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Bighorn sheep in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. The Kofa National Wildlife Refuge is located in Arizona in the southwestern United States, northeast of Yuma and southeast of Quartzsite. The refuge, established in 1939 to protect desert bighorn sheep, encompasses over 665,400 acres (2,693 km 2) of the Yuma Desert region of the Sonoran Desert.
It preserves habitat for desert bighorn sheep, the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher, and other animals. The refuge protects 30 river miles - 300 miles (480 km) of shoreline - from Needles, California, to Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
Desert bighorn sheep populations have trended upward since the 1960s. The upward trend was caused by conservation measures, including habitat preservation. In 1978, desert bighorn sheep populations were estimated at 8,415-9,040. [15] A state-by-state survey published in 1985 estimated the overall US desert bighorn sheep population at 15,980. [16]
The desert bighorn sheep were moved from the home where they were raised to their new range on Thursday (5 December) as part of a conservation effort by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Ironwood Forest National Monument is located in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona.Created by Bill Clinton by Presidential Proclamation 7320 on June 9, 2000, the monument is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the United States Department of the Interior.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is working to restore populations of the native desert bighorn sheep and will release some in Franklin Mountains this fall.
These efforts led to the establishment of two bighorn game ranges in Arizona: Kofa National Wildlife Refuge and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. On January 18, 1939, over 1,500,000 acres (6,100 km 2 ) were set aside and a civilian conservation corp side camp was set up to develop high mountain waterholes for the sheep.
There are only approximately 80,000 North American bighorn sheep on the continent currently — much less than the between 150,000 and 200,000 that existed before the 1800’s.