August 2026

Bighorn Institute
Aug 31
3 min read

Wine Down Wednesday September 16th

Join us for a Wine Down Wednesday FUNdraiser September 16^th from 5:00 – 7:00pm at Shadow Mountain Golf Club in Palm Desert to support the sheep! Hosted by The Fanatic 102.9, KOOL 95.9 and Q102.3 Classic Rock this fun mixer features wine tasting and appetizers for just $20 (cash only)! We’ll also have a raffle with great prizes so hope to see you there! All proceeds benefit the endangered Peninsular bighorn!

Crossing Ranges

Last year, a ewe from the Rancho Mirage area of the northern Santa Rosa Mountains (NSRM) crossed ranges to the San Jacinto Mountains (SJM) in Palm Springs a couple of times then came “home” by the end of December. She has remained in the NSRM all year, but her collar became non-functional sometime in late April and we haven’t seen her since. That all changed recently when we found her in the SJM with other ewes and rams and confirmed her collar had failed, but she had crossed ranges again and was back in Palm Springs apparently living the good life. It will be hard to know when exactly she crosses back since we no longer have a way to track her, but we’re out seeing sheep in both ranges often enough that hopefully, we’ll see her again soon. We’re glad to know she’s healthy and well and it’s incredible that she continues to cross ranges, a rare event for ewes who don’t usually travel as far. We’ll keep you posted.

*NSRM ewe at the top with SJM ewes in the Palm Springs mountains

Untrackable

August was a crazy month for radio-collar failures in our study area. Normally, radio-collars should last 5-7 years, but several collars recently failed after just a couple of years so we’re no longer able to track these sheep. This is unfortunate not only for our long-term research studies, but because there are only a small portion (roughly 30% of the ewe population) that wears functional collars allowing us to keep track of them and the rest of the herd. There are also just a few token rams collared to track their movements since they typically range farther than the ewes. We had 4 sheep (2 rams and 2 ewes) whose collars failed this month, at least one collared animal in each of our three study areas. Hopefully, these sheep will stay hooked up with other functioning collared sheep so we can see how they’re doing.

*A now non-functional collared ram in the range

Trails in Summer

The Coachella Valley has hundreds of miles of trails and many of these are heavily used during summer…by bighorn sheep! While the trails are largely void of people during the hot summer months, the sheep take advantage of this fact and use many of the trails that run through their habitat. While tracking sheep recently, it was incredible to see all of the sheep tracks and scat along the trails. Bighorn sheep are smart and often take the “path of least resistance,” such as a trail. Sheep typically kick out a smooth bedding spot, so the trails provide an excellent smooth spot pre-made for them. It’s nice to see the sheep getting to take advantage of their habitat without having to vie for a spot on the mountain with our many trail users during the season.

*A ewe and yearling ram after moving off of a local trail

Rain

It’s been a hot, dry year with our last rainfall in February, but we finally got some rain this month! In early August, we got 0.2 inches of rain, which isn’t much, but it’s precipitation in a literal dry, dry desert! You have to focus on the positive and take whatever you can get! We hope to get more rain in the next couple of months and that there will soon be more green-up in the mountains for the sheep!

*We're all dreaming of cooler, greener times ahead

Other Ways to Support BI

Want to help support the sheep and offset extra income tax?! Bighorn Institute is able to receive your required minimum distributions (RMD) and stock donations. These are easy ways to support our research and conservation efforts for the endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep AND pay less taxes, a win-win! If you’re interested in donating and have questions, please email us bi@bighorninstitute.org or call 760-346-7334.