Here is our third newsletter update on the Stone’s sheep work in the Finlay-Russel ranges. In this update, we cover mortality causes from this past year and since the project was initiated. We also discuss pregnancy results from our 2024 over-winter capture sessions and a new health concern previously unrecorded in Stone’s sheep. Next week, we’ll begin our vegetation sampling – Phase 2, now that the snow has melted, allowing us to document forage on each collared sheep’s summer range. Our overall goal with this sampling session is to determine if an individual ewe’s summer range influences late or early winter fat reserves. We’d like to thank the BC Wildfire Service for allowing us to use their cabins during our session, as accommodations in such a remote area can be hard to come by.
As always, I would like to thank you all for the continued support of this project. Your support, questions, and comments help build this project in a way that achieves our shared goals for wild sheep.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about the work, please feel free to reach out to me anytime.
Regards,
LANDON BIRCH, BSc
MSC BIOLOGY STUDENT
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA – OKANAGAN
