$ 29.95

Book Details

Desert Bighorn Sheep

Wilderness Icon

Desert Bighorn Sheep Wilderness Icon is the most comprehensive photographic work on this elusive symbol of the deserts of the southwest United States and northern Mexico. Photographer Jeff Young worked for years to assemble tens of thousands of high quality photographs and assemble them into what is the finest collection of desert bighorn photos ever published. Author Mark Jorgensen brings his five decades of experience studying desert bighorn sheep and managing their habitat to provide the informative text of this book. The book’s six chapters features some 200 high quality photographs featuring rare behavior, sheep in their rugged desert habitat, ewes nurturing newborn lambs, and massive rams in stunning ritualized combat for dominance. The text documents the struggle to provide habitat for the desert bighorn from Nuevo Leon west to Baja California, Mexico, and from Texas west to California. Today, well-regulated hunting programs in the United States and Mexico have generated millions of dollars in revenue, which has been directed to bighorn management and conservation programs.

Connect here for a review by the Imperial Valley Desert Museum

And here for additional information on the peninsular bighorns and a great review by wildlife biologist, Janene Colby.

About the Author

Mark C. Jorgensen

Mark Jorgensen grew up hiking, camping, and hunting in the western states and western Mexico. He has been intrigued by desert bighorn sheep since he was 11 years old and has spent five decades studying and pursuing them throughout their range. He became a State Park Ranger for California State Parks after four summers studying desert bighorn for Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in southern California. He went on to become the last Park Naturalist for California State Parks at Anza-Borrego, as well as a Resource Ecologist, and he finished his 36-year park career as the Superintendent of Anza-Borrego. He is a member of the Technical Staff of the Desert Bighorn Council, Inc., an advisor to the Bighorn Institute, and was an original member of the Federal Recovery Team for the endangered population of desert bighorn sheep in the Peninsular Ranges of southern California. He previously co-authored a book about Anza-Borrego and has written numerous articles for newspapers and magazines. As a hunter who chooses not to hunt bighorn, he understands the tension between conservation and preservation of bighorn sheep.