A11
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Tuesday, January 4, 2022
Campaign fi ghts bacteria that’s killing bighorn lambs
bodies in their blood showing
they had been infected with
the bacteria, just four of the
25 were shedding bacteria at
that time, Ratliff said.
Biologists fi tted all those
sheep with tracking collars
so they can be captured again
and retested.
Illness continues
to threaten future
of Baker County’s
two bighorn herds
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald.
BAKER CITY — As
the helicopter fl ew over the
ridges and canyons of east-
ern Baker County recently,
Brian Ratliff was seeing
more bighorn sheep than he
expected.
But the news wasn’t exclu-
sively of the good variety.
It was the sheep Ratliff
didn’t see during the fl ight
over the Lookout Mountain
unit — lambs — that defi ne
the continuing threat to the
future of Oregon’s biggest
herd of Rocky Mountain
bighorns.
Ratliff , the district wild-
life biologist at the Oregon
Department of Fish and
Wildlife’s Baker City offi ce,
counted just four lambs
during the aerial census.
All of those lambs, born in
2021, were in small groups of
sheep in the northern part of
the unit, which is bordered on
the north by state Highway
86 and on the south by Inter-
state 84.
The scarcity of lambs
shows that a bacterial infec-
tion remains widespread in
the Lookout Mountain unit
and puts the long-term health
of the herd in peril.
ODFW biologists believe
all of the 65 to 70 lambs born
in the unit in spring 2020
died due to the same strain
of Mycoplasma ovipneumo-
niae bacteria.
It was first detected in
the Lookout Mountain herd,
which included about 400
bighorns, in February 2020
when dead sheep were found
near the Snake River Road
above Brownlee Reservoir.
Lab tests of tissue samples
from dead sheep confi rmed
the strain of bacteria, the
fi rst time it had been found
in bighorn sheep in Oregon.
Half a herd
During an aerial count in
late 2018, biologists counted
403 bighorns in the Lookout
Mountain unit. A survey in
late 2020 showed about 250
sheep.
Ratliff said he expected
about 225 in this year’s count,
so he was somewhat pleased
by the total of 274 animals.
About 62% of the bighorns,
however, were distributed
among several large groups
in one canyon in the south
‘We’ve just got to
fi gure out who it is’
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald, File
A group of bighorn sheep, including a lamb, in the Lookout Mountain unit in eastern Baker County on June 20, 2020.
COSTLY CAMPAIGN
Trapping, testing and attaching GPS collars to bighorn
sheep in some of Baker County’s most rugged country is a
time-consuming, and expensive, endeavor.
Brian Ratliff , wildlife biologist at the Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife’s Baker City offi ce, said the agency has
benefi ted from fi nancial assistance from the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, as well as tech-
nical assistance from the tribes’ biologists. The tribes have
contributed $32,000 of their own funds, and also received a
federal grant for $183,000.
Ratliff said the Oregon chapter of the Foundation for North
American Wild Sheep contributed $10,000, and the foun-
dation’s national offi ce allocated $50,000 for a three-state
bighorn sheep project that includes Washington and Idaho.
The Bureau of Land Management, which oversees much of
the land that both the Lookout Mountain and Burnt River
Canyon bighorn herds use, recently contributed $20,000.
And ODFW has spent more than $125,000 so far on the
campaign, Ratliff said.
part of the unit. Ratliff didn’t
see any lambs in that area.
He said that’s strong
evidence the bacteria, which
sheep can easily spread
among themselves, is still
present in those larger groups
and likely killed all of this
year’s lambs.
“In the smaller subgroups
there’s less chance of lambs
being infected,” Ratliff said.
Biologists were initially
optimistic in 2020, with
no dead lambs found as of
mid-June. They knew, from
earlier testing, that lambs
aren’t infected by their
mothers prior to birth.
But later in summer 2020,
as ewes and lambs started to
congregate in larger “nurs-
ery” groups, lambs started
to sicken and die.
Finding the ‘shedders’
The key to saving the
Lookout Mountain herd —
and the smaller herd of Cali-
fornia bighorns, a smaller
subspecies, in the Burnt
River Canyon south of I-84
— is fi nding the sheep that
are chronic “shedders” of
the bacteria that causes
potentially fatal pneumonia,
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald, File
A group of bighorn rams photographed on June 20, 2020, in
the Lookout Mountain unit in eastern Baker County.
Ratliff said.
That’s the focus of a multi-
agency eff ort that started in
2020 and likely will continue
for several years.
This campaign relies
heavily on temporarily
capturing bighorns, testing
them for the bacteria, and
fi tting them with GPS track-
ing collars.
Chronic shedders often
don’t get sick, but they can
quickly spread the bacteria
to other sheep that lack high
levels of immunity, Ratliff
said.
Ewes that are chronic
shedders are especially prob-
lematic because they mingle
with other ewes, and lambs,
more often than rams, which
are either solitary or with
other rams much of the year.
Lambs are especially
vulnerable, as the nearly
wholesale loss of the young-
est animals the past two years
attests.
Last fall, ODFW, with
financial aid from the
Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reserva-
tion, as well as the Oregon
and national chapters of the
Foundation for North Amer-
ican Wild Sheep, captured 25
bighorns from the Lookout
Mountain herd. Although all
25 of those sheep had anti-
Garton:
Continued from Page A10
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Blue Mountain Community College’s McKeeley Tonkin (00) drives the ball up the court against the Edmonds Tridents on
Nov. 19, 2021, the fi rst day of the Red Lion Classic at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton. BMCC and the rest of
the Northwest Athletic Conference is pausing winter sports until the week of Jan. 17, 2022.
NWAC:
Continued from Page A10
The NWAC cited several
reasons for the delay, includ-
ing that positive COVID-
19 numbers in December
2021 hammered college and
professional sports schedul-
ing and based on previous
history and future indica-
tions, January looks concern-
ing before a drop in February
and March.
In light of the new variant,
it will give the Sports Medi-
cine Advisory Committee
time to review and adjust
safety protocols for basket-
ball, and all involved in
basketball, to be as safe
as possible. Any updates
on safety protocols will
be posted as soon as they
become available.
The decision gives NWAC
student-athletes returning
from the holiday break more
time to get tested, follow
through on safety proto-
cols, and if needed, isolate
and quarantine.
Also, with almost all
NWAC scheduled games
canceled prior to Christ-
mas and the week before
New Year’s Day, it allows
student-athletes the opportu-
nity to get back into playing
condition.
Regional games canceled
because a team has COVID-
19 will result in a forfeit, loss
for that team, and a win for
the team that was able to
compete.
By delaying the season it
may help eliminate or reduce
the number league games
canceled because of COVID-
19 issues.
The NWAC stated it has
learned from the past two
years, and will respond and
continue to do so as neces-
sary. The NWAC fully under-
stands that by making this
adjustment it is not fool proof
and that issues may pop up.
One answer does not fi t all.
According to the BMCC
website, the Timberwolves
will be back in action Jan.
17, hosting North Idaho. The
women will play at 2 p.m.,
with the men at 4 p.m.
During the coronavirus
pandemic, her 2020 summer
ball season was canceled,
and come winter, the indoor
facilities were closed.
“It was kind of hard with
COVID and everything got
canceled,” Garton said. “In
the winter, I was having to
pitch outside in the snow. I
was on the freshman foot-
ball fi eld looking down at a
perfectly good facility. I was
having pitching lessons and
it was 20 degrees outside.”
It didn’t take long for the
Gartons to decide to turn
their old barn into a softball
practice facility.
“We put in a batting cage,
put down turf and my pitch-
ing rubber, insulated it and
put in lights,” Garton said.
“That barn is so special to
me. I was out there every
day. I have my friends out.
We have a TV and couches,
and my dad (Kelsy) just just
put a fi replace in there. We
did it all ourselves. I will
remember it for the rest of
my life.”
So far this fall, ODFW has
captured, tested and collared
14 more sheep from Lookout
Mountain.
None was a chronic shed-
der, Ratliff said, although
test results from two of the
bighorns were inconclusive,
so it’s not clear whether they
are shedders or not. One of
the 14, a ewe, was a chronic
shedder identifi ed in 2020,
but was not shedding this fall.
Sheep that are trapped
twice and are chronically
shedding both times will be
euthanized, Ratliff said.
So far, ODFW hasn’t euth-
anized any bighorns from
Lookout Mountain since
none has twice been identi-
fi ed as a chronic shedder.
Ratliff said it’s possible
the herd could recover from
the outbreak by virtue of the
chronic shedders dying natu-
rally. Over time, more sheep
are likely to gain immunity
from a previous exposure to
the bacteria, as well.
On the other hand, just a
few chronic shedders could
potentially keep the bacteria
circulating within the herd,
and decimating each year’s
crop of lambs.
“We’ve just got to fi gure
out who it is,” Ratliff said.
To maintain the herd
population requires a mini-
mum of 20 lambs per 100
ewes, he said.
The average ratio for the
Lookout Mountain herd is
38 lambs per 100 ewes, and
the number has ranged from
a high of 67 per 100 to a low
of 24.
Ratliff said he expects to
see a typical crop of lambs
born in the Lookout Moun-
tain herd late in the coming
spring.
During the aerial survey
this month, he said he
didn’t see any evidence of
sick sheep — bighorns that
develop pneumonia from the
bacteria typically cough and
stumble. And based on 2020
and 2021, it doesn’t appear
the bacteria is aff ecting the
reproductive capacity of the
herd.
Ratliff said biologists
don’t know how the Lookout
Mountain herd was initially
infected with the bacteria.
The fact that Garton was
able to keep her skills sharp
helped when coaches were
fi nally able to get their eyes
on players.
“It was really hard to get
recruited,” Garton said. “I
have hitting and pitching
lessons every Monday, and
my dad catches for me. The
barn was such a big part of
my recruiting. It was truly
awesome that my family
was able to do that.”
Garton, who also plays
volleyball, gets her love
of sports from her parents
Kelsy and Kristan. They
both played at Pendleton
High School. Kristan went
on to play volleyball and
softball at Blue Mountain
Community College, while
Kelsy played baseball at
BMCC.
“They were high school
sweethearts,” said Garton,
who earned second-team
IMC honors for volleyball.
“My mom was a pitcher, and
my dad played third base
and was a really good hitter.
I absolutely love volleyball,
maybe because my dad
doesn’t know much about it.
We butt heads, but there’s a
lot of love.”
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