County commissioners listen to plans of sheep augmentation

THOMPSON FALLS – At the County Commissioners office, officials of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks met with the board to discuss the augmentation of big horn sheep in Sanders County.

Jim Williams, Wildlife Program Manager for FWP, explained they plan to remove sheep from Wildhorse Island on the Flathead Reservoir to supplement areas in Sanders and Lincoln Counties.

“We’re looking at having to take 100 sheep off of the island,” said Williams.

The herd that will be supplemented makes its home on Gray Mountain in the Cabinet Wilderness, a space of land located on Forest Service turf.

Williams explained predation and deep snow are always substantial issues that need to be dealt with in deeply forested wilderness type habitats.

“We would like to augment that herd,” said Williams explaining that augmentation is different from a transplant. Currently they are looking at augmenting the herd with about 50 sheep that would be captured by a helicopter net gun operation.

The capturing of the sheep would take place in either January or February because as Wildlife Biologist of Thompson Falls, Bruce Sterling, explained that time period is the best time for sheep to be transported.

“One of the problems when you capture sheep is they overheat. So if you have really warm temperatures you’re going to have a high mortality rate. It’s not the ideal time but it’s probably the best time to be doing it,” said Sterling.

Senator Jennifer Fielder from District 7 asked the FWP officials at the meeting whether the augmentation would cause traffic problems like the ones the county is currently experiencing on Highway 200.

Williams said that every time you move new sheep into an area, whether it be 10 or 100, he expects about half of them to move back.

“I think there’s a temporary risk anytime you move any animal. In terms of sheep camping on the roads, we’ve done a lot of augmentations here when we needed it and we never had that happen yet,” said Williams.

Williams explained the ideal winter range for the sheep is above on the upper slopes of Gray Mountain where the herd typically remains from January to March and for the remainder of the time, they are usually in the wilderness.

“It’s a little different than what you see in Thompson Falls with the local herd here and the salt (on the roads),” said Williams.

Recently a new speed limit was introduced on Highway 200 between Plains and Thompson Falls because of the risk of mortalities of both sheep and humans on the highway.

Sterling recommended that the local herd in Thompson Falls not be augmented until the highway is either rebuilt or proper fencing is put in place.

According to Sterling, one section of the highway near the Thompson River Bridge is scheduled to be rebuilt next year and fencing is also in the reconstruction designs.