Wyoming FNAWS Newsletter The
Rampage
Kevin Hurley, WGFD Bighorn Sheep Coordinator, Cody
&
Bob Sundeen, Wyoming FNAWS Past President, Buffalo
Beginning February 1, 2009, long-time Wyoming Game
and Fish Department (WGFD) wildlife biologist and
Wyoming FNAWS liaison Kevin Hurley assumed a new role
with WGFD. Initiated at an April 1, 2007 meeting in
Thermopolis, Wyoming FNAWS then-President Cole Benton,
Past President Jim Collins, and incoming President Bob
Sundeen met with Terry Cleveland, Jay Lawson, Gary
Brown, and Kevin Hurley of the Department, to explore
possible funding options to create a full-time Bighorn
Sheep Program Coordinator position within WGFD.
Although acknowledged as an important and desirable
position, given competing priorities and agency budgets,
WGFD stated they could simply not fund this new position
by themselves. Then WGFD Director Terry Cleveland
indicated a willingness to commit 20% of the funding
needed ($300,000) for a new 24-month position, provided
80% of the funding could be raised from outside WGFD.
This concept simmered on the back burner for about a
year, then picked up momentum again in February 2008
with further contact and indications of support from
other FNAWS chapters, most notably the MN/WI Chapter
FNAWS.
In spring 2008, Kevin Hurley put together a $240,000
budget and funding proposal which he sent to Wyoming
FNAWS and 2 dozen other FNAWS (by then, Wild Sheep
Foundation) chapters and affiliates. In a demonstration
of commitment to this concept, Wyoming FNAWS stepped up
first, conditionally obligating $30,000 over a 2-year
period to this position. During June-August 2008, 2-year
conditional commitments were also obtained from MN/WI
FNAWS ($30,000), Eastern FNAWS ($20,000), and Iowa FNAWS
($10,000).
During July 2008, Kevin Hurley, Utah Division of
Wildlife Resources Director Jim Karpowitz, UTDWR
Assistant Director Alan Clark, and Wyoming Game and Fish
Department Deputy Director John Emmerich presented a
cost-share funding proposal to the Western Association
of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA)’s Directors
Business Meeting, seeking conditional commitment of
$3,000/year, for 2 years, from the 18 other fish and
wildlife agencies in the western U.S. and Canada that
manage a wild sheep resource. As chair of WAFWA’s Wild
Sheep Working Group (WSWG), Kevin’s request was
ultimately agreed to by 17 of the WAFWA fish and game
agencies, and signed off on in January 2009 by the WAFWA
Directors.
In the meantime, Kevin secured additional commitments
from Utah FNAWS ($20,000), Grand Slam Club/Ovis
($10,000), the Wild Sheep Society of British Columbia
($6,000), and the Conklin Foundation ($6,000). All told,
of the $300,000 to be raised to cover all facets of this
new 24-month WGFD position, the Wyoming Game and Fish
Department/Commission committed $60,000 (20%), while 17
other WAFWA agencies committed $102,000 (34%), while 8
wild sheep conservation organizations, including Wyoming
FNAWS, committed $132,000 (44%). As of March 1, 2009,
$294,000 (98%) of the funds had been raised, so WGFD
went ahead and started Kevin in his new position,
effective February 1, 2009. That’s the funding side of
the story; now, the “rest of the story” (i.e., the
workload).
Between February 1, 2009 and January 31, 2011, Kevin
will remain a 100%, full-time WGFD employee, working
almost exclusively on wild sheep issues and management,
with 50% of his time focused within Wyoming, and 50% of
his time focused outside Wyoming, as he continues
chairing the WAFWA Wild Sheep Working Group. At the end
of 24 months, if further funds are not secured, this
position goes away, and things default back to how
they’ve been within WGFD, and WAFWA, for years; bighorn
sheep duties will be absorbed by WGFD regional and
Cheyenne HQ, and other WAFWA agency personnel into their
work schedules, to the extent possible.
Given space limitations in The Rampage, there is not
room to list all the bighorn sheep projects within
Wyoming that Kevin and WGFD are involved with. Suffice
it to say, there are bighorn sheep efforts underway in
all 6 of the WGFD regions that manage wild sheep, plus
statewide bighorn sheep issues/topics. These WGFD
efforts include aerial surveys, habitat treatments,
disease and genetics research, planned/proposed bighorn
transplants, seasonal movement and habitat selection
studies, harvest strategies and regulations, legislative
options (e.g., reduced price ewe/lamb licenses),
inter-agency coordination, the Wyoming Statewide
Domestic Sheep/Bighorn Sheep Interaction Working Group,
project fundraising (e.g, Wyoming Governor’s Big Game
License Coalition), the internal WGFD Bighorn Sheep
Working Group, and duties as assigned by WGFD Wildlife
Division Administration and/or the WGFD Director’s
Office.
For WAFWA, Kevin will continue to chair the
21-agency, west-wide Wild Sheep Working Group
http://www.wafwa.org/html/wswg.shtml. WSWG
efforts currently underway include:
- Working with USFS and BLM to revise their
guidelines/policies on management of domestic sheep and
goats in wild sheep habitat
- West-wide GIS mapping to identify areas of
overlap (i.e., grazing allotments) between wild sheep
and domestic sheep/goats
- West-wide GIS mapping of all wild sheep
translocations ever done, to provide a written
record of past actions, and provide a
foundation/data source for future genetics and
disease analyses
- Development of WAFWA White Papers on:
- Habitat Quality & Quantity, and Human Impact
on Wild Sheep Ranges
- Predation on Wild Sheep
- Diseases of Wild Sheep
- Wild Sheep Population Viability & Management
- Adequacy of Funding & Staffing for Wild
Sheep Management
- Providing cohesive, coordinated management of
wild sheep across the western U.S. and Canada
- Dealing with wild sheep issues/topics as they
arise, through the WAFWA Directors
In simplest terms, to pull off a position such as
this 24-month WGFD Bighorn Sheep Coordinator, it has
taken the collaboration of 18 agencies and 8 wild sheep
NGOs, across the United States and Canada, pooling their
resources.
Kevin Hurley: “I’ve spent the past 27 years getting
prepared for this position. No has higher hopes or
expectations of this position than me. I am humbled and
honored by the level of commitment from 26 partners (to
date) to cooperatively fund this position. I know how
hard it is to raise this money, especially for the wild
sheep conservation organizations and their volunteers. I
am indebted to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department,
Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, the WAFWA agencies,
Wyoming FNAWS, and all the other wild sheep NGOs for
their part in creating my “dream job. I will work hard
to meet/exceed everyone’s expectations, including my
own.”