As we entered the 21st Century, the first species to be listed by the federal government as endangered was the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep. Attaining Federal listing gave added strength to the implementation of recovery efforts that address many threats to bighorn survival.

Established practices that allowed domestic sheep to graze at the base of the eastern Sierra posed a risk. the to bighorn habitat were examined. Contact between domestic sheep and bighorn

A successful program to reestablish the bighorn in historic ranges and increase their numbers began in 1979. Initially the newly established populations increased. But during the 1980s changes occurred that ultimately caused population declines across the range and forced the suspension of the program. During that decade, mountain lion predation on these sheep increased steeply. This had both direct and apparent indirect influences on these sheep herds. By 1995 only about 100 of the sheep remained scattered in five isolated locations.

In conjunction with other organizations, the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Foundation helped bring the plight of these sheep to the attention of key governmental regulatory entities in 1999. As a result, an extraordinary series of events unfolded. In the spring of 1999 the California Fish and Game Commission classified these sheep as a California endangered species in response to a petition our foundation filed. A month later the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service classified them as a federal endangered species on an emergency basis following another petition filed by five organizations including our foundation. At the time, only 26 species had been listed on an emergency basis in 26 years. Following the emergency listing, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service bestowed full endangered species status to these sheep in January 2000.

Federal endangered status was needed in part because in 1990 the California Department of Fish and Game lost its ability to protect threatened and endangered species from mountain lion predation when California voters passed the Wildlife Protection Act; the federal Endangered Species Act would supercede that state law and provide a remedy for that situation. Later in 1999 the California legislature and governor responded by altering the Wildlife Protection Act to allow the State to remove lions that posed an imminent threat to bighorn sheep populations. This required a four-fifths vote of the California Legislature, and only a single member of the legislature voted against it.

The final remarkable event in 1999 involved legislative financial support for these sheep. As a response to the media attention these sheep received that year, the legislature agreed to fund a recovery program for Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep.

The crisis spurred fundamental changes in the way government agencies manage Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep and their habitat. In the long run those actions may ensure the bighorns' survival