The biggest and best desert bighorn sheep habitat in New Mexico is in the San Andres Mountains, which can host up to 400 bighorn.[3] An area of 57,215 acres (231.54 km2) in the southern portion of the San Andres Mountain range was set aside in 1941 as the San Andres National Wildlife Refuge[4] to help preserve the desert bighorn sheep, which at the time numbered 33.