BIGHORNS IN CRISIS STUDY WILL EXAMINE LOSS OF SHEEP IN SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS.

Byline: Keith Lair Staff Writer

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE - A sharp decline found through a recent count of Nelson Bighorn Sheep in the San Gabriel Mountains is leading the L.A. County Fish and Game Commission to sponsor a study to determine how the population can be saved.

Two weeks ago, the commission offered biologist Steve Hall a contract to study the sheep in the Sheep and San Gabriel wilderness areas. Hall previously studied the area's sheep population in the mid-1980s.

``We need to take stock of what is happening,'' said J. Brad Crow of Pasadena, a member of the commission. ``We need to find out how habitat and mountain lions affect the sheep.''

Two months ago, in its annual count, Department of Fish and Game biologists and volunteers spotted only 54 sheep. Twenty years ago, when Hall was doing his study, more than 700 sheep were counted. Two years ago, that number had decreased to about 200.

It will be the first time the commission will have sponsored any type of research. The commissioners, appointed by each member of the county board of supervisors, receive their funding from fines ordered by county courts for those who break fish and game laws. Among the commission's most popular uses of funds is to plant fish.

``We could be talking about how bighorn sheep used to be in L.A. County,'' said fellow county commissioner Brad Nuremberg. ``We want to help save what is left.''

The decline of bighorn sheep is not just happening in the San Gabriel Mountains. In the Palm Springs area, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service placed the Peninsular species on the endangered list. In 1997, only 75 sheep were spotted. In the Sierra, only 100 sheep were seen. Because of work done by the Bighorn Institute and other organizations, 250 Sierra sheep were sighted last year.

Angeles National Forest lead biologist Bill Brown said a study will be beneficial.

``It will good for us in management because it will give us a better idea of why they are declining,'' he said. ``Hopefully, a study will determine what we can do about it.''

Many experts see the San Gabriel Mountain sheep having two problems: mountain lion depredation and a lack of habitat.

``They need prescribed burns for grass,'' said former Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep president Loren Lutz of Pasadena. ``They need to go to open areas because they are skittish of other (animals).''

The problem is that because the sheep reside in the steep mountainous wilderness areas, the Angeles National Forest cannot unilaterally do burns to open habitat for sheep. Federal law prevents any mechanized machinery in a wilderness area. The sheep's main predator, the mountain lion, is protected by state law.

``In my first 10 years, I never heard anything about mountain lions,'' Brown said. ``But in the last 10 years, I've heard more about mountain lions than ever before. It's quite possible the lion population has increased and that leads to more depredation. But there's also poor habitat condition, too.

``It's easy to point a finger at the forest service for not having prescribed burns. But we have no control (in the wilderness area). Right now, we can't even address it. But with the new forest plan, maybe we will be able to. But realistically, that might be late 2003.''

At one point, the San Gabriel Mountain sheep population was so plentiful that the DFG captured two sheep and transplanted them in the Cobblestone Creek area of the Los Padres National Forest. They also transplanted a sheep in the East Fork headwaters of the San Gabriel River.

Brown says Hall's 1980 study found that there was a high percentage of old adults in the range and that he predicted a decline.

``But this seems extreme,'' Brown said. ``I'm glad they want to find out what's going on.''

Crow said he does not know how long the study will take.

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Bighorn sheep, like these at the San Diego Animal Park, are in jeopardy throughout the San Gabriel Mountains.

San Diego Animal Park Photo