THE BIGHORN’S DILEMMA BY MELISSA L. SEVIGNY – This is a VERY interesting article with a bit of insight into the advisory board that Arizona Game and Fish created for this project. In addition to recounting many details of the project the article emphasizes the importance of the diverse groups represented on the advisory board working together and presents a hopeful message that this cooperation will be a model for future projects. With any complex project it is nearly impossible to write an article that represents all view points – for me the missing/under-reported piece of the puzzle is the communication/collaboration with the public. Perhaps it is fair to say that the public component is not the main thrust of this piece… But for me – a member of the public with no ‘insider’ access or information to AZGF or any of the advisory board groups – this is critically important when talking about collaboration/cooperation and from my point of view declaring this project – with the closed meetings and decisions to limit information distribution to the public – a successful model is disappointing perhaps even cause for concern.

Project status update for 5/26 to 6/8 (all updates are currently available here) – there are several very interesting maps included in this update showing some of the Bighorn population in the southern section of the Santa Catalina Mountains overlapping a number of popular trails – this seems like exciting news for hikers who may have a chance to see the sheep. Note that the document continues to mention the trail restrictions – which are designed to help protect the sheep during the lambing season, but are no longer in effect.

Plans on track to reintroduce 30 more Bighorn sheep, no deaths reported in two months – Explorer News – An article about the possible next planned release.