DesGeorges said the goal is for the transplants to augment a herd released on Taos Pueblo land last year. That group — 23 sheep plus a dozen lambs from the spring — has been moving between pueblo land and BLM land along the gorge.

DesGeorges first started working on the prospect of reintroducing sheep to the gorge 15 years ago as a biologist with the field office.

"To see some of the dreams and visions starting to come true, that's very fulfilling," he said.

Early efforts involved surveying the rugged area and making sure it would be suitable for Rocky Mountain bighorn.

The gorge has unlimited rock outcroppings where sheep can keep an eye out for those predators that dare to navigate the steep cliffs. It also has water and enough native grub to sustain a sizable herd.

Pam Herrera Olivas, a BLM wildlife biologist, pointed to the lambs born to the group released on pueblo land last year.

"That's a good indication of the habitat quality," she said.

Michael A. Martinez, who works for Taos Pueblo's natural resources division, said the division's bighorn sheep management program is relatively new but it's important to the tribe.

"Not only for future generations, but for everyone," he said.

The tribe's connection to the animal goes way back — puebloan ancestors settled in the area more than 1,000 years ago — and the native Tiwa language includes a word for the mountain sheep, Martinez said.

DesGeorges said bighorn sheep are "part of that whole mix, that whole web of life coming together." That web includes mountain lions, mule deer, eagles, falcons and the other wildlife that have made a home in the gorge.

Sheep restoration began in New Mexico in 1932 with the failed transplant of six bighorns in the Pecos Wilderness. Ten years later, bighorns were released into the Sandia Mountains just east of Albuquerque and thrived for some time.

Sheep from the Sandias were subsequently reintroduced in the Pecos in 1965. Wheeler Peak, northeast of Taos, and the other areas were repopulated years later with sheep from Pecos.

During the recent trap, 34 sheep were also sent to the Dry Cimarron River area in northeastern New Mexico to bolster a small herd there.

Martinez, who helped load some of the sheep before their journey to the gorge, said many agencies and volunteers worked together to make the release possible.

"It's hard work but it all pays off in the end," he said.

The sheep were released just as the clouds overhead began to rumble, a signal of afternoon rain. DesGeorges looked up at the rim of the gorge and watched a pair of sheep silhouetted against the brewing storm.

"It's neat," he said. "It completes one part of a really big puzzle just to have this happen."

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On the Net:

Bureau of Land Management: www.blm.gov/nm/st/en.html

New Mexico Department of Game and Fish: www.wildlife.state.nm.us/

Taos Pueblo: www.taospueblo.com/