Olpaso to Alpine, I had a couple guys 212 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:40.440 with me. We'll talk about in a minute, but I 213 00:13:40.519 --> 00:13:44.840 had them. I printed some pages for them, and basically, 214 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:50.039 in Texas's history up till twenty fifteen, there had been 215 00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:58.639 twenty imports of desert sheep totally fifty one head from Arizona, Nevada, Utah, 216 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:02.000 different source pots, populations to help Texas get back on 217 00:14:02.039 --> 00:14:06.639 their feet. And then I think there were about thirty 218 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:12.120 one transplants done within Texas again to restore sheep to 219 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:15.960 those historic habitats that were still suitable. And so in aggregate, 220 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:19.600 I think fifty one transplants that Texas was involved with 221 00:14:20.279 --> 00:14:24.559 moved about eight hundred or so sheep over a long 222 00:14:24.600 --> 00:14:27.720 period of time forty years or so. So but that's 223 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:30.879 you know, Texas has a good record. And with Texas 224 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:35.039 being ninety seven percent private land, you know, large landowners, 225 00:14:35.080 --> 00:14:38.799 big ranches there, it had to be collaborative and so 226 00:14:40.519 --> 00:14:45.159 TPWD and Texas Big Owners Society, Clay Brewer when he 227 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:47.679 was doing it, and Freila and Hernandez now you know, 228 00:14:48.360 --> 00:14:51.399 got to work with those private landowners, good relations, try 229 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:54.039 and get this done. But in this case, with Franklin 230 00:14:54.039 --> 00:14:58.759 Mountains being a state park, it was within Texas Parks 231 00:14:58.759 --> 00:15:03.240 and wildlifees umbrella so to speak. So their Wildlife Division 232 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:07.080 work with the parks folks and got this transplant set up. 233 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:09.879 It was a long time coming due to some challenges, 234 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:14.159 but anyway, that's just an example of a really well 235 00:15:14.200 --> 00:15:17.840 designed long term It seems like it takes forever to 236 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:20.720 get to where you release the sheep out the back 237 00:15:20.759 --> 00:15:24.399 of a trailer, but it was a good example of 238 00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:28.799 a collaborative project involving a lot of moving parts. And 239 00:15:28.840 --> 00:15:31.159 so the Wild Cheap Foundation we've had a history of that. 240 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:35.320 We're coming up on our forty eighth year of existence. 241 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:40.279 We've actually been in existence since nineteen seventy four, but 242 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:45.200 we were incorporated in nineteen seventy seven, So we're coming 243 00:15:45.240 --> 00:15:48.360 up on our forty eighth convention here in Reno in 244 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:52.879 mid January of twenty five. But you know, our mission 245 00:15:52.919 --> 00:15:56.440 and our motto, our purpose is all about putting and 246 00:15:56.519 --> 00:15:58.960 keeping more wild sheep on the mountain. That's what we're 247 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:06.480 all about. And so annually we get a cavalcade of 248 00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:10.559 requests for conservation projects. It might be water development, it 249 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:13.879 might be prescribed burning, it might be noxious weed treatments. 250 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:19.600 It might be telemetry, coloring, disease surveillance, land protection, land 251 00:16:19.639 --> 00:16:22.919 acquisition easements, you name it. There's a whole spectrum of 252 00:16:23.559 --> 00:16:29.159 kinds of conservation projects that we receive every July, and 253 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:33.159 then we spend much of July excuse me much of 254 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:38.360 August reviewing those and then advancing recommendations to our Board 255 00:16:38.360 --> 00:16:41.799 of Directors for approval. And so by August twenty ninth 256 00:16:41.799 --> 00:16:48.840 of this year, we had twenty two projects totally one 257 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:52.720 point six million dollars that were approved by our board 258 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:58.320 and as involved not only the state and provincial Fish 259 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:02.600 and Wildlife agencies, might be federal land management agencies like 260 00:17:02.679 --> 00:17:05.319 the Bord Service or the Bureau of Land Management. It 261 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:08.680 might be university researchers. It might be consultants, it might 262 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:12.440 be tribes, it might be First Nations in Canada. Again, 263 00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:16.200 a whole spectrum of the kind of projects that we fund, 264 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:21.880 and you know they're not all trap and transplant, sure, 265 00:17:22.039 --> 00:17:24.680 a lot of other different categories. And so this is 266 00:17:24.759 --> 00:17:28.799 just a great example of a project that maybe the 267 00:17:28.839 --> 00:17:32.640 biggest one that Wild Chief Foundation ever committed to, lightly 268 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:36.440 over three hundred thousand dollars, and we had great partnerships 269 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:39.000 that helped us meet that obligation. 270 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:40.799 Sure, let's talk about those. 271 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:42.920 Let's talk about some of those partners because I got 272 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:45.480 to meet a few of those guys out there, representatives 273 00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:48.319 and it's always exciting to see the money come in 274 00:17:48.359 --> 00:17:50.240 for a project, but also kind of see the heart 275 00:17:50.279 --> 00:17:52.440 behind it and what these different partners want to bring 276 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:52.960 to the table. 277 00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:57.200 Well exactly. You know a lot of people it's kind 278 00:17:57.200 --> 00:17:59.400 of like Heaven. I've never been there. I hope to 279 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:01.759 get there some Well, a lot of people have that 280 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:05.799 same aspiration about well maybe someday I might hunt a sheep. 281 00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:10.519 Well here's a chance to help volunteer and lay hands 282 00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:13.680 on one and help maybe put a radio collar on her, 283 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:16.880 hold them still while I vet takes a blood drawer, 284 00:18:17.400 --> 00:18:19.559 you know, attaches a radio collar or something like that. 285 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:24.480 So we had great support. Of course, Texas Bighorns Society 286 00:18:24.519 --> 00:18:28.839 or TBS as I keep referring to. It was instrumental 287 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:32.920 working side by side with TPWD to get this thing going. 288 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:35.880 It was a long I always joke about a long 289 00:18:35.960 --> 00:18:40.920 gestation period. And doctor Sam Cunningham, the president of Texas 290 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:43.480 Biggrown Society here he's a hear, nose and throat doc 291 00:18:43.559 --> 00:18:47.200 in Amarilla. But if he was expecting father handing out cigars, 292 00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:50.319 it'd be like, this is a two year gestation period 293 00:18:50.359 --> 00:18:54.440 to get this baby delivered. Here's a big cigar. But 294 00:18:55.400 --> 00:18:58.960 TBS was huge in their leadership and so we worked 295 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:02.960 with TBS as one of our thirty or so chapters 296 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:07.000 in affiliates the Wild Chief Foundation has scattered around North 297 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:12.000 America and beyond, and so Texas Bigger Own Society and 298 00:19:12.079 --> 00:19:15.519 Texas Park's and Wildlife Department made this request to us, 299 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:18.279 and we said, oh, man, yeah, this is a great 300 00:19:19.960 --> 00:19:22.640 You know, some people referred to it as sort of 301 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:25.720 the last chance or last gasp, the desert cheap in 302 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:28.720 West Texas, and we certainly hope that's not the case. 303 00:19:28.759 --> 00:19:33.240 But it was a well thought out project that appealed 304 00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:38.440 to us because it was releasing desert big horn moving 305 00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:41.200 them from Elephant Mountain over to Franklin Mountain State Park 306 00:19:41.559 --> 00:19:45.319 where it was odd ed free, where it was livestock 307 00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:46.480 free in a state park. 308 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:48.880 When we come back on More Outdoors, we're talking more 309 00:19:48.920 --> 00:19:51.599 with Kevin Hurley of the Wild Sheep Foundation about the 310 00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:55.799 transplant of desert big Horns into Franklin Mountain State Park 311 00:19:55.960 --> 00:20:00.920 in El Paso, Texas. Here More Outdoors. Welcome back to 312 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:03.599 More Outdoors on News Top five sixty kl the This 313 00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:07.599 is Chester More. Download the program via the iHeartRadio app. 314 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:12.000 More Outdoors archives going back several years, continuing our conversation 315 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:14.279 with Kevin Hurley, of the Wild Cheap Foundation. 316 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:17.359 Then we would go work with some of our partners 317 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:20.720 to get the funding to help make this happen on 318 00:20:20.759 --> 00:20:24.960 the ground. And so aside from TBS, the number one 319 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:28.319 partner we had was past pro Shopping Cabella's Outdoor Fund. 320 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:33.839 We've had a long positive relationship with Bella's Outdoor Fund. 321 00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:37.240 I think over the last six years they've they've provided 322 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:40.839 over six hundred thousand US to us to the Wild 323 00:20:40.920 --> 00:20:44.839 Cheap Foundation for a dozen or more projects from British 324 00:20:44.839 --> 00:20:50.720 Columbia down to south West Texas. And so Cabella's Outdoor 325 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:53.599 Fund was able to send a couple of their videographers 326 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:57.440 out and I think those guys went home wishing they'd 327 00:20:57.480 --> 00:21:01.359 brought more storage, more prodible hard drives, because they got 328 00:21:01.400 --> 00:21:04.480 a ton of footage and we're real anxious to see 329 00:21:05.400 --> 00:21:09.559 how that looks. I'm sure they're still unwanted dealing with 330 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:13.759 all that footage that they captured. But our Midwest Chapter 331 00:21:14.119 --> 00:21:16.880 based in the Twin Cities. You know, there's no big 332 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:20.640 Own Cheap in Minneapolis Saint Paul, but there's a lot 333 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:24.319 of wild chief conservationists there and so the Midwest Chapter 334 00:21:25.880 --> 00:21:30.519 was a great partner in helping with this, and they 335 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:32.920 were not able to send anybody there to help on 336 00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:37.480 the actual operation. But another one was the Campfire Conservation 337 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:43.000 on Campfire Conservation Fund of America. They're, you know, based 338 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:46.599 in Upstate New York and a lot of these are 339 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:50.720 I had a chance, maybe a decade ago to go 340 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:54.519 back to Upstate New York. They hosted a meeting there 341 00:21:54.640 --> 00:21:58.359 at their facility, and I mean they have an outdoor bar, 342 00:21:58.440 --> 00:22:01.200 and this is the same bar called the Prairie Dog Saloon. 343 00:22:02.359 --> 00:22:05.119 It's the same bar that you know Teddy Roosevelt leaned 344 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:08.599 his elbow on, and Gifford Pinchot and some of those 345 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:12.559 early conservationists, you know, the Rockefellers, the Roosevelts, the Vanderbilts, 346 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:15.680 you know, wealthy families along the Hudson River that were 347 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:20.640 really the birthplace of the North American conservation movement. And 348 00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:25.599 so they were able to send two of their conservation 349 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:30.400 committee reps, John Warden, Parker Corbin out and I picked 350 00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:32.839 them up in a passo and drove them over and 351 00:22:32.920 --> 00:22:36.759 they spent three days, you know, immersed in a great project. 352 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:42.319 And coincidentally, last night, which would have been Wednesday, the eighteenth, 353 00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:46.759 they presented to their conservation committee sort of a download 354 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:49.359 of what went on, and the feedback I've already gotten 355 00:22:49.400 --> 00:22:54.359 this morning is the Campfire Conservation Committee was thrilled with 356 00:22:54.440 --> 00:22:58.039 that presentation and their participation. So, you know, those are 357 00:22:58.519 --> 00:23:02.559 some of the major, the larger partners that we got. 358 00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:05.240 But I mean there's a whole litany of everybody from 359 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:09.720 the Water for While I Foundation based in Land of 360 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:12.920 Wyoming where I used to work. They helped with some 361 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:18.400 funding for guzzlers that put in over Saint Patting's Day weekend, 362 00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:22.759 and our Eastern chapter, the Wild Chief Foundation based in Lancaster, 363 00:23:22.839 --> 00:23:28.359 PA of all places. Again wildcheap conservationists lived there, and 364 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:31.359 they raise money locally and help invest it in Western 365 00:23:31.400 --> 00:23:34.920 projects so that there are sheep on the mountain and 366 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:38.920 so and then we had Houston Safari Club. Joe Vitar 367 00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:42.400 and his folks helped on this project as well. So 368 00:23:42.440 --> 00:23:46.839 I mean, there's a laundry list of cooperators on this 369 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:51.960 particular project. But to us, it just it takes a 370 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:54.359 whole bunch of folks working together to get something like 371 00:23:54.400 --> 00:23:59.079 this not only planned but pulled off. And congrats to 372 00:23:59.119 --> 00:23:59.799 TPWD and. 373 00:23:59.799 --> 00:24:03.599 T absolutely and that's really the heart of what I 374 00:24:03.640 --> 00:24:05.960 wanted to talk about with this that this is a 375 00:24:05.960 --> 00:24:09.359 lot of people coming together for a conservation cause. A 376 00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:11.519 lot of different ways people get skin in the game 377 00:24:12.039 --> 00:24:16.079 to do something positive for wild sheep, but we're talking 378 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:18.440 about this conservation impact. There's a document can get a 379 00:24:18.440 --> 00:24:20.680 Wild Cheap Foundation dot or I'll put the links up 380 00:24:20.680 --> 00:24:23.279 where they can download the pdf. The document will learn 381 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:26.720 more about the Wild Cheap Foundation also its chapters in 382 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:30.039 affiliate it's like the Texas Big ORNs Society. Incidentally, the 383 00:24:30.039 --> 00:24:32.839 first conservation group I ever joined, when I was nineteen 384 00:24:32.920 --> 00:24:36.319 years old, was the Texas Big Orn Society. I was 385 00:24:36.359 --> 00:24:38.519 at an event. I did not know they had a 386 00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:40.960 society for Texas bighorns at nineteen and I see a 387 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:44.240 full body big horn and it says Texas Big Orn Society. 388 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:45.960 So nineteen year old me, it was like a moth 389 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:48.799 to flame and who would have thunk, you know, years 390 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:51.240 later getting to just see all this sort of happen, 391 00:24:51.680 --> 00:24:53.920 which is which is a beautiful thing. Back then it 392 00:24:53.960 --> 00:24:56.839 was the Wild Cheap Foundation was the foundation for North 393 00:24:56.880 --> 00:25:01.160 American wild sheep. And that's a mouthful, but you know, 394 00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:04.200 Wild Sheep Foundation continues. That's the legacy that's the Wild 395 00:25:04.279 --> 00:25:07.119 Sheep Foundation. You said, it's forty eighth year. 396 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:10.759 Forty Yeah, so you know, the story goes finas is 397 00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:14.440 the acronym foundation from the American Wild Sheep. But people said, 398 00:25:14.440 --> 00:25:19.279 what's the finas well? Back in the story, I always 399 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:23.319 heard on a snowy weekend in February of nineteen seventy four, 400 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:31.480 a bunch of experienced sheep hunters from the Michigan I'm sorry, Minnesota, Wisconsin, 401 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:35.319