Bighorn Sheep of the Coachella Valley

While walking the Art Smith Trail in South Palm Desert, I photographed a bighorn sheep eating a barrel cactus. In one frame, its head is lowered into the plant. In the other, yellow-orange pulp clings to its muzzle, with the cactus and its long spines just below.

Those two photographs offer a useful place to begin the story of bighorn sheep in the Coachella Valley. We can look at a rocky hillside and wonder what an animal finds to eat there. The sheep in these pictures gives us a very specific answer.

• A desert meal tells a larger story. The Art Smith Trail photographs show a bighorn feeding on barrel cactus, one part of its varied plant diet.
• The local sheep belong to the endangered Peninsular population. Their habitat extends along the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa mountains and south toward the Mexican border.
• Conservation takes sustained local work. Research, releases, protected habitat, mountain connections, and safer boundaries with development all matter.
• Population numbers need context. Range-wide estimates and local waterhole counts measure different things; each figure below retains its date and location.

A meal on the Art Smith Trail

Explore the desert diet

What’s on the menu?

Change the conditions, then choose a plant group to explore a bighorn’s meal.

Barrel cactus

Barrel cactus is documented bighorn forage. Its moist tissue contributes water as well as food.

Other fresh plants may be available, too; bighorns choose among the foods their habitat provides.

Water mattersMoist forage can supply much of a sheep’s water under favorable conditions.

Seen on the Art Smith TrailTap either photo to enlarge

These are general feeding patterns. Actual choices depend on location, rainfall, and the plants available.

Learn more: CDFW forage and nutrition · CDFW natural history · Bighorn Institute

What bighorn sheep eat

Desert bighorns are herbivores and ruminants, able to digest a varied plant diet. Their meals change with the plants available in a particular place and season. Grasses and forbs, the broad-leaved herbaceous plants that include many desert wildflowers, are part of that menu. Shrubs matter too. Bighorn Institute identifies catclaw acacia, brittlebush, sweetbush, and krameria among their favored desert browse. ^{3, 5}

Rain helps determine what is on the menu. When cool-season storms bring a flush of annual plants, sheep can select fresh growth. As the desert dries, plants that retain green leaves become more valuable. Catclaw acacia is one example: its deep roots help it stay green during summer, providing nutritious browse when much of the surrounding vegetation has stopped growing. ⁴

Cactus belongs in this diet. Its moist tissue can contribute water as well as food, and CDFW specifically documents barrel cactus consumption by desert bighorns. My photographs record that behavior here in Palm Desert. They also make the relationship between an animal and its habitat visible: protecting the sheep means protecting the plants they feed on. ³

Moist forage can meet much of a sheep’s water requirement under favorable conditions, but heat and dry vegetation increase the importance of springs and other water sources. A sheep’s ability to eat cactus does not make access to water expendable. ³

The sheep living above our cities

The local conservation story centers on Peninsular bighorn sheep, a federally endangered population of the desert bighorn subspecies Ovis canadensis nelsoni. Their U.S. range runs from the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa mountains south to the Mexican border. The name identifies a particular population within the broader desert bighorn group. ²²

CDFW describes their home as a narrow band along the desert slopes, generally below about 4,600 feet. Open, rugged country offers visibility and steep ground where sheep can evade predators. Canyon bottoms, washes, and alluvial fans supply forage and water; connections between mountain areas allow animals to move between groups. ²

The mountains, the places, the connections

Explore Bighorn Country

Choose a marker or a place below to explore the habitat, photographs, and conservation story along the valley’s mountain edge.

Habitat · area overview

San Jacinto foothills

Above Palm Springs, the lower desert slopes of the San Jacinto Mountains form the northern end of the U.S. Peninsular range. Open terrain, forage, and connections to neighboring mountain areas are essential parts of the sheep’s home.

The marker represents the foothills as a broad habitat area.

CDFW range and habitat

Habitat · area overview

Northern Santa Rosa Mountains

The slopes above Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert connect rocky escape terrain with washes and feeding areas. Bighorn Institute has monitored sheep in this part of the mountains for decades, studying how they use their habitat and how the herd changes.

The Art Smith Trail photograph shows the open, rugged terrain that makes this landscape useful to bighorns.

Bighorn Institute field researchExplore the recovery timeline

Public trail · Palm Desert

Art Smith Trail

This is where I photographed a bighorn eating a barrel cactus. The trail climbs into the northern Santa Rosa Mountains, linking the diet story to the plants and terrain that sustain wild sheep.

The marker identifies the Highway 74 trailhead. Follow established trails and check current conditions with the land manager.

Explore the desert dietOfficial BLM trail guide

Zoo & learning · Palm Desert

The Living Desert

The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens offers a public setting to learn about desert bighorn sheep and their adaptations. Its work includes species conservation and partnerships with local programs.

My January 2025 photographs here show the zoo’s animals. Visit the zoo’s website for current admission and visitor information.

The Living Desert: Wild AmericasMore from my zoo photographs

Conservation · project area

La Quinta conservation edge

Around PGA West and Lake Cahuilla, sheep using irrigated landscapes encountered hazards such as vehicles, drowning, and toxic ornamental plants. The barrier fence completed in 2024 became part of the effort to reduce those losses.

The marker identifies the general Lake Cahuilla–PGA West project area. The timeline explains the fence and the work that followed.

Explore the conservation timelineBighorn Institute: La Quinta project

Habitat and conservation markers indicate general areas. The public-place markers identify the trailhead and zoo. Check current access with the land manager. Photograph captions identify where each image was made.

How they learn the mountains

Young sheep learn where to travel and feed from older animals. Ewes often remain in familiar home ranges and form groups with related females. Rams range more widely and move among ewe groups during the breeding season. That learned geography is one reason a road, a development, or a blocked passage can have consequences beyond its immediate footprint. ⁶

A history older than the cities

Bighorn sheep were part of the human story here long before modern Palm Desert or La Quinta. In The Cahuilla Kitchen, published by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, Tribal Ranger Ralph Rodriguez describes bighorn among the animals traditionally hunted in the canyons. The account places them within a much wider knowledge of food, seasons, and the valley’s different environments. ⁷

That history deserves a place alongside modern wildlife science. The mountains already held longstanding human relationships with plants and animals when the conservation agencies and organizations we know today began their work.

How the population became endangered

The twentieth-century decline had several causes. CDFW identifies habitat loss, human disturbance, livestock grazing, disease, poaching, and barriers associated with infrastructure. Once sheep numbers were low, mountain lion predation placed additional pressure on some groups. Predation that a healthy population could withstand became more consequential for a depleted herd. ⁸

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports an estimated 335 Peninsular bighorns across the U.S. range at the time of federal listing in 1998. A small group could lose breeding females faster than surviving lambs could replace them. Conservation therefore had to address both immediate losses and the habitat needed for future generations. ^{1, 6}

Explore the conservation story · 1971–2026

The Road to Recovery

Explore the protections, research, and habitat work behind the recovery. Choose a year to see what changed and why it mattered.

1971

California protection begins

What changed

Peninsular bighorn sheep gained protection under California law.

Who was involved

The State of California and its wildlife agencies.

Why it mattered

This established an early legal foundation. Continued population losses showed that protection also needed research, habitat conservation, and fieldwork.

Sources: CDFW: conservation and recovery

1982

A local center for bighorn research

What changed

Biologists and veterinarians founded Bighorn Institute near Palm Desert to investigate declining sheep populations.

Who was involved

Bighorn Institute’s founders and supporters, working with state and federal wildlife agencies.

Why it mattered

The valley gained a dedicated organization studying the sheep, their health, and their habitat over many years.

Sources: Bighorn Institute: its founding and mission

1985

Raising sheep for release to the wild

What changed

Bighorn Institute began maintaining a captive population to provide sheep for release into wild herds.

Who was involved

Bighorn Institute and cooperating wildlife managers.

Why it mattered

Releases could bolster small herds while researchers studied the causes of decline. The program also supported research into reproduction, lamb development, and disease.

Sources: Bighorn Institute: research and releases

1998

Federal endangered status

What changed

The U.S. Peninsular population was listed as endangered in March 1998.

Who was involved

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Why it mattered

Federal listing brought additional protection and a formal recovery effort for a population that had fallen to a few hundred animals.

U.S. Peninsular range About 335

sheep estimated at listing

1998

San Jacinto and Santa Rosa mountains south to the U.S.–Mexico border

Sources: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: species account · CDFW: conservation and recovery

2000

A framework for lasting recovery

What changed

The federal recovery plan was released in November 2000.

Who was involved

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with federal, state, and private biologists.

Why it mattered

Recovery goals combined sustained populations across recovery regions with long-term habitat protection and connections that allow sheep to move between areas.

Sources: Bighorn Institute: Peninsular population · CDFW: conservation and recovery

2008

Protecting habitat across the valley

What changed

State and federal permits were issued for the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan.

Who was involved

The Coachella Valley Conservation Commission, participating local agencies, California wildlife officials, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Why it mattered

The regional plan organized land conservation and management for 27 species. Bighorn recovery depends on protecting the places animals feed, travel, and raise lambs.

Sources: CVCC: habitat plan and permits · CVCC: regional plan background, page 3

2016

A larger population, with work still ahead

What changed

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports a range-wide estimate of about 884 sheep by 2016.

Who was involved

Wildlife agencies and conservation partners; the estimate is reported in the federal species account.

Why it mattered

The federal account credits breeding, releases, habitat conservation, and other recovery efforts for gains since listing. Endangered status continued.

U.S. Peninsular range About 884

sheep estimated

2016

San Jacinto and Santa Rosa mountains south to the U.S.–Mexico border

Sources: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: species account

2024

A barrier at the urban edge

What changed

The fence along PGA West and Lake Cahuilla was completed in January. Its gates were closed on March 29.

Who was involved

The Coachella Valley Conservation Commission and City of La Quinta, with state and federal wildlife agencies; Bighorn Institute documented urban hazards.

Why it mattered

The fence was intended to reduce deaths from vehicles, drowning, and toxic landscaping. Continued inspection and maintenance are part of that work.

U.S. Peninsular range About 745

sheep estimated in a separate helicopter survey

December 2024

The full U.S. range; this figure does not measure the La Quinta fence’s effect

Sources: Bighorn Institute: La Quinta fence chronology · CVCC: 2024 annual report, page 12 · Bighorn Institute: Peninsular population

2025

Follow-through after the fence

What changed

A one-way wildlife gate was installed in January to help sheep leave PGA West. A permanent wildlife water system with a 2,300-gallon tank followed in December.

Who was involved

The Coachella Valley Conservation Commission installed the gate; the California Department of Fish and Wildlife installed the water system.

Why it mattered

Managing the urban boundary continued after construction, with an exit for sheep remaining inside and water infrastructure for the animals.

Sources: Bighorn Institute: La Quinta fence chronology

2026

Reading the local herd carefully

What changed

On July 8–9, Bighorn Institute and volunteers observed 65 sheep, including 18 lambs, at water sources near Rancho Mirage.

Who was involved

Bighorn Institute biologists and volunteer counters.

Why it mattered

Repeated observations help researchers assess a local herd. A waterhole count is a sample of animals seen, while a population estimate draws on broader monitoring.

Local herd About 140

adult sheep estimated in the herd

Reported July 2026

Northern Santa Rosa Mountains

Local waterhole count 65 observed

sheep, including 18 lambs

July 8–9, 2026

Northern Santa Rosa Mountains near Rancho Mirage

The herd estimate covers adults; the waterhole count includes lambs. These are different measures of one local population.

Sources: Bighorn Institute: July 2026 field report

Population figures apply to the date and geographic area shown. Local herd estimates and waterhole observations are not totals for the entire U.S. Peninsular range.

These milestones describe an ongoing effort. Legal protection created a foundation; field research, land conservation, and changes at the urban edge have been needed to make it work on the ground.

The work behind the recovery

Bighorn Institute gives the valley’s conservation story a local center. Founded by biologists and veterinarians in 1982, the nonprofit studies sheep from Palm Springs to La Quinta. It reports that its work helped keep the San Jacinto and northern Santa Rosa herds from disappearing. ⁹

Its breeding and rehabilitation work has supplied sheep for release into the wild. The Institute reports 127 releases into the northern Santa Rosa or San Jacinto mountains. Its researchers also study survival, lamb development, health, and movement, and assist CDFW with helicopter surveys. ¹⁰

Protecting the land between sightings

The Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan adds a regional approach. Administered by the Coachella Valley Conservation Commission, it covers habitat for 27 species, including Peninsular bighorns, and addresses wildlife linkages. The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument is another important part of the local public-land setting. ^{11, 12}

A sighting occupies a moment. A sheep needs a usable home range every day: feeding ground, access to water, and routes to other sheep. Conservation has to work at that larger scale. ²

Why golf courses became part of the story

In La Quinta, irrigated landscapes brought a difficult conservation problem into view. Bighorn Institute records rams using local golf courses beginning in 2007, followed by ewes and lambs in 2012. Seasonal visits became regular use of artificial food and water. Sheep could find green plants and water near homes while also encountering hazards. ¹³

The risks include vehicle strikes, drowning, and eating toxic ornamental plants. Crowding can increase opportunities for disease transmission, while repeated contact with people changes behavior. A sheep that seems comfortable beside a fairway may still be exposed to serious risks. ^{14, 13}

This is where the Art Smith Trail photographs offer a useful comparison. They show a sheep feeding on a native desert plant within rocky habitat. A lawn can look greener to us, but greenness alone cannot tell us whether a place is safe for wildlife.

The La Quinta fence

CVCC’s 2024 annual report records completion of the La Quinta Peninsular Bighorn Sheep Barrier Fence in January 2024. Bighorn Institute dates the closing of the gates at PGA West and Lake Cahuilla to March 29. The purpose was to reduce deaths associated with the urban environment. CVCC also worked with state and federal wildlife agencies on inspection and maintenance. ^{14, 13}

Fencing presents a real tradeoff. It can exclude sheep from dangerous developed areas while also changing the habitat they can reach. CVCC’s report acknowledges habitat made inaccessible by the La Quinta fence and the associated conservation adjustments. Keeping a fence effective therefore requires attention to the habitat and resources on the wild side. ¹⁴

Bighorn Institute reports further work in 2025: a one-way wildlife gate was installed in the PGA West fence in January, and CDFW installed a permanent water guzzler, a tank-fed wildlife water source, in December. The same organization credits earlier exclusion fencing in Rancho Mirage with reducing urban-related losses there. ¹³

Keeping mountain groups connected

The places where barriers keep sheep out of trouble have to be considered alongside the places where sheep need passage. In an August 2026 field report, Bighorn Institute described a ewe moving between the northern Santa Rosa and San Jacinto mountains. Researchers found her again after her tracking collar failed. ¹⁷

That individual journey makes the importance of connectivity easier to understand. A protected hillside can still become isolated if the routes beyond it are lost. Healthy habitat includes the connections that let animals reach neighboring mountain areas. ²

Recovery has made progress and still needs work

Published estimates show substantial improvement from the late 1990s, but the population remains endangered. Numbers should always carry a date and a geographic boundary. The figures below refer to Peninsular bighorns across their U.S. range, which extends well beyond the Coachella Valley. ^{1, 15}

USFWS supplies the 1998 and 2016 figures; Bighorn Institute reports the December 2024 helicopter-survey estimate. ^{1, 15}

A local count answers a different question. During its July 8–9, 2026 waterhole count near Rancho Mirage, Bighorn Institute observed 65 sheep, including 18 lambs. The Institute said the result was consistent with its estimate of approximately 140 adults in the northern Santa Rosa Mountains. The waterhole observations were a sample of that herd, not its entire population. ¹⁶

Why surviving lambs matter

A ewe usually produces one lamb after a pregnancy of about six months. Peninsular births generally occur from January through June, with many desert bighorn births concentrated in late winter and spring. Ewes seek steep terrain for lambing, and young lambs can walk within hours. Learning to move through that country begins early. ^{5, 6}

For biologists, the question continues after birth: how many lambs survive? Rainfall affects plant growth and nutrition, and disease can influence survival. A good season of births therefore needs to be followed by successful recruitment, meaning young animals survive to join the older population. ^{6, 4}

The pressures that remain

Habitat loss and disturbance remain concerns in the federal species account, along with invasive plants and damaging fire. Bighorn Institute also identifies disease, poor lamb recruitment, and predation in already vulnerable groups. Protecting sheep requires attention to these interacting pressures rather than assuming one intervention can resolve them all. ^{1, 15}

The recovery framework reflects that complexity. CDFW describes goals that combine a sustained population across recovery regions with long-term habitat protection and connectivity. A single encouraging survey cannot establish that those conditions have been secured. ⁸

There is practical evidence of progress in individual herds. Bighorn Institute reports that the San Jacinto herd was down to four ewes in 2002; its research page now describes roughly 40 adult ewes. Releases and continuing fieldwork have helped rebuild that breeding population. ¹⁰

Seeing bighorns at The Living Desert

I also photographed bighorn sheep at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert. These images show the zoo’s animals, photographed in January 2025. They offer a closer look at the forms that are harder to study during a brief trail encounter, including the heavy curl of a ram’s horns.

The Living Desert provides a public setting to learn about bighorns and describes its participation in a Species Survival Plan and local conservation collaborations. Zoo viewing also gives visitors an option that does not depend on finding wild sheep on a hike. Bighorn Institute, by contrast, is a research and recovery facility whose sheep are not available for public viewing. ^{18, 9}

How to give wild sheep room

For a trail encounter, binoculars or a long lens let you observe details while keeping your distance. Watch from the established trail, avoid following the sheep, and leave their route open. If an animal interrupts feeding to watch you or moves away, give it more space. Let the photograph come from the animal’s normal behavior. ¹⁹

Never feed wild bighorn sheep or encourage them toward people. ¹³

Check current trail notices and respect closures. Dogs are prohibited on most trails within the national monument; BLM explains that, in lower-elevation habitat, sheep react to dogs as they would to a predator. A leashed dog is still a dog to a bighorn. ¹²

For route context, explore our Palm Desert hiking guide.

Residents and visitors can also support organizations doing the fieldwork, protect open-space connections, and share sightings with wildlife researchers. CDFW welcomes observations with photographs, group size, behavior, and location. Sensitive details are best shared directly with researchers. ²⁰

The desert in those two photographs

When I look at the cactus photographs, I see a small piece of the life that makes these mountains worth protecting. There is a sheep finding food among the spines, and there is the plant making that meal possible. The larger conservation story comes back to keeping those ordinary interactions possible, year after year, on the slopes above our cities.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources and Further Reading

Research checked September 16, 2026. Population estimates retain their original survey dates. All photographs are by Mark Miller.

1. USFWS — Peninsular bighorn sheep
2. CDFW — Peninsular range and habitat
3. CDFW — Desert bighorn natural history
4. CDFW — Forage and nutrition
5. Bighorn Institute — Bighorn sheep facts
6. CDFW — Peninsular bighorn behavior
7. Agua Caliente — The Cahuilla Kitchen
8. CDFW — Peninsular conservation and recovery
9. Bighorn Institute — About the Institute
10. Bighorn Institute — Research projects
11. CVCC — Habitat conservation plan fact sheet
12. BLM — Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument
13. Bighorn Institute — La Quinta urban issues
14. CVCC — 2024 annual report pages 12 and 21
15. Bighorn Institute — Endangered Peninsular bighorn
16. Bighorn Institute — July 2026 field report
17. Bighorn Institute — August 2026 field report
18. The Living Desert — Wild Americas and desert bighorn
19. CDFW — Viewing desert bighorn
20. CDFW — How to help desert bighorn
21. CVCC — Conservation plan and 2008 permits
22. CDFW — Peninsular bighorn overview