Clashing sheep cultures in Idaho

The decision to phase out domestic sheep grazing on 70,000 acres of bighorn sheep habitat in the Payette National Forest cost Frank Shirts his best range. And he’s the lucky one. His brother Ron Shirts was forced to sell Frank his sheep and give up the business and lifestyle he’s cherished all his life. “Right now he’s heartbroken,” Frank Shirts said. “He hasn’t been able to look at these sheep since I moved them down here.” Payette National Forest Supervisor Suzanne Rainville decided to end sheep grazing in areas where bighorn sheep have been dying from lung diseases carried by both domestic and wild sheep. The decision won her praise from the Wild Sheep Foundation, a hunters group, and strong protests from the Idaho Woolgrowers Association and the Idaho Legislature. What is a loss for one culture is a victory for another. The Nez Perce Tribe, which pushed the Forest Service to enforce separation between domestic and wild sheep, has long turned the bighorns’ curved horns into bows and their tough-but-light hide into shirts — a tradition the tribe wants to keep alive. “The archaeological record indicates that when the pharaohs were floating the Nile, my relations were eating roast bighorn sheep on the Salmon River,” said Brooklyn Baptiste, the tribe’s vice chairman...more

Then why wasn't it called the Bighorn River instead of the Salmon River?