November 2024

Fall Fundraiser a Fantastic Success!

Bighorn Institute’s 37th Annual Party and Golf Classic took place at Stone Eagle on November 17th & 18th and was a huge success! Sunday’s Annual Party was a beautiful evening at a spectacular venue and featured an incredible full moon. The filet and cod dinner was delectable, friendship plentiful and the auctions lively and profitable! Monday, Dave Stockton gave a clinic before sending the golfers out on the course, all of whom seemed to enjoy their day. Congratulations to this year’s winners: Iain Foshay, Guido Knudson, Jeff Rauh and Blake Tagmyer.

Thank you to all of the participants, golf pros, donors, and volunteers who helped make this year’s fundraiser amazing! A special thanks to Stone Eagle Golf Club for having us and Dave Stockton for hosting the tournament.

*This year's tournament winners with pros, Don Pooley (L end), Mark Pfeil (R end) and Dave Stockton (center). Photo: Marc Glassman

Double Lambing!

For the fourth time in forty years, we’ve documented fall lamb births and double lambing; a phenomenon in which a ewe gives birth twice in the same calendar year. In August, we reported a collared ewe that gave birth after having lost her first lamb in January. In late November, we found two unmarked ewes with lambs, one just 10 days old! We’re seeing other ewes with enlarged udders indicating they could give birth soon so we may have more lambs born in December. We’re anxious to see what lies ahead and we’ll keep you posted!

Capture

In early November, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife captured and collared Peninsular bighorn sheep throughout the range from Palm Springs to the Mexican border. This was a large-scale effort to have more sheep marked for the upcoming biennial survey in December, which will produce a new range-wide population estimate. Statistics are based on how many marked sheep are observed during the survey. There was certainly a need for radio-collars in our study area, from Palm Springs to La Quinta, since many of the collars have failed or become nonfunctional. The Recovery Plan calls for 30% of the ewe population to be collared. By tracking a few collared sheep, we can learn about the entire herd. They didn’t reach all of the capture goals, but were able to collar a number of sheep, which will help us and the wildlife agencies as we determine habitat use, reproduction, mortality, health and behavior of the herds. They added around 30 collars to our study area (Palm Springs to La Quinta) so now we’re tracking approximately 60 sheep, doubling the number of sheep we were track including a few rams in each of our three herds. We’re still finding all of the newly collared sheep, but the ones we’ve seen so far look good post-capture!

Outreach and Education

In late November, we gave a bighorn sheep presentation to the Bighorn Book Club. This group was anxious to learn about the sheep that have been using their golf course (Bighorn Golf Club) and how they can help. It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm and desire to help protect the sheep!

Join us Thursday, December 5th at the Mizell Center in Palm Springs for our presentation on bighorn sheep in the Coachella Valley, part of Oswit Land Trust’s speaker series. To RSVP, contact David Paisley at DavidP@OswitLandTrust.org We look forward to seeing you there! If you would like a bighorn sheep presentation for your group, give us a call at 760-346-7334 or email us at bi@bighorninstitute.org ; we’d love to come talk to you!

Member Hike

It’s that time of the year again! Get ready to grab your hiking boots and binoculars and come out hiking with us to look for sheep! Our first Member Hike this season will be Monday, December 9th and we would love for you to join us. 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.

In Need of a Christmas Gift?

Need a special gift for the person who has everything? Here are some ideas and the best part is that the proceeds go directly to helping the endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep! It truly is a gift that keeps on giving. So, if you have been racking your brain, trying to think of something truly unique and memorable to get your loved one this Christmas, look no further, we’ve got you covered J:

Give a gift membership to the Institute – memberships start at just $25/year, are tax-deductible & they can join our member hikes!
Adopt a Bighorn – $100 for a lamb, $150 for a ewe or ram: www.bighorninstitute.org/adopt-a-bighorn
Feed the captive herd for a week - $150 (donation only-not actual feeding)
Help track radio-collared bighorn for a month - $500 (donation only – not actual monitoring)

To donate, please visit our website www.BighornInstitute.org, email (bi@bighorninstitute.org) or call us at 760-346-7334.

Year-End Gift

It’s time once again to think about a year-end gift. Would you consider supporting the sheep and Bighorn Institute’s research and conservation efforts? Donating is easy, just click to donate online, mail us a check, or you can give a retirement contribution through your wealth management company. Our tax ID number is 95-3700081. Bighorn Institute is privately-funded and we keep our expenses as low as possible so that your generous gift goes to Peninsular bighorn sheep conservation. Thank you!