ARE HUMAN PLACED WATER TANKS IN WILDERNESS AREAS THERE TO ASSIST BIGHORN SHEEP OR A RUSE TO EXPAND ELK HERDS FOR HUNTERS?

Groups: Kofa Refuge bighorns aren't helped by water tanksBy Tony Davis
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
9/17/09

Two controversial water tanks placed in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge to help the refuge's troubled bighorn sheep aren't working as promised, environmentalists said this week.
After reviewing more than 4,000 photographic images from the tanks, the groups said that they saw no pictures of bighorns drinking at either tank and only one scene of a bighorn walking near a tank. They saw mule deer, hawks, coyotes, vultures, doves and bobcats aplenty, they said.That led the groups to conclude that the tanks, 13,000 gallons each, were placed in the refuge by state and federal officials as a ruse — ostensibly aimed at bighorns but in reality targeting mule deer because of their attraction to hunters. A conclusion supported by the placement of the tanks in flat, open habitat better suited for the deer than the more secretive bighorns that prefer rockier cliffs and ridges for shelter, the environmentalists said.
"Based on my experience, I would never have selected either site as a location for a bighorn watering hole," said Ron Kearns, a former Fish and Wildlife Service biologist in the Kofa now representing Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. "The areas lack nearby high relief escape terrain that is critical to bighorn for predator avoidance. Both sites are ideal for mule deer water use and exceptionally marginal for bighorn use."

State and federal officials, however, say it's too soon to write these tanks off as failures. That's partly because rainfall there has been average since their installation two years ago.

The tanks were put in a wilderness area inside the refuge, which has prompted a lawsuit from the environmental groups in federal court. The suit is seeking removal of the human-built structures from wilderness. A U.S. District Judge in Phoenix upheld the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's installation in a ruling last year. The decision is under appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The recent average rainfall brought "very good range" conditions and decent natural water for wildlife, the State Game and Fish Department said in a statement. They were built at a cost of about $40,000 total.

"The real need for the new water developments will be during drought years," the department said.

"Department biologists expect to see significant use on both of the water systems during the next extended drought period. Drought is normal in a desert environment but it can't be predicted when it will occur next. Water developments are insurance policies that limit or mitigate some of the negative impacts of drought."

Game and Fish also said that they got a report of one shot of a bighorn using a tank last June 11 — contrary to the environmental groups' statement. That was the same day that the environmentalists said the shot of a bighorn walking by the tank was taken.

The conflict over tanks is one of two skirmishes in the Kofa over the refuge's renowned sheep herd. The population was about 800 in 2000, dropped to 620 in 2003, then crashed to 390 in 2006 before rebounding slightly over the next two years. State and federal governments have drawn fierce environmentalist opposition to efforts to shoot mountain lions known to be killing bighorns.In this case, the issue has been human intrusion into the Kofa Wilderness, an area covering more than 500,000 acres of the 665,400-acre refuge that drew federal wilderness designation back in 1990. When the tanks were built, state and federal officials hailed them as a tonic for drought conditions that they blamed along with lions for the sheep population crash.

While drought has been a normal part of the Kofa's ecosystem for hundreds if not thousands of years, this has exceeded any past known drought by several years, the department said on its Web site. The drought slashes the amount, palatability and diversity of plants the sheep eat, the department said.
When McPherson tank was built, Game and Fish predicted that about 90 percent of its use would be by bighorns. Game and Fish also has said that, "Bighorn sheep were using Yaqui Tank within days of its installation."

Instead, today, one of the groups involved in the lawsuit, Wilderness Watch, says that building the water developments was an effort to artificially inflate bighorn numbers. The Sierra Club and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility have also been involved in the legal struggle over these tanks.

"Bighorns have evolved there for thousands of years," said George Nickas, Wilderness Watch's executive director. "In wilderness we let nature take its course, to determine which species are there in what numbers. The Wilderness Act's goal is an area untrammeled, uncontrolled and unmanipulated by humans."
Fish and Wildlife official Mitch Ellis said that officials will need five to 10 years to judge if the tanks are effective.

"Some species are able to use the waters quicker. There's a lot of factors that can affect the level of wildlife use of these tanks," said Ellis, manager of a complex of Southwestern Arizona refuges including Kofa.

Game and Fish's biologists still believe that bighorns will benefit more from these tanks in the long run, the department's statement said. John Hervert, a department biologist, spotted evidence of bighorn use of the Yaqui tank — several sets of bighorn tracks in the dirt around the trough shortly after construction, the department said.
Contrary to Kearns' assertion, the water tanks are located in good bighorn habitat at the foot of mountains, with McPherson located inside a complex of mountains, with a large wash system running into the Kofa Valley, Hervert said.