Saving the Bighorn

Story by Ashley Breeding

The Agua Caliente Tribal Habitat Conservation Plan sets guidelines for protecting the habitat of the desert’s most popular endangered species.

Encountering an elusive and endangered bighorn sheep always presents a special moment. With the help of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and its partners at the state and federal levels, the population of the tan-color creatures with the whitish muzzle and curled horns is slowly growing and they are becoming easier to spot in the Coachella Valley’s San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains, which cradle the Indian Canyons and Tahquitz Canyon.

California law began protecting the Peninsular bighorn sheep in the early 1970s, and in 1998, they were federally listed as endangered, instigating a recovery plan in 2000. The Agua Caliente Tribe signed on to the Recovery Plan, joining the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and U.S. Fish and Wildlife agencies early on in their mission to protect these animals and their habitat. The Peninsular bighorn sheep live in the Peninsular Mountain Ranges that stretch from the Mexican border at the south to the San Jacinto Mountains at the north.

The bighorn sheep continue to face threats associated with urbanization, climate change predation, and respiratory diseases spread from nearby livestock. While bighorn herds appearing near busy trails might suggest a burgeoning population, data shows only a slight uptick in the population over the past decade.

From Our Partners

In 2010, the Tribe established the Tribal Habitat Conservation Plan to help protect bighorn sheep and more than 20 other federally endangered plant and animal species inhabiting the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation, including portions of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto mountains within the Reservation.

The Tribe actively protects accessible bighorn habitat on the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation by restricting hours and the number of hikers on designated trails and by prohibiting pets within the Indian Canyons and Tahquitz Canyon. Annually, the Canyons welcome thousands of visitors for hiking, sightseeing, and picnicking. Meanwhile, bighorn rely on these lands for shade, food, and water, especially during the summer. The Tribe opens the Canyons only on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from July 1 to Oct. 1.

The Tribe has also removed invasive thirsty tamarisk trees and grasses such as cape ricegrass (stipa capensis), which overwhelm the San Jacinto Mountains, depleting streams and other water sources. Conversely, native plants are critical to the health of the bighorn.

Photo Credit: Kate Anderson

With authorization from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the State of California is responsible for monitoring and managing the bighorn sheep population with the long-term goal of growing its numbers so that it becomes self-sustaining.

“The conservation of these iconic animals is a long road with speedbumps,” concedes Jeff Villepique, senior wildlife biologist and supervisor at California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which has nine recovery regions between Palm Springs and the Mexico border. The Tribe monitors the two northernmost regions.

For Peninsular bighorn sheep to be removed from the list of federally endangered and threatened wildlife, a range-wide population of 750 sheep, including 25 or more ewes (females) present in each of the nine regions, must be maintained for 12 consecutive years. If either numbers dip below the criteria, the clock for recovery restarts.

The partnership with the state includes field support. “The Tribe helps track and collar in and around the Reservation,” says Margaret Park, the Tribe’s Chief Planning Officer.

Protecting the habitat of the bighorn sheep requires a cooperative effort, Park says, involving not only regulatory agencies and the Tribe but also landowners and developers.

Leaders across the agencies will review data from a new Peninsular bighorn sheep survey planned for fall 2024 to determine the next steps for their collaborative work.

Managing a Monument
On Oct. 24, 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Act of 2000 passed by Congress to “preserve the nationally significant biological, cultural, recreational, geological, educational, and scientific values found in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains.”

Photo Credit: Christie Irwin

Agua Caliente land accounts for 23,400 of the Monument’s 280,000 acres. As co-manager of the Monument with the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service, the Tribe works with Monument management to ensure its culture and history are respected and incorporated into the work of the Monument, Park says. The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Visitor Center in Palm Desert houses exhibits on cultural history and the local ecosystem, as well as interactive displays, films, and reference materials.

This article originally appeared in the Fall/Winter 2024-2025 edition of Me Yah Whae, the official magazine of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.