Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) Board/Executive Leadership Team (ELT) member Dan Parkinson received the BHA Aldo Leopold Award for outstanding effort conserving terrestrial wildlife habitat at the BHA North American Rendezvous in Minnesota (on April 20, 2024).

Dan has been a BHA Life Member since 2007. He joined the Colorado BHA Chapter Leadership Team (CLT) as Southwest Regional Director during 2014 and later joined the chapter Executive Leadership Team (ELT)/Board.[1] In 2014 Dan was also serving a two-year stint on the Colorado Sportsmen’s Roundtable. Regardless, he wasted no time taking the initiative on multiple fronts/issues and was recognized as BHA’s Volunteer the Month (VOM) soon thereafter.

“Dan Parkinson, of Vallecito, was recognized as BHA’s Volunteer of the Month for August 2014,” our VOM writeup explained. “Dan, in addition to being Colorado BHA’s Southwest Regional Director, regularly volunteers to attend meetings, write/submit comments on public lands management, and actively engages on multiple conservation-related issues. Dan also served on the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Sportsmen Roundtable Advisory Group.”[2]

Dan is a retired veterinarian with an undergraduate degree in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University. He was a seasonal wildlife technician for the Division of Wildlife (DOW) for several years in the late 1970s and obtained a master’s degree working with DOW on neonatal mortality of captive mule deer fawns in 1982. Dan and his wife Laurie moved to Durango in 1982, where they raised two children and built a family cabin on the nearby Pine River. 

Dan worked for years as a small-animal house-call veterinarian serving a large area of southwest Colorado. Later, he was owner and managing veterinarian of Riverview Animal Hospital in Durango. Today, Dan and Laurie live in Durango. Dan still hunts elk with a traditional longbow and stalks wild trout with a fly rod in backcountry streams. And he continues to apply for a  Colorado Rocky Mountain Bighorn tag.

Executive Summary/Timeline

-Dan Parkinson joins BHA: 2006

-Dan becomes a BHA Life Member: 2007.

-Volunteers as Colorado BHA Southwest Regional Director: 2014.

-Recognized as BHA Member of the Month: August 2014.

-Dan writes Durango Herald grazing/bighorn sheep op-ed (2/11/17): “Closing grazing allotments on Weminuche Landscape essential to promote viable populations of bighorns.”

-Dan starts/founds the Volunteer Signage and Bighorn Observation Program: 2017.

-Serves on Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Bighorn Sheep Working Group, organized in 2017.

-Partners with Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, and Mountain Studies Institute to form the Colorado Bighorn Monitoring Program: 2018.

-Featured in a High Country News story (“Agricultural interests steer Colorado’s wildlife management: Sheep grazing in state’s largest wilderness area could endanger a dwindling bighorn sheep herd”): 8/31/18.

-Southwest Colorado rancher J. Paul Brown agrees to 11,000-acre Endlich Mesa grazing allotment buyout: March 2020.

-Dan drafts/submits a proposed “2021 North American Policy Statement: Reducing Conflict Between Wild Sheep And Domestic Sheep And Goats On Public Lands” to BHA North American Board (from Dan Parkinson/Colorado BHA): 2020 (Adopted on February 8, 2021).

-Southwest Colorado rancher Ernie Etchart agrees to buyout of 10 domestic sheep grazing allotments encompassing over 100,000 acres in the Silverton area: November 2023.

-Bighorn Celebration in Durango: November 2023.

Rocky Mountain Bighorns

Not long after joining the Colorado BHA CLT, Dan decided to focus his BHA-related efforts on southwest Colorado’s bighorn sheep herds. Majestic and agile, the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep is a prominent figure on the steep and jagged walls of Colorado’s canyons. Because of its iconic status, the bighorn was declared Colorado’s state animal in 1961 and, for nearly 100 years, the mighty ram has been the proud symbol for Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s (CPW) logo. Despite its prominence and grandeur, the bighorn was near extinction at the turn of the century.[3]

More than 2 million bighorn sheep roamed the American West in the 1800s, experts estimate. By 1906, uncontrolled hunting and the westward push of civilization had reduced bighorn populations to 15,000.[4] More recently, biologists have connected the demise of bighorns to their contact with the millions of disease-carrying domestic sheep that grazed in the Rocky Mountains by the end of the nineteenth century.[5] Once nearly extinct in Colorado, CPW successfully reintroduced the animals starting in the 1940s.[6]

Bighorn sheep are extremely susceptible to infectious diseases and experience regular outbreaks of pneumonia, usually transmitted from domestic sheep and goats.[7] A 2008 study by Colorado Division of Wildlife scientists showed that a single domestic sheep that wandered onto bighorn winter range caused a die-off of more than 86 bighorns from 1997 to 2000.[8]

Colorado—which harbors nearly 7,000 bighorns, among the largest bighorn populations in the West—is seeking to stop a decade-long decline by limiting the spread of disease and using reintroductions. A critical area is the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado, where domestic sheep grazing is also prevalent on public lands.[9]

“The habitat is huge and excellent, and for years I went out with DWM [District Wildlife Manager] Cary Carron, who kept an eye on that herd,” Colorado BHA founder David Petersen said (in March 2016). “But Cary always said that bighorns have three primary enemies: mountain lions, avalanches, and disease transmission from domestics. Of the three two are natural and can be withstood by a healthy herd, but ‘We’ll never have a healthy herd of bighorns here so long as domestics are grazing their habitat.’”[10]

During February 2017 Dan wrote an op-ed for The Durango Herald (“Closing grazing allotments on Weminuche Landscape essential to promote viable populations of bighorns,” 2/11/17) that was a precursor to his tireless yearslong (and ongoing) efforts to protect and perpetuate Colorado’s iconic bighorn sheep herds.

“The core issue for bighorn management is whether the Forest Service will continue to allow domestic sheep grazing in historic bighorn habitat on the Weminuche Landscape,” Dan said. “Current scientific consensus is that bighorn populations fail to thrive in large measure because of recurrent herd-level respiratory disease outbreaks associated with exposure to domestic sheep.”[11]

“The closure of domestic sheep grazing allotments has been used in other states as an effective management tool to protect and promote viable bighorn populations,” he explained. “In March 2016, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2010 Payette National Forest decision to phase out active sheep grazing permits.”[12]

“Weminuche bighorns are listed by the Forest Service as a sensitive species, meaning there is concern for their long-term viability,” Dan added. “The Vallecito herd (GMU S28), which summers nearest the current active grazing allotments, has struggled to maintain viability and currently numbers only about 60 members … The results of a decision to continue to allow domestic sheep grazing in historic bighorn habitat on the Weminuche Landscape are predictable and potentially catastrophic … Contact between domestic sheep and bighorns eventually will happen – with consistently deadly results for the exposed bighorns.”[13]

Bighorn Observation Program

Then, during the summer of 2017, Dan started the Volunteer Signage and Bighorn Observation Program on the Weminuche Wilderness landscape in southwest Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. Weminuche bighorn sheep are listed by the U.S. Forest Service as a sensitive species, meaning there is concern for their long-term viability. Domestic sheep carry strains of pneumonia that are devastating for bighorn sheep. Terribly, a single outbreak can kill most bighorn sheep in a herd.

The bottom line is that when domestic sheep and bighorn sheep come in contact, the bighorns lose. “Our goal in launching this Bighorn Observation program was to raise awareness of the historic and actual presence of bighorns in the Weminuche,” Dan said. “We wanted to get BHA members and other interested individuals out on the landscape looking for bighorns that may be wandering in or near active domestic sheep grazing allotments.”

“In our first-year effort we found significant interest by sportsmen and other wildlands users in the long-term viability of bighorns in the Weminuche,” Dan added. “However, most of the sportsmen and volunteers we contacted had only limited understanding of the threat that bighorns face from exposure to domestic sheep grazing on their historic home range. Public education is critical moving forward.”

“Bighorn Observers. I proposed and volunteered to organize a boots on the ground campaign to observe and record any bighorn presence on or near the active allotments. The purpose of the effort is to both raise public awareness and keep the heat on the issue and to possibly record movements by foraying bighorns,” Dan explained about his proposal at the time (on 6/27/17).

“The FS and CPW are ready to take action in the event that bighorns are found on the active allotments. The intent of this is not to have any contact/confrontation with the permittee or his sheep … I hope to have volunteers in the field from mid-July through the end of the grazing season.” And the program took off from there, as Dan explains below.

“In 2017, as a leader in Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA), I spearheaded a citizen-science effort to help state and federal agencies gather verifiable observations of the presence of bighorn sheep in and near active domestic sheep grazing allotments in the Weminuche Wilderness,” he said.

“In 2018 BHA joined forces with Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society, and Mountain Studies Institute to form the Colorado Bighorn Monitoring Program which is now active throughout all the San Juan Mountains in SW CO (http://www.mountainstudies.org/bighorn),” he added. “I also participated in the Southwest CO Sheep Solutions Working Group organized by CPW in 2017.”

During August 2018 Dan was featured in a High Country News story by Paige Blankenbuehler (“Agricultural interests steer Colorado’s wildlife management: Sheep grazing in the state’s largest wilderness area could endanger a dwindling bighorn sheep herd,” 8/31/18). Particularly pertinent story excerpts are included below.[14]

“These days, any search for bighorn sheep in southwestern Colorado is an exercise in desperation,” Blankenbuehler said. “Bighorn hunters and advocates must train their eyes on game trails and alpine valleys and knolls, looking for a patch of gray-brown hide, for ewes grazing, for rams on cliff faces. They listen for rocks tumbling through canyons, or the baseball-bat crack of two rams butting heads.”[15]

“Fewer than 500 bighorns roam the 760 square miles of this rugged section of the Rocky Mountains. Still, desperation be damned, a group of citizen volunteers ventured out this August in search of them,” Blankenbuehler added. “They were led by one of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers’ unpaid leaders: The Colorado southwest regional director, Dan Parkinson …”[16]

“Parkinson had brought the volunteers into the mountains to help fill in some gaps in the data regarding how bighorns move across the landscape, an urgent need right now, as the U.S. Forest Service and state agencies consider the future of livestock grazing in the Weminuche Wilderness,” she explained.

“The decision looms amid criticism of Colorado’s wildlife managers, who, some say, have lost their ability to actually protect wildlife. In general, they blame shifting priorities and politics in a downsized state agency,” Blankenbuehler said. “But more particularly, where bighorns are concerned, they blame the domestic sheep industry. In fact, just four miles west of the volunteers lay the summer pastures of the greatest threat to the Weminuche bighorns: the sheep herd of a rancher named J. Paul Brown.”[17]

“On a bright spring afternoon in May, I met Dan Parkinson at a riverside restaurant at Durango’s DoubleTree hotel. There, he spread a massive map of the Weminuche Wilderness across two round tables, giving the parlor the feel of a war room,” Blankenbuehler added. “Across the map streaked a thin blue line of masking tape, which traced the path of a 3-year-old ram, likely on a foray in search of a mate. The line showed a 22-mile northwestern jaunt into the heart of the wilderness, through dense forest and past alpine lakes, and eventually crossing Vallecito Creek, just north of the boundary of one of Brown’s allotments.”[18]

Grazing Allotment Buyouts

Dan’s trailblazing Colorado Bighorn Monitoring Program, in conjunction with the hard work and cooperation of other groups like the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society and National Wildlife Federation, has resulted in multiple impressive victories for southwest Colorado’s bighorns during recent years. The first breakthrough came during 2020 when local rancher J. Paul Brown agreed to a grazing allotment buyout.

“A conservation group has bought out one of Ignacio rancher J. Paul Brown’s grazing allotments in the Weminuche Wilderness to reduce the risk his sheep pose to native bighorns, but critics say the issue is still not resolved,” Jonathan Romeo wrote in the March 30, 2020, Durango Herald. “For the past eight years, the U.S. Forest Service has wrestled with whether to continue to allow domestic sheep grazing in the Weminuche, Colorado’s largest wilderness area.”[19]

“But about a year ago, Brown began talks with the National Wildlife Federation, which has a program that pays ranchers to retire controversial grazing allotments throughout the West,” Romeo explained. “‘This approach works when there’s a conflict between a wildlife species and livestock grazing, and when this opportunity makes sense for the rancher and their operation,’ said Bob McCready with the NWF … the two sides announced they had reached an undisclosed agreement for an 11,000-acre allotment called Endlich Mesa, considered a high-risk area for domestic sheep and bighorns to come into contact.”[20]

“One of three high-risk allotments in the Weminuche down. Hats off to Dan for sure. The RMBS was the largest funder for this retirement, with substantial contributions also from Wild Sheep Foundation, WSF-Eastern Chapter, private donors, and BHA,” Terry Meyers, Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society, said (on 6/12/20). “We are still trying to raise a bit more for this retirement. This is the fourth allotment we have retired in Colorado in the last 1.5 years. Still much more opportunity out there!” After the allotment buyout agreement was announced, BHA provided this update (below) to Colorado BHA members.

“This is a great example … of wildlife advocates working with … ranchers to find solutions that benefit everyone. Significant investments by hunters (including Colorado BHA’s Southwest Regional Director, Dan Parkinson), state agencies, conservation organizations and private individuals have been made to restore wild sheep populations around the West and enhance population health. By partnering with ranchers, public land management agencies like the U.S. Forest Service, we can work together to advance bighorn restoration efforts while supporting solutions that respect ranching traditions and working lands.”

During July 2021 Dan provided the Colorado BHA Chapter Leadership Team (CLT) with insights on what had been accomplished to date. “I was talking with a leader of a national conservation organization the other day about the expansion of the Bighorn Monitoring Program into Southwest Colorado, and he responded by saying that our effort was HUGE,” Dan said.

“It will be a big win for bighorns locally and beyond. Placing signage at trailheads that notes the risk to bighorns on public land is a big shift for public lands agencies. So, although this progress seems painfully slow, this is a consequential change. Steady, persistent, and respectful pressure and gratitude will win the day.”

“In Southwest Colorado, a growing army of everyday scientists scours the mountains for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep every year,” Durango Herald reporter/writer Aedan Hannon explained (in the 3/31/22 issue). “Mountain Studies Institute started its Colorado bighorn sheep monitoring project in 2018 as a way to gather more data about the movement of bighorn sheep using sightings from trained volunteers.”[21]

“In its fourth year, the program continues to expand as it aims to use citizen science to supplement the work of public land and wildlife agencies,” Hannon added. “The goal is to both identify areas of potential overlap between bighorn and domestic sheep while also highlighting the risk posed by interaction between the two.”[22]

“When volunteers see a bighorn, they log their observations on the app and website iNaturalist.org, where observations can be shared on the Colorado bighorn sheep monitoring project’s page,” Hannon said. “The project has totaled nearly 1,650 observations and boasts more than 1,050 observers. Of those 1,650 observations, more than 1,500 are ‘research grade,’ according to iNaturalist. Since the project first started in 2018, annual observations have increased as a growing number of citizen scientists participate. In Southwest Colorado, volunteers totaled 15 observations in 2018. In 2021, they contributed 80.”[23]

“While the project focuses on Southwest Colorado, it collects data from across the state and has seen observations more than double since the project began … [Dan] Parkinson gave the example of a domestic sheep that strayed into bighorn sheep habitat on North Twilight Peak near Purgatory Resort,” Hannon said. “A hunter took a picture of the sheep that popped up on the monitoring project’s database and Terry Meyers, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society, was able to contact CPW and the Forest Service to initiate a plan to remove the sheep and prevent possible contact. ‘Agencies know that the threat is very real,’ Parkinson said.”[24]

But Dan wasn’t (and isn’t) done. During 2023 more southwest Colorado grazing allotment buyouts were announced. “2023 was a good year for bighorn sheep conservation in Colorado with the retirement of 10 high elevation domestic sheep allotments in the Silverton area encompassing approximately 100,000 acres of public lands including the headwaters of the Animas and Rio Grande,” Dan explained. 

“For over a century, domestic sheep have grazed a 101,676-acre allotment of public land in the San Juan Mountains surrounding Silverton to the north, east and south. Ernie Etchart, a Montrose-based rancher, holds 10 permits that allow his sheep to forage the high country there each summer,” Durango Herald writer Reuben M. Schafir said (in “Agreement ends domestic sheep grazing on 100,000 acres near Silverton,” 11/10/23). “However, Etchart and the National Wildlife Federation announced … that the family would waive their grazing rights in exchange for fair compensation, removing domestic sheep from the landscape indefinitely.”[25]

“Despite this good news, according to just released post-hunt population estimates, the overall population of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep in Colorado declined by 500 to approximately 6900,” Schafir added. “In the Weminuche, the highly valued Vallecito Creek Herd has declined to just 50 animals from a population of 125 when the FS Analysis began in 2012. Unfortunately, disease spillover from domestic sheep remains a threat to many bighorn herds in the state.”

Bighorn Celebration

On November 7, 2023, bighorn sheep advocates from across the region and country gathered in Durango for a Bighorn Celebration. “We had a packed house with standing room only and approximately 120 attendees! Our bighorn sheep conservation efforts are being rewarded and noticed locally and regionally!” Dan exclaimed. “Articles about the event will be coming soon from the Durango Herald, Denver Post and more. Representatives of the Southern Ute Tribe,  RMBS, NWF, WSF, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, SJCA, BHA and MSI were in attendance demonstrating the broad and diverse support of this effort!”

During December 2023 we provided Colorado BHA members with an update on Dan’s outstanding work in our quarterly newsletter.[26] “Contact with domestic sheep–and the diseases they may carry–is one of the biggest threats to wild bighorns. Thanks to a yearslong effort by Colorado BHA and numerous partner organizations, that threat has been removed from a large swath of public lands surrounding Silverton. In November, an agreement was finalized that extinguished grazing rights on over 100,000 acres of bighorn sheep habitat in exchange for fair compensation for the leaseholder,” the newsletter explained.[27]

“The deal, which will help protect the roughly 500-strong San Juan West bighorn herd, is the culmination of years of work by Colorado BHA, especially Colorado board member Dan Parkinson. BHA has been involved in this conservation effort since 2017, when it initiated what is now the Colorado Bighorn Monitoring Project coordinated by the Mountain Studies Institute. You can read more about this tremendous win for wildlife in the Durango Herald.”[28]

“Aldo Leopold implored citizens to take the long view of conservation and ‘think like a mountain,” Dan reminded Colorado BHA chapter leaders. “Leaders in BHA should ask themselves how they will answer their grandkid’s questions about why we didn’t do more to prevent habitat fragmentation and destruction on our watch.”[29] Dan will have no problems answering such questions from his grandchildren.

Additional/Related Information

-2021 North American Policy Statement: Reducing Conflict Between Wild Sheep And Domestic Sheep And Goats.

-A science-based policy statement on public lands grazing: https://www.greatoldbroads.org/threats-public-lands-livestock-grazing/

-Mountain Studies Institute (MSI). “San Juan Mountains Colorado Bighorn Sheep Monitoring.” MSI: http://www.mountainstudies.org/bighorn/

-Derek Pankratz. “Colorado BHA helps secure major win for bighorn sheep.” Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 12/21/23.

-Reuben M. Schafir. “Agreement ends domestic sheep grazing on 100,000 acres near Silverton: Bacteria carried by livestock pose serious threat to Colorado’s bighorn sheep population.” The Durang Herald: 11/10/23.

-Elise Schmelzer. “Domestic sheep will no longer graze swath of Colorado land to protect bighorns from ‘pernicious’ disease: Disease passed to wild species can wipe out large portions of herds and future generations.” The Denver Post: 11/9/23.

-Dan Parkinson. “Colorado BHA Comments on BLM Public Lands Rule.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 6/21/23.

-Aedan Hannon. “Citizen scientists play key role in tracking bighorn sheep.” The Durango Herald: 3/31/22.

-Paige Blankenbuehler. “‘A ticking time bomb for a mass die-off’: Recent grazing decisions continue to risk Southwest Colorado’s bighorns.” High Country News: 11/4/21

-Jonathan Romeo. “J. Paul Brown to reduce sheep herd amid disease concerns for bighorns: Group buys out one of Ignacio rancher’s high-risk grazing allotments.” Durango Herald: 3/30/20.

-“Colorado BHA Southwest Regional Director Promotes/Defends Bighorn Sheep & Wilderness.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 5/28/19.

-Paige Blankenbuehler. “Agricultural interests steer Colorado’s wildlife management: Sheep grazing in the state’s largest wilderness area could endanger a dwindling bighorn sheep herd.” High Country News: 8/31/18.

-“Colorado BHA Volunteer Signage and Bighorn Observation Program.” AmmoLand.com: 11/30/17.

-Dan Parkinson. “Bighorn Observation Volunteers Needed Colorado BHA.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 6/19/18.

-“Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Volunteer Signage and Bighorn Observation Program.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 1/10/18.

-Dan Parkinson. “Colorado BHA Bighorn Observation Volunteers Needed.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 7/14/17.

-USDA. “Colorado Parks and Wildlife launches Bighorn Sheep Working Group to research management strategies.” U.S. Forest Service: San Juan National Forest: 3/10/17.

-Gary Skiba. “A stark choice coming on bighorn sheep.” The Durango Herald: 2/25/17.

-Dan Parkinson. “Closing grazing allotments on Weminuche Landscape essential to promote viable populations of bighorns.” The Durango Herald: 2/11/17.

-Jan Reeder. “Good grief: Local veterinarian offers specialized end-of-life care for pets.” The Durango Telegraph: 1/28/15.

-Caitlin Thompson. “Dan Parkinson-Southwest Regional Director.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 10/28/14.

-BHA Award Recipients: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/backcountry_hunters_anglers_award_recipients

[1] Caitlin Thompson. “Dan Parkinson-Southwest Regional Director.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 10/28/14.

[2] https://www.backcountryhunters.org/co_bha_award_winners

[3] Jerry Neal. “Thanks to Conservation Programs, Colorado’s Fish and Wildlife Are Thriving.” Colorado Outdoors: 3/14/16.

[4] Rocky Barker. “Battle for Bighorns.” National Wildlife: August/September 2011.

[5] Rocky Barker. “Battle for Bighorns.” National Wildlife: August/September 2011.

[6] USDA. “Colorado Parks and Wildlife launches Bighorn Sheep Working Group to research management strategies.” U.S. Forest Service: San Juan National Forest: 3/10/17.

[7] Jerry Neal. “Thanks to Conservation Programs, Colorado’s Fish and Wildlife Are Thriving.” Colorado Outdoors: 3/14/16.

[8] Rocky Barker. “Battle for Bighorns.” National Wildlife: August/September 2011.

[9] Rocky Barker. “Battle for Bighorns.” National Wildlife: August/September 2011.

[10] David Petersen. “Re: FINAL BHA Comments on Weminuche DEIS.” Email: 3/30/16.

[11] Dan Parkinson. “Closing grazing allotments on Weminuche Landscape essential to promote viable populations of bighorns.” The Durango Herald: 2/11/17.

[12] Dan Parkinson. “Closing grazing allotments on Weminuche Landscape essential to promote viable populations of bighorns.” The Durango Herald: 2/11/17.

[13] Dan Parkinson. “Closing grazing allotments on Weminuche Landscape essential to promote viable populations of bighorns.” The Durango Herald: 2/11/17.

[14] Paige Blankenbuehler. “Agricultural interests steer Colorado’s wildlife management: Sheep grazing in the state’s largest wilderness area could endanger a dwindling bighorn sheep herd.” High Country News: 8/31/18.

[15] Paige Blankenbuehler. “Agricultural interests steer Colorado’s wildlife management: Sheep grazing in the state’s largest wilderness area could endanger a dwindling bighorn sheep herd.” High Country News: 8/31/18.

[16] Paige Blankenbuehler. “Agricultural interests steer Colorado’s wildlife management: Sheep grazing in the state’s largest wilderness area could endanger a dwindling bighorn sheep herd.” High Country News: 8/31/18.

[17] Paige Blankenbuehler. “Agricultural interests steer Colorado’s wildlife management: Sheep grazing in the state’s largest wilderness area could endanger a dwindling bighorn sheep herd.” High Country News: 8/31/18.

[18] Paige Blankenbuehler. “Agricultural interests steer Colorado’s wildlife management: Sheep grazing in the state’s largest wilderness area could endanger a dwindling bighorn sheep herd.” High Country News: 8/31/18.

[19] Jonathan Romeo. “J. Paul Brown to reduce sheep herd amid disease concerns for bighorns: Group buys out one of Ignacio rancher’s high-risk grazing allotments.” Durango Herald: 3/30/20.

[20] Jonathan Romeo. “J. Paul Brown to reduce sheep herd amid disease concerns for bighorns: Group buys out one of Ignacio rancher’s high-risk grazing allotments.” Durango Herald: 3/30/20.

[21] Aedan Hannon. “Citizen scientists play key role in tracking bighorn sheep.” The Durango Herald: 3/31/22.

[22] Aedan Hannon. “Citizen scientists play key role in tracking bighorn sheep.” The Durango Herald: 3/31/22.

[23] Aedan Hannon. “Citizen scientists play key role in tracking bighorn sheep.” The Durango Herald: 3/31/22.

[24] Aedan Hannon. “Citizen scientists play key role in tracking bighorn sheep.” The Durango Herald: 3/31/22.

[25] Reuben M. Schafir. “Agreement ends domestic sheep grazing on 100,000 acres near Silverton: Bacteria carried by livestock pose serious threat to Colorado’s bighorn sheep population.” The Durang Herald: 11/10/23.

[26] Derek Pankratz. “Colorado BHA helps secure major win for bighorn sheep.” Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 12/21/23.

[27] Derek Pankratz. “Colorado BHA helps secure major win for bighorn sheep.” Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 12/21/23.

[28] Derek Pankratz. “Colorado BHA helps secure major win for bighorn sheep.” Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 12/21/23.

[29] Dan Parkinson. “Rendezvous thoughts.” Email: 6/8/22.