Sheep Drives Squeeze Between Old, New West | Voice of America - English
This is the time of year ranchers across the Northern Hemisphere move sheep by the tens of thousands from the mountains to lowland pastures. In the U.S. Rocky Mountain states, sheep drives can cross 200 kilometers by foot. But land that used to be open range is gradually turning into subdivisions, golf courses and busy streets. In one central Idaho valley, ranchers have a colorful way to win newcomers over to sharing the land. As correspondent Tom Banse reports, they parade their sheep right through the center of swanky Ketchum-Sun Valley.
Brothers Mike and Mark Henslee are walking with about one thousand sheep.They started high in the Stanley Basin of central Idaho and plan to wind theirway about 250 kilometers south to warmer pastures near the Snake River. Alongthe way, they have to somehow move all those sheep through fashionable SunValley, the getaway of movie stars, politicians and millionaires. "BruceWillis has that house down by Hailey which we go past tomorrow," Marknotes, and Mike chimes in, "The Kennedy house is up here somewhere that weprobably go past... or the Kerry's. We go past a lot of 'em." Theflock stays on steep hillsides to skirt the celebrity estates. But it goesright down the first fairway of the Bigwood golf course, and Mike observes thatthe sheep not only grazed the course, they fertilized it. Fortunately, it's toocold for golf this morning. Justa few decades ago, domestic sheep outnumbered people in the Rocky MountainWest. Today, people far outnumber the sheep - not just here in Sun Valley, butall around the region. In some cases, the century-old tradition of the westernsheep drive is being replaced by more expensive trucking. Ithit home for sheep ranchers John and Diane Peavey in the mid-1990s, when SunValley's communities built a bike path in the livestock right-of-way. "Itwas one call after another," Diane recalls. "'Get sheepoff bike path. Their droppings are getting caught in ourRollerblades and our bike wheels.' John and I, we kind of looked at each other,sighed and went, 'Now what?'" Peavey and her husband run one of the oldest sheep ranches in this part ofIdaho. They decided to become proactive, to share their heritage with therecreationists, the vacation home owners and other new arrivals. Now everyfall, one of the local sheep ranching families trails their flock right throughthe center of the resort town. It's turned into an annual festival called theTrailing of the Sheep. "Thatwas not a re-enactment," Peavey stresses. "These sheep would bemoving from the mountains to the desert country regardless of thisfestival." The three-day festival includes concerts, storytelling, sheep dogcompetitions and demonstrations of sheep shearing. But the highlight is theparade, as old sheep wagons, bagpipers and Basque dancers lead hundreds ofsheep down Main Street. SunValley attorney Jim Phillips has acted as a go-between for developers and woolgrowers. He says the law is on the ranchers' side when swank developments andmansion sprawl threaten to block the sheep migration. "[But]you can't just show up [at] a development and say, 'Hey, we want a trail acrossyour property,'" he says. "It has to be, 'We've had this trail. Thistrail has been used as long as anyone can remember.'" Phillipssays ranchers have to insist that developers recognize that history and providefor its continuation. He adds that they could make a stink about maintainingtheir trail rights, but they want to get along and sometimes accept minordetours. Rancher Diane Peavey says the Trailing of the Sheep Festival deserves someof the credit for the recent improved coexistence. "Suddenly,where there had been animosity ? just by reaching out and sharing stories,sharing music, dance, food, sharing the sheep, sharing them with communitiesthat don't know anything about sheep ? they come to understand and wait eachyear," she says. "'When are they coming? We can't wait for the sheep.Can we help?'" As ariver of sheep flows across the road outside town, Linda Mueliger waits in hercar, unperturbed by the wooly jam. "It'sgreat," she says. "The sheep, it's a wonderful thing for thecommunity. It's lots of fun, yeah." Lastyear, the Trailing of the Sheep was listed by the vacation Web site MSN Travelas one of the top 10 fall festivals in the world.