September 2026

21 hours ago

3 min read

2026 Annual Party and Golf Classic Fundraiser

Invitations are in the mail and our website is ready to receive your online entries for our 2026 Annual Party and Golf Classic Sunday and Monday, November 15th and 16th at Stone Eagle! Local KESQ Chief Meteorologist and radio personality, Patrick Evans, will be our Master of Ceremonies while the Frank DiSalvo will provide entertainment for the Annual Party! It will be a night to remember followed by an exciting day of golf hosted by golf legend, Dave Stockton!

We are looking for sponsors for various party and golf expenses (please email us if interested) and have Platinum, Gold and Silver Sponsorships available for $5,000, $2,500 and $1,000. Sponsorships are tax-deductible and include party tickets, golf spots or both as well as notoriety in all event materials! The Annual Party and Golf Classic is the Institute’s primary fundraiser and raises funds to support our research and conservation efforts for the endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep. We hope to see you there!

Click here to sign up

Wine Down Wednesday a Success

The Institute was the charity of choice for the Wine Down Wednesday fundraiser on September 16^th at Shadow Mountain Golf Club, and it was a great success! There was a nice turnout and guests enjoyed good food, drinks and fun raffles. Special thanks to Meg and Todd Marker and Marker Broadcasting for choosing the Institute for this event and supporting the sheep. Thanks so much to all who came out!

*Lovely ladies ready to greet guests! Thanks, gals, for volunteering your time!

Water Source Clean-Up

There are eight man-made water sources in the northern Santa Rosa Mountains near Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert and we’re charged with checking their functionality and clearing out overgrown vegetation to avoid ambush situations by predators. In late September, we spent two mornings digging out invasive fountain grass and trimming arrowweed to clear the area below one of these water sources. While bighorn sheep can go months without physically drinking water in winter and up to three days in over 100˚ temperatures, they can be more vulnerable when they do choose to drink. Most water sources are in low spots in canyons making them susceptible to predators. Bighorn may spend an hour looking around checking for danger before committing to drink. It was hard work clearing out the overgrown vegetation making it a safer place for the sheep to drink, but well worth the effort!

*Before and after the cleanup - the water catchment is between the boulders.

Community Science Collaborative Presentation

This month, we gave a presentation to the Community Science Collaborative about the Institute and the sheep. We were pleased to speak to a group of folks that are volunteering their time working as citizen scientists. Not all scientific information needs to come from scientists; you can make a difference with nature and wildlife by getting involved in citizen science! You can help us out by logging your sheep sightings in Bighorn Institute’s project in iNaturalist, a free website and app. Visit our website for more information iNaturalist Project | bighorninstitute

We always enjoy sharing what we do and helping people learn more about the sheep. If you would like a bighorn sheep presentation for your group, give us a call (760-346-7334) or email us (bi@bighorninstitute.org); we’d love to come talk to you!