State wildlife officials have approved a controversial proposal to reintroduce desert bighorn sheep into a southern Utah mountain range over the objections of livestock growers who fear the presence of wild sheep could be leveraged to push domestic sheep off public lands.
“They are setting a nuclear bomb right in the middle of us and saying we’ll hide the button,” wool grower Scott Stubbs told the Utah Wildlife Board last week. “I don’t think you can hide the button from the environmental movement.”
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources intends to release about 50 bighorn sheep this fall in Beaver County’s Mineral Mountains, located between Milford and Beaver, with a goal of establishing a herd of 175 animals.