Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Texas Parks and Wildlife, and we’re looking back at major milestones, including the success of our Desert Bighorn Sheep restoration program.

11— We have sheep in about eight mountain ranges right now. State numbers are up about 13-hundred or so – we’re halfway there. Our goal being about 25-hundred to 3-thousand animals in all of their historic range.

That included 15 mountain ranges in the Trans Pecos. Froylan Hernandez, Desert Bighorn Sheep Program Leader, says over the decades, TPW, with the support of landowners and other conservation partners, relocated sheep from other states to Texas.

06 — Essentially they’re still the same sheep, however, they have real subtle differences in sub-species that occur out here.

Texas Parks and Wildlife keeps a close watch on the animals to better understand what they require to live fully. One way they do that is by fitting certain sheep with radio tracking collars, from which he gathers data.

17— Research is a huge component of any restoration program, because that is how we learn; it helps us understand the biology of the animal, and it helps us better manage for the animals. It’s very unnatural for them to be running around in the wild with a collar around their neck. But, that’s exactly how we learn, and we better manage for them.

Learn more about Desert Bighorn Sheep Restoration on the Texas parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series and funds Desert Bighorn Sheep Restoration in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.