How You Can Help

A bighorn ewe stares straight into the camera - link open in new window.
A desert bighorn ewe. Photo by Steve Yeager.

Educate your friends! Most Californians do not know that bighorn sheep live in California. Public awareness is crucial to long-term conservation success.

Send us your observations! Did you see some desert bighorn in the wild? We would love to know how many ewes, rams, and lambs you saw, as well their general location (GPS coordinates preferred), photos, and behavior. Email Paige Prentice, Paige.Prentice@wildlife.ca.gov.

Join the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep and/or the California Chapter of the Wild Sheep Foundation! These non-profit organizations are dedicated to the conservation and management of desert bighorn sheep. CDFW collaborates with SCBS and CAWSF to maintain artificial water sources and monitor desert bighorn populations. Desert bighorn would not be doing as well as they are without the tireless efforts of SCBS and CAWSF members!

Stop Releasing Balloons! Due to wind patterns, many of the balloons released in Southern California, Las Vegas, and the Colorado River Valley end up in the Mojave Desert. Save bighorn sheep, tortoises, and other desert wildlife by not releasing balloons.

A group of volunteers stand next to a giant water tank they have just installed to provide water for sheep and other wildlife - link open in new window.
Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep (SCBS) volunteers install a new storage tank in the Clipper Mountains. Photo courtesy of SCBS.

A balloon flutters in the desert wind - link open in new window.
A balloon tangled in a scrub-bush. The CDFW Desert Bighorn crew packs out countless balloons that end up in the desert. CDFW photo by Danielle Glass.