New Mexico has a plan for re-establishing bighorn sheep

New Mexico wildlife managers are considering a proposal to re-establish desert bighorn sheep in another mountain range in southern New Mexico.

The plan calls for translocating sheep in the Sacramento Mountains in the fall. The state Department of Game and Fish is seeking public comment on the proposal and has scheduled a public meeting Sept. 19 in Alamogordo.

The agency says the species has been absent from the Sacramento Mountains for nearly a century.

Desert bighorn sheep were placed on New Mexico’s endangered species list in 1980. Numerous agencies, private landowners, sportsmen’s groups and others worked for three decades to recover the species and it was removed from the list in 2011.

Department estimates put the population at roughly 1,000 to 1,200 statewide.