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.”