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There are countless organizations out there with the goals of protecting and preserving wildlife. Conservation Direct, an initiative of the hunting brand KUIU, isn’t just offering lip service and lofty goals. The program is putting people in the field and sheep back in their habitat.
Conservation Direct is a first-of-its-kind initiative. The program is entirely company- and customer-funded, with every dollar going toward a tangible conservation project that contributors and volunteers can see. The best part is not one person takes a paycheck. Every dollar and volunteer hour goes directly toward the current project.
Big Conservation Milestones
- 5 bighorn sheep conservation projects
- 175 sheep transported
- 200-plus volunteers; there have been a total of 200-plus volunteers brought together along with employees
- 11,500 gallons of water storage built; in 2021, water was provided for sheep in their artificial water catchment system in the San Antonio Mountains
The most recent project, KCD5, involved the transfer of sheep from Arizona to Utah. This project was aided by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, the SFW, and the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society. Sheep were gathered using darting and helicopter capture.
Twenty-eight Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep of Morenci, Arizona, were relocated to Antelope Island, Utah. The purpose of the move was to decrease conflict with humans, vehicles, and roads while augmenting numbers and genetic diversity in the Antelope Island herd.
“We are thrilled to have been integral in providing the seed stock for the first Rocky Mountain Bighorn nursery herd in the west,” said Brendan Burns, KUIU’s Conservation Director.
“After putting the initial 25 bighorns on Antelope Island in 2020, it became a mission of ours to finish the job. By connecting Utah DWR, Utah Wild Sheep, and Arizona Game and Fish on this project, we were able to eliminate human/sheep conflict in one area while supplementing them in a much-needed new habitat. It’s truly a win-win project for everyone involved and a textbook example of the Conservation Direct model in action.”
To learn more about what KUIU and its customers are doing to keep these sheep thriving, check out Conservation Direct for yourself.
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