Roadkill From the Ocotillo Express

There are fewer than 1000 Peninsular Bighorn sheep, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has just granted permission for ten of those sheep to be “taken,” meaning that people could be moving them, harassing them, or even killing them. The sheep have been listed as endangered since the late nineties, when their numbers had dwindled to just a couple hundred individuals. Since then their numbers have rebounded, largely because of the protected status.

            The sheep are true wonders, beautiful creatures that my wife and I have been lucky enough to get a glimpse of on trips to Anza-Borrego State Park. This decision does not conform in the slightest with the mission of the USFWS to work for the recovery of imperiled plant and animal species.

Bighorn sheep in Anza-Borego State Park

The USFWS granted the taking to allow for the construction of the Ocotillo Express wind energy facility of over 100 wind turbines, many of them expected to be over 400 feet tall, in the desert east of the Imperial County town of Ocotillo. The facility received its final approval from the Interior Department last week.

It’s easy to see that the bad news for the bighorn sheep has been in the works for some time. In 2009 the USFWS diminished the amount of land designated for protection of the Peninsular Bighorn sheep by more than half. Some of the area that lost that status is where they are now building the Ocotillo Express. At the time of the reduction, the USFWS officials said that research since 2001 identified areas that were actually used by the sheep. Well, the research was either wrong, or the “actual” places where many of these sheep roam and live was kinda sorta overlooked by “mistake.”

Additionally, I found this story in the online edition of the East County Magazine, a local publication of the rural backcountry of San Diego County. The San Diego UT, the recognized news source of the major metropolitan area of San Diego, the news source of record, had no story on the taking of the sheep, despite the significance this story has and the ramifications that a decision like this might have on the sheep and other threatened or endangered species.

In the meantime, it’s full speed ahead for the Ocotillo Express, sheep or no sheep.