My New Book On The Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep

Dale Matson

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Preface and Acknowledgements

         Why did I publish this book? There has never been a book about the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep. There are less than 500 of them and they are on the endangered species list. At one point there were less than 100 sheep.

         They are threatened by avalanches, landslides, diseases from domestic sheep and predation from mountain lions. They live most of their lives at high altitude under rather sparse conditions.

         This book is primarily an opportunity to see photographs of the sheep in various locations from the Mount Whitney area to Mount Gibbs in the north. Unless one is extremely lucky, you will never get as close as many of these photographs. I was fortunate on a couple of occasions to be both close and have a super telephoto lens with me.

         The sheep are virtually unknown to the general public and that is another reason for this book. This book is a tribute to the sheep who in spite of hardship thrive in their hostile environment. That is not to say that they don’t live in some of the most rugged and beautiful areas of the Sierra Nevada and have summer ranges on the west ridges and winter ranges on the eastern ridges.

         I encourage those who read about these marvelous sheep to become a part of their story by joining the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Foundation and participating in the field trips where these sheep may be seen.  

I have been blessed to be connected with folks like Dr. John Wehausen, the scientist who discovered that the Sierra Bighorn were a separate subspecies of bighorn sheep. John Muir who came across the sheep in his Sierra travels believed that they were the same as desert sheep.

I have organized this book by herd units which includes the Mt. Langley, Mt. Gibbs, Sawmill Canyon, Baxter Canyon and Wheeler Ridge herd units. I have no photographs from the other herd units.

         I have also been honored to know Dr. Virginia Chadwick, Steve Yeager and last but not least, my wife Sharon who has accompanied me on many of my trips to the east side of the Sierra. She has been an important “spotter” for me in locating the sheep. As John Wehausen has said, “look for boulders with legs”. Thanks to Kathleen Anderson of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for her permission to use the herd unit map.

Dale Matson April 2020

Available now in Kindle (color) and Paperback (black and white)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087L727Q2/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=the+sierra+nevada+bighorn+sheep&qid=1587944399&sr=8-6