DWR chief honored for bighorn work

It wasn't difficult getting Jim Karpowitz, smack in the middle of crucial political issues — like trying to get legislators to see solid logic — to change channels and talk about bighorn sheep.

"I watched the story of the sheep being transplanted last week and said to myself, 'I used to do that.' I really miss it," he lamented.

He was referring to the recent relocation of 117 Rocky Mountain bighorn into Utah and to the fact that he once ran Utah's bighorn sheep program but is now stuck behind a desk as director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

When he first started with the DWR in 1980, there were only a few hundred wild sheep located in the most remote, most inhospitable country in Utah.

It is estimated that currently there are more than 5,000 wild sheep.

Base on his work with wild sheep, and the state's growing population, especially with desert bighorn, the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep bestowed on Karpowitz the distinct honor of being seated as the first recipient into the group's Biologists Hall of Fame. The award was presented during the annual FNAWS national banquet on Jan. 20.

It came to be after another biologist, Kevin Hurley with the Wyoming Fish and Game, realized that of all the players in the wildlife programs, biologists on the front line seldom get much credit for their work.

"This is a unique award," said Ray Lee, president of the national chapter of the foundation. "Kevin had been in a couple of (airplane) crashes and survived. When you do this job you realize how dangerous it can be and how dedicated you must be. Kevin provided funding for this award with the understanding that it goes to a biologist ... and Jim was a unanimous choice. He did an incredible job."

Karpowitz filled all the requirements, said Lee. He was passionate about his work, he was active in the bighorn program for decades, he was very successful at reintroducing wild sheep into Utah and would eventually rise to the highest position within the DWR.

During my conversation with Karpowitz, I asked at what point he fell headlong into the sheep program.

It was, he responded, "When I first got in a helicopter and flew around that magnificent country and saw the sheep. I knew then I wanted to do everything I could to restore them to their native habitat. I remember saying to myself while flying that day that life doesn't get any better than this."

For anyone who has seen the relocation program from the start, meaning flying low and firing a net gun over running animals, it's easy to see the danger involved.

Karpowitz started out capturing desert sheep from the remote Canyonlands area and relocating them to other nearby areas. He then went after and got, with financial help from the local chapter of FNAWS, sheep from other states, like Washington, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.

As herds grew in one area, he would capture and then relocate them to new habitat. For example, the first California bighorns, close relatives to the Rocky Mountain bighorn, were placed on Antelope Island in 1997. Since then, sheep from the island have been trapped and moved to the Newfoundland and Stansbury mountains.

Karpowitz remembered writing a recovery plan for bighorn back in 1999. The goal then was to hit projected sheep numbers by 2005. Goals were, in fact, hit in 2003.

Which, of course, was but one of the reasons his picture is the first in the Hall of Fame.

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