Critical Habitat for Bighorn Sheep Finalized

August 8, 2008 - The federal government is designating more than 650 square miles of wildlands in a California mountain range as protected habitat for the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's critical habitat designation announced Tuesday is a response to a 2005 lawsuit. Environmentalists claimed in the suit the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep was threatened with extinction because its habitat was not protected under the ESA.

The new critical habitat area is in the eastern Sierra Nevada, where the bighorns graze.

The final rule is available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-16813.htm.
Reprinted in part from Associated Press

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