Elko County Commission asks staff to submit comments, flags grazing and mining concerns for BLM/NDOW bighorn sheep reintroduction plan

The Elko County Board of Commissioners voted to direct county staff to send a letter of comment to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on a proposed Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) plan to reestablish desert bighorn sheep in the Cortez Mountains.

The action asks staff to document local concerns about disease transmission from domestic sheep, request assurances or hold‑harmless agreements for nearby livestock permittees, and flag potential effects on current or future mining operations in the area. The motion passed on a voice vote; commissioners instructed staff to list specific concerns in the scoping comment rather than endorse the BLM’s proposed categorical exclusion without further detail.

The request under consideration would relocate up to 60 bighorn sheep into Hunt Unit 141 near the Cortez Mountains; NDOW and the governor’s office said the extra animals are needed because drought‑driven emergency captures elsewhere threaten a mass die‑off. Jared Bybee, district manager for the Elko District BLM, told the commission the scoping notice was intended to gather input that will help BLM determine whether a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is appropriate.

Caleb McAdoo, identified in the meeting as deputy director of NDOW, described the project as part of a long‑running NDOW strategy. “This release has been identified for the department for several decades,” McAdoo said, adding the range was listed in NDOW’s bighorn sheep plan as historic, unoccupied habitat. He said NDOW had already engaged permittees, the Nevada Wool Growers and Nevada Cattlemen’s Association and that some domestic‑sheep permittees had been offered cooperative, written assurances intended to limit impacts on grazing uses.

Public commenters were divided. Representatives of local sportsman and bighorn groups, including Lydia Teal, vice president of Nevada Bighorns Unlimited, and a representative identified as “Don” from Elko Bighorns Unlimited, urged support for the reintroduction and noted monitoring plans such as radio collars. Several local ranchers and longtime residents, including Walt Gardner and Cliff Gardner, urged caution and asked for more evidence of historic occurrence and stronger protections for livestock permittees. Gardner cited past reintroductions and management decisions as reasons to require stronger guarantees and scientific evidence.

Commissioners asked NDOW officials to provide details on historical population evidence, the locations and status of nearby domestic‑sheep permits, and the proposed hold‑harmless language. McAdoo read a draft hold‑harmless clause NDOW intends to use, stating NDOW “recognizes the existence of allotments for domestic sheep in the area and agrees to hold harmless” permittees for certain claims arising from the reintroduction, excluding gross negligence or intentional harm. He also said NDOW would lethally remove bighorn sheep if they later posed clear disease risks to livestock.

Commission discussion also raised potential impacts on mining operations; NDOW said it had coordinated with Nevada Gold Mines and did not anticipate conflicts. Commissioners asked staff to include mining impacts among the specific items for BLM consideration.

The commission’s motion directs county staff to prepare and submit a comment letter to the BLM scoping process that records the county’s concerns about possible disease transmission to domestic sheep, requests clarity or formal hold‑harmless/compensation agreements for grazing permittees, and asks that BLM/NDOW confirm whether and how current and future mining activities could be affected. The letter is to be submitted before the BLM comment deadline identified in the scoping notice.