Catalina bighorns are gone, but explanatory signs live on

[Jeffshadows]

Signs at two popular trailheads north of Tucson tout a small herd of bighorn sheep in the Catalina Mountains - and they list hiking restrictions to protect the animals.

Only one problem: The herd apparently has died out.

The signs and restrictions remain, but they apply to what might be described as "phantom bighorns."

"The Catalina population of bighorns is gone," said Jim Heffelfinger, a spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. "I haven't had any good reports of sheep from the herd up there for seven or eight years."

Heffelfinger said that means the resident herd - which once numbered more than 100 bighorns in the Pusch Ridge area on the southwestern side of the Catalinas - no longer exists. It's still possible that people might spot "transient" bighorns from other ranges from time to time.

A recent reported sighting involved a sheep with a yellow ear tag, Heffelfinger said. That indicates the animal might have been a transient from mountains near Superior, where bighorns have been fitted with yellow tags.

Heffelfinger said likely reasons for the demise of the Catalina herd include:

• Extensive urbanization around the base of Pusch Ridge, with streets and buildings taking over terrain ever nearer bighorn habitat.

• Hikers - especially hikers with dogs - who disturb sheep and "have a slow, pervasive influence on survival and reproduction."

• Heavy growth of brush, a result of former fire suppression policies, that makes bighorns vulnerable to predators such as mountain lions.

"The sheep didn't disappear all of a sudden," Heffelfinger said. "We just saw less and less and less over the years."

He said what turned out to be the last survey of bighorns in the Catalinas, conducted in 1997, found only one animal.

So what about those signs at the Finger Rock Canyon trailhead, at the northern end of Alvernon Way, and the Pima Canyon trailhead, on Magee Road east of First Avenue?

The signs state that "the bighorn herd in Pusch Ridge Wilderness represents the last remnant of herds" that once roamed several mountain ranges around Tucson.

"The Pusch Ridge herd is now in serious jeopardy," the signs say. "Less than 20 bighorns survive in the area."

Such information would appear to be misleading, at best, if nothing is left of the herd. Is it time to take down the signs and drop regulations that prohibit dogs and limit off-trail hiking?

Not yet, say officials of the Game and Fish Department and the U.S. Forest Service.

Heffelfinger and Forest Service spokeswoman Heidi Schewel said one reason for leaving the signs in place is that there's at least some chance that bighorns might be reintroduced into the Catalinas.

"We've been in discussions with Arizona Game and Fish about Pusch Ridge being a possible site" for transplanting bighorns from other parts of the state, Schewel said. "Leaving the signs and restrictions in place seemed like a good idea, given that there might be a reintroduction."

But a reintroduction wouldn't happen anytime soon, Heffelfinger said, because sufficient source populations from other sites aren't available now.

"And if they became available three or four years down the way, the Catalinas probably wouldn't be the first place we put sheep," Heffelfinger said. That's because transplanted animals would face the same conditions that apparently led to the demise of the original herd.

Heffelfinger acknowledged that leaving the inaccurate signs up indefinitely might not be a good idea.

"After a while, it becomes kind of meaningless," he said.

Meanwhile, tourist David Tzeutschler, preparing to take a walk on the Pima Canyon Trail last week with his 3-year-old son, Timothy, chose to take a hopeful approach.

"Maybe we'll see a bighorn," he said to Timothy as the two started up the trail.

On StarNet: Search our online database of Southern Arizona wildlife at

go.azstarnet.com/critters

Did you know

A herd of 50 to 75 bighorn sheep survives in the Silver Bell Mountains, northwest of Tucson, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

Contact reporter Doug Kreutz at 573-4192 or dkreutz@azstarnet.com

[ssk44]

Besides, anyone who can pay the $2.8 million that they want for that piece of dung they just built sticking out of the side of the canyon near Pontatoc Ridge probably isn't a full-time Tucson resident...which makes him or her even more worthy of my contempt.

I hope those stupid houses never sell. The developers can't even afford to keep up the maintenance on the 'community' up there. The last time I walked past that retarded waterfall they built right near the trail head it looked like a ripe swamp and smelled no better. Additionally, the street and landscaping that surrounds was littered with construction debris and the remnants of the primary dietary staple of most of that place's inhabitants - fast food.

As an aside: I'd also like to ask everyone to join me in a new tradition of mooning that dark-colored house just adjacent to the wash in Pontatoc that always seems to have it's windows open with a super-massive plasma TV distracting you from the scenery. Make sure they get a good view

Ha! Tell us how you really feel Jeff...

I'm right there with you man.

[azbackpackr]

Did they ever catch whoever was burning the houses at Pima Canyon a few years back? I didn't hear much about it as I had already moved up here (and thus, I have ample alibis and cannot be a suspect, only an advocate...) but I seem to recall they got more than one. Maybe they need to get busy again...

[Jeffshadows]

Last I heard they are still on the lamb; the feds were saying there were two of them...

[writelots]

It's really not that untrammeled, IMHO. Finger is beat to death and covered in social trails, as are the first few miles of Pima. Ventana isn't far behind. Don't even get me started on the state of Romero...

I suppose I only mean untrammeled when you compare it to many of the open areas within a 30 minute drive or 1 hour walk of Phoenix or Tucson that AREN'T wilderness areas. Roads, shooting galleries, houses, campgrounds, picnic areas, more roads, more shooting galleries.

I think we're all lucky that target shooters don't tend to like to hike.

[Jim]

They were doomed from the time the first whites came in and started changing the way things had been for thousands of years. Nothing new to see here, keep moving along folks.

[Jeffshadows]

They were doomed from the time the first whites came in and started changing the way things had been for thousands of years. Nothing new to see here, keep moving along folks.

...Says the white guy...

[writelots]

Nothing new to see here, keep moving along folks.

Hey - Romeo and Juliet is STILL the most produced play in the world, and I think just about every white person has seen it. Nothing we whities like quite as much as a dead horse to wail upon...
:bdh:

at least it won't bite back!

[rushthezeppelin]

They were doomed from the time the first whites came in and started changing the way things had been for thousands of years. Nothing new to see here, keep moving along folks.

If you want to get on that subject it's not like the rest of the human race isn't contributing their fair share towards the demise of this planet, granted we might have for the most part started the trend though.

[SAMBA]

Yo HAZers,

You all know how much I value your opinions. First a rhetorical question. Would yooz guys obey an official decree in effect for three or four months annually which prevented you from hiking more than 400' off of an official trail in the Supes in order to create an ideal situation for elephants to calve?

Sounds ludicrous, don't it? But we Tucsonans annually have to deal with a similar but REAL situation such as my elephant calving scenario. Much of the west side of the Catalinas have Big Horn Sheep lambing restrictions which are in effect from Jan. 1st to April 1st. The problem is there hasn't been a Big Horn Sheep sighting in YEARS. Hell, I believe there have actually been some elephant sightings in the Catalinas since the last time anyone spotted a BHS there. As a matter of fact, they are so rare (non-existent?) a thirty head flock of BHS is going to be re-introduced to the Catalinas this November.

So, I have a confession I need to make to my HAZ peeps. I ignored the BHS lambing restrictions today. My question is, "Am I going to go to hell"?

[PatrickL]

If you're going there, it's probably not because of lambing restrictions. ;)

[Jim]

I understand they died out due to habitat destruction at the base of the Catalinas, not hikers on the peaks and high areas, so really the ethics lies in preventing development in the area already developed. Reintroducing the BHS is probably moot, as well. Assuming, I am correct.

[azbackpackr]

Okay, we talked about this before. Last year I posted (somewhere on this forum) that one of the Game and Fish Department commissioners is an acquaintance of mine. I emailed him last year (when I was living in Costa Rica) about this issue. I asked him if this hiking ban could be lifted because there are no longer any sheep in that area. He emailed back and said he would look into it for me.

Then I saw him a few months ago and asked him what he had learned. He said there are plans afoot to release some more bighorn sheep into that area, and that is why they have not lifted the ban.

Obviously they are going to have to spend a lot of money to do studies, and blah blah blah. I wonder if they ever will release the sheep. But the commissioner told me that is the reasoning behind the continued ban.

[Hippy]

Lake pleasant shuts down the north end for eagles for a season, the animals were here first, just go with it. Jyst because,there hasnt been a sighting doesnt mean they arent there...gila monsters are rarely seen but we all know theyre out there...i know there are big horns in the Supes but i've only seen em twice...eh, answer to your question, no, you won't go to hell for it...but I think you can deal with such a restriction ONCE a year...

[azbackpackr]

The problem has been that there really and truly have not been any bighorns in the Pusch Peak area for quite a few years. And because people know that, they regularly and frequently flaunt the rules. I think that G&F wardens generally look the other way because they also know there are no sheep there. The rule is for a specific purpose, lambing season. And there are no lambs. People don't like the government to lie to them. The government is lying, by calling it lambing season, in a place where there are no lambs, and they have created a situation where people are going to disrespect the government and its rules, because they know the government is lying about the "lambing."

The G&F should get the people involved in the process. Let them know they are thinking of putting sheep up there again, and get some volunteers to work on the project. Get some sheep installed up there, and get people interested in protecting them.

[Jim]

Yes, I think a few sheep, tastefully installed in artistic ways to enhance the ambiance of the Pusch could really do a lot to raise property values, and increase the lamb yields.

[Jim]

[SAMBA]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... lMxCeeM8cc

[big_load]

They don't look like that in the grocery store.

[DarthStiller]

"Am I going to go to hell"?

There is no god, so no.

On one hand, the one cliche that comes to mind is "no snow flake thinks of themself as responsible for an avalanche".

On the other hand, most of those rules/laws are made in mind with the worst case scenario in mind in terms of the transgressor. you will need to determine how far you have gone in order to live with yourself. We cannot provide the answer for you. the HAZ forums cannot serve as a substitute conscience.

[azbackpackr]

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