February 2022
Save the Date: Spring Fling
Mark your calendars and plan to join us on Thursday, April 28th for our fourth annual Spring Fling fundraiser at Stone Eagle! This fun-filled evening is a great time to mingle with fellow bighorn sheep lovers while contributing to the Institute’s conservation efforts. Invitations will be mailed later in March so stay tuned!
Annual Membership Meeting
Bighorn Institute’s Annual Membership Meeting was held February 5th via Zoom and we had a great group of members join us! We reviewed our accomplishments in 2021, plans for 2022 and elected the Board of Directors. Thanks to everyone that was able to join us and fingers crossed, we’ll meet in person next year!
Lamb Update
Lambing is well underway as there are now approximately a dozen lambs in the northern Santa Rosa Mountains of Palm Desert/Rancho Mirage and central Santa Rosa Mountains of La Quinta and a handful of lambs in the San Jacinto Mountains near Palm Springs. There are many ewes showing signs of late-term pregnancy so we expect more lambs to be born soon. We’re in the field daily searching for lambs, but if you’re out hiking and see lambs, please give us a call 760-346-7334 or email us at bi@bighorninstitute.org.
Ewes on the Move
This month, we documented some interesting sheep movements, including between mountain ranges. At least three radio-collared ewes that typically reside in the San Jacinto Mountains were in Cathedral Canyon of the northern Santa Rosa Mountains with other unmarked sheep and their lambs. This is nearly 4 miles from the closest canyon in Palm Springs. This is particularly interesting because ewes typically don’t cross mountain ranges as readily as rams and because these lambs now know of this area as part of their home range (area where they live).
We also saw a radio-collared ewe that normally resides in Carrizo Canyon near Palm Desert in Cathedral Canyon with other sheep. That’s around 8 miles away as the crow flies! It’s been neat to see as the herds have grown over the years how they’ve expanded their habitat use. We’ll keep you posted on any future sheep movements of interest. (Pictured: The lower ewe, from Carrizo Canyon near Palm Desert, in Cathedral Canyon.)
Member Hike
The February Member Hike was pretty exciting as we saw 22 sheep including ewes, lambs and a ram! The next Member Hike will be Thursday, March 17th. We would love to have you join us, but space is limited, no dogs, and you must RSVP for this first come first served hike. To sign up or for more information, please call us at 760-346-7334 or email us at bi@bighorninstitute.org. (Pictured: Some of the sheep we saw!)
Education and Outreach
The Institute had a great opportunity this month for some bighorn education! On February 12th,
Lake Cahuilla hosted their 5th Annual Youth Fishing Clinic and we had an information booth to educate the kids about the bighorn sheep. This was a fun, free event for the kids and we had a great time educating everyone about the sheep.
We’ll also have a booth at the upcoming Wildflower Festival on Saturday, March 5th at the Palm Desert Civic Center Park. It’s a free, fun, family event with a number of exhibits, food, games and more. Come out and see us! (Pictured: Board Member, Judy Sanders, helps with our booth.)
Tour de Palm Springs
The Tour de Palm Springs took place February 12th and we would like to thank all of the walkers/bike riders that participated on our behalf or donated to Bighorn Institute’s team. We appreciate everyone’s support!
Need a Cool Gift? Adopt-a-Bighorn!
Need a unique gift or just want to support the sheep? You can Adopt-a-Bighorn. Lambs are $100 and a ewe or ram is $150 each. Adoptions include a certificate, a 4x6 color photograph of your sheep, a bighorn sheep fact sheet, a year’s subscription to our e-newsletter, and a year’s membership with the Institute. All adoptions are 100% tax-deductible! Visit our website to adopt-a-bighorn: https://www.bighorninstitute.org/adopt-a-bighorn
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