2009 Bighorn Institute Golf Classic
On November 22nd and 23rd we held our annual Golf
Classic fund-raiser. Once again, the tournament was held at Stone
Eagle Golf Club with the pre-tournament party at The Reserve. The
fund-raiser was a success and raised much-needed funds for the
Institute’s research and conservation efforts for the endangered
Peninsular bighorn sheep. We are sincerely grateful to all who helped
make the Golf Classic a success.
Recent Rain
The Coachella Valley received a mere two inches of
rain in 2009, half of which didn’t come until late December.
However, 2010 is off to a very wet start. The Valley received an
entire year’s worth of rain (over 4 inches) during 6 consecutive
days in mid-January! The recent rain has provided the mountains with
lush green plant growth and replenished water sources. The bighorn
sheep are taking advantage of this new forage, which has arrived just
in time for lambing season.
A beautiful double rainbow appeared after
the rain.
Wild Peninsular Bighorn Population Update
We are pleased to report that there were no collared
bighorn mortalities in the northern Santa Rosa Mountains (NSRM) in
2009. However, there were a number of rams and a ewe that we have not
seen for a few years that we censored out of the population at the
end of December. It’s not to say that these sheep are dead, they
may be elsewhere in the range, but they no longer inhabit the herds
we track. One female lamb survived to yearling age so there are now
approximately 63 adult bighorn in the NSRM (35 females and 28 males).
In the San Jacinto Mountains (SJM) we documented 5
collared bighorn mortalities in 2009. Four lambs (2F, 2M) survived to
yearling age and are now counted as adults. There are now
approximately 28 adult bighorn in the SJM (16 females, and 12 males).
A collared ewe and yearling ram in the SJM.
This yearling was one of the lambs that
survived to yearling age.