Signs located near the trailhead at the end of Kootenai River Road have recently been the focus of a spate of vandalism. The signs reminding hikers to keep their dogs leashed as a measure to protect the fragile big horn sheep population in the area have been spray painted black and even ripped from the ground.

Tami Laverdure, game warden for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, isn’t sure people exactly understand the significance of the call to for people to keep their dogs on leashes. 

“We’re not trying to be mean,” Laverdure said. “The reason we have leash regulations is we’re trying to get our sheep populations back up so we can offer hunting opportunities for sportsmen. The area is a great place to hike and we would like to keep it that way. A lot of WMAs are closed to the public,” she said.

Hunting opportunities provided by the Kootenai Falls bighorn sheep herd is longstanding. 

The population was the first transplanted herd to provide hunting recreation in northwest Montana and over 120 rams have been legally harvested from the herd over the last 35 years. Many of those rams have been entered into the Boone and Crockett records, some individuals scoring in the low 190s.

The Part of the West Kootenai Wildlife Management Area, the 172-acre Kootenai Falls management area is situated along the north shore of the Kootenai River. The area is a popular early-season hiking location partially due to the south-facing slopes that shed the winter snow earlier than most locations. 

Bighorn sheep can be found on the management area during every month of the year, but are especially prevalent on the maintained hayfields during spring and early summer months. Laverdure said right now the ewes are giving birth to their lambs and bring them down to this area.

The Kootenai Falls bighorn sheep herd occupies less than 2 percent of the Purcell Mountains in the extreme southern portion of the range along the Kootenai River canyon near Kootenai Falls.

The bighorn sheep in the Kootenai Falls area were introduced in 1954-55 from transplanting sheep from Wildhorse Island on Flathead Lake. The animals continued to increase and established a viable population peaking at about 150 to 200 sheep by the mid-1980s. The population began to decline throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, and eventually drastically reduced in numbers during the winter of 1994-95.

The reason for the decline isn’t known exactly, however a severe fire in 1994, an extreme winter in 1996 and low birthrates are believed to play a factor.

Between 2000 and 2008 a total of 86 sheep were transplanted from various herds across the state. 

Fish, Wildlife & Parks biologist Tonya Chilton-Radant stressed the importance of people following the leash law. “It really is critical that people keep their dogs on leashes and remember what the WMA was created for, and that’s for sheep, not people and their dogs,” she said.

Chilton-Radant said closing the area has been discussed, but neither she nor Laverdure would like to see that come to reality. Their hope is if people understand the reason why the leash law is in place and the benefit the area affords hunters and hikers, they’ll willingly follow the law. 

The act of defacing or destroying the signs is considered felony criminal mischief and anyone with information about such acts can anonymously report the crimes to Fish, Wildlife & Parks.