Chelan Bighorn

Bighorn have returned to Lake Chelan after being gone for the last 100 years. Bighorn were once common along the eastern flank of the Cascades, as well as the Columbia and Snake River breaks in Washington. Washington’s native bighorn were wiped out in the 1900’s mostly as a result of disease and over harvesting. The most serious of these diseases is pneumonia caused by pasteurella bacteria.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife began reintroducing bighorn to historic habitat in 1957. Currently Washington supports about 1250 bighorn in 13 herds. The most recently reestablished is the Lake Chelan Herd. Washington Foundation for North American Wild Sheep (FNAWS) negotiated purchase of a forest grazing allotment in March of 1999. Six days after the grazing permit was waived, 13 California bighorn from Lincoln Cliffs and Quilomene were released along the north shore of Lake Chelan near Falls Creek. In the year since the initial reintroduction, additional bighorn have been released bringing total reintroduced bighorn on Lake Chelan to 47.

Reintroduced bighorn seem to be adapting well to Lake Chelan. They have spread out from their release point and are using about 10 miles of lake front between Safety Harbor and Mitchell Creek. Volunteers spotted six new lambs along Lake Chelan in mid May.

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