DEVELOPMENT PUTS SHEEP AT RISK
Booth Heights development continues to threaten the critical winter range of the S2 Gore Range herd.
THE CURENT THREAT
WE MUST FIGHT ON.
We must raise $3 million to bridge the gap between public funding and the ultimate purchase price of this parcel. We are 30% of the way to our goal. The Vail Bighorn Initiative is a program of The Wild Sheep Foundation and all donations are tax-deductible and made directly to WSF. Choose Vail Bighorn Initiative from the program menu when you give to WSF and all funds will support this crucial and urgent cause. Give now and become a part of the wild sheep conservation story of decade.
In October 2023, citizens and sheep enthusiasts spoke up to urge the Vail Town Council to vote in favor to purchase the winter habitat of these iconic sheep in a contentious battle against a local developer. With an astounding 804 letters of support, and 670 grass roots donations, Vail Town Council’s historical 5-2 vote solidified the preservation of these legacy sheep. The local court followed suit, voting in favor of the Town of Vail’s purchase via condemnation. The battle was won!
The developer has since appealed the court’s decision, preventing the conservation easement from proceeding and delaying title transfer of this herd’s crucial habitat. The iconic herd is still at risk of forever losing their only biologically proven hospitable winter habitat.
BIOLOGISTS SAID FIND A NEW LOCATION
In 2019, wildlife biologists Gene Byrne, Rick Kahn and Melanie Woolever were hired to prepare a report on how to best mitigate the impact of housing planned for East Vail, and the top recommendation was to find another location for the development. That report was published on August 5, 2019. The Booth Heights plan proposes 73 residential units be built on a parcel of land near the East Vail exit in an area that is a winter grazing range for bighorn sheep. The biologists’ top suggestion — not to build the Booth Heights development as proposed. “Our collective view is that finding another location for this development would offer the best mitigation for this sheep herd,” the report states in the third paragraph.
WHY DO THEY NEED THIS WINTER RANGE?
Watch this short video to learn about the significance of this specific parcel to the preservation of the S2 Gore Range Bighorn Sheep.
“there can be no greater issue than that of conseRvation in this country.”
- Theodore Roosevelt