A total of $125,000 was raised for bighorn sheep work in Utah recently through the sale of one Utah Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep conservation hunting permit, and one Utah desert bighorn sheep conservation hunting permit, at the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep's (FNAWS) annual national convention in Reno, Nevada.

FNAWS will give at least 90 percent of that money back to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, to be used in work that benefits Utah's bighorn sheep.

The national FNAWS convention was held January 23 - 26. It was followed by the annual convention of the Utah Chapter of FNAWS at the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy on February 2. The chapter raised $250,000 through auctions and the sale of bighorn sheep conservation hunting permits. Most of that money will be used to fund bighorn sheep work that includes transplanting additional bighorn sheep into Utah, and habitat work that benefits wild sheep.

"Utah is gaining a reputation for having a lot of bighorn sheep, and a lot of good rams," says Jim Karpowitz, who coordinates the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources' bighorn sheep program. "Our bighorn sheep populations have increased dramatically in recent years because of increased efforts to establish new populations and to put more bighorns into existing ones."

Utah has about 4,000 bighorn sheep (mostly desert bighorns) and Karpowitz says Utah's bighorn sheep are doing so well that the state's Bighorn Sheep Management Plan, written in 1999, already needs to be updated. "Things are moving so fast that we need to redo it already," he says. "We're making so much progress that we're going to reach some of our population objectives ahead of time."

Karpowitz's view of bighorn sheep in Utah is echoed by Ray Lee, executive director of FNAWS.

"Utah probably has the most progressive bighorn sheep program in North America," Lee says. He cites transplants of bighorn sheep into Utah, including trips made as far away as Canada to obtain sheep; domestic sheep buyouts and closures; habitat work to help bighorn sheep; and control of predators in bighorn sheep areas, as reasons Utah's bighorn sheep populations are flourishing.

To show its appreciation for the work being done in Utah, FNAWS honored five Utahns at its national convention. Karpowitz; Collin Allan, a former Utah Wildlife Board member; Lee Howard, director of the Utah Chapter of FNAWS; and Max Morgan, chairman of the Utah Wildlife Board, all received State Statesman awards for their work with Utah's bighorn sheep.

A fifth Utahn, Utah Congressmen Jim Hansen, was presented a Federal Statesman Award for the work he has done as a U.S. congressman to help bighorn sheep in Utah and throughout the nation.

"There's been a lot of bighorn sheep progress in Utah in the last 10 years," Lee says. "Hopefully this decade will be even better and with these men who were awarded working in the program, I'm sure it will be."