Wildlife

Catalina Bighorn Sheep Reintroduction Project

This page includes joint updates from the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the Catalina Bighorn Advisory Committee on the Catalina Bighorn Sheep Reintroduction Project.

Project Goal

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.

Questions and Answers about the Project

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Bighorn lambs & ewes in Santa Catalinas
One of three new-born bighorn lambs in the Santa Catalinas

Learn more at www.facebook.com/CatalinaBighorns.

Project Status Updates

Summary Table of Bighorn Sheep Translocation Efforts in Arizona
Table of bighorn sheep translocation efforts in Arizona, showing repatriation areas, translocation years, number of bighorn sheep moved, and time elapsed until each population was considered established.

Catalina Bighorn Advisory Committee
Visit the Committee’s website
 

Additional Information

• “Bighorn sheep project needs patience but moves in right direction,” an op-ed from the Arizona Daily Star, May 8, 2014, written by three members of the Catalina Bighorn Advisory Committee (Randy Serraglio from the Center for Biological Diversity; Mike Quigley of The Wilderness Society; and Brian Dolan of the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society)
• Forest Service updates bighorn sheep management area map; Restrictions remain in effect (Forest Service news release from Jan. 24, 2014)
• Game and Fish Director Larry Voyles’ op-ed column from the Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, Dec. 27, 2013
• Catalina Bighorn Advisory Committee's op-ed column in the Arizona Daily Star, July 5, 2013
• Initial press release about the project, May 29, 2013
• View video of a desert bighorn sheep ewe in the Santa Catalina Mountains, observed by Arizona Game and Fish Department biologists.
• View video of a bighorn ram near ewes in the Santa Catalina Mountains.
• View meeting materials from the Catalina Bighorn Advisory Committee provided on Nov. 6, 2014 as a result of a public records request. The records include attendance lists, agendas, meeting minutes and informal personal notes from the meetings. View public records.