Why It Matters
Wyoming’s sheep ranching industry faces persistent losses from golden eagle predation, and the conflict has now escalated to the highest levels of the federal executive branch. The directive reflects the Trump administration’s early commitment to prioritizing agricultural interests on western rangelands — a policy pressure with direct consequences for wildlife research timelines and federal land management in Wyoming.
What Happened
Cabinet-level officials at two federal departments ordered immediate steps to reduce golden eagle predation on domestic lambs during this year’s lambing season in Wyoming. U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum jointly directed agency staff to take action, according to USDA research biologist Lindsey Perry, who presented an update Wednesday to Wyoming’s Animal Damage Management Board in Casper.
Perry, who works at the National Wildlife Research Center, said the directive reached her office in February. The marching orders centered on capturing golden eagles in areas where domestic sheep were lambing and relocating them elsewhere — a nonlethal approach intended to interrupt the birds’ predation patterns and reduce pressure on livestock operations.
“Word came down from the Secretary of Ag and Secretary of the Interior that they wanted immediate action this lambing season,” Perry told the board. The goal, she explained, was to disrupt the eagles’ focus on lambs by moving them to new territory.
Relocation Challenges
The translocation effort has run into significant logistical obstacles. Wildlife managers determined that eagles moved only short distances tend to return to their original territories within a year or less, sometimes faster. The preferred destination for Wyoming eagles this year has been toward the Pacific Coast, with the intention of placing mountain ranges between relocated birds and their home ranges.
However, no other states meeting the necessary criteria have agreed to accept the transferred eagles. The reason, Animal Damage Management Board member Sharon O’Toole suggested, is straightforward: livestock producers in potential receiving states have no interest in importing a predator. Perry confirmed the assessment, noting that other states expressed concern about eagles being released into areas with active livestock production.
By the Numbers
- ~33%: Decline in Wyoming’s golden eagle population over the past 20 years, according to Teton Raptor Center conservation director Bryan Bedrosian.
- 25%: Share of the western U.S. golden eagle breeding population hosted by Wyoming.
- ~50%: Estimated share of migrating golden eagles from Alaska and Canada that pass through Wyoming.
- 19 eagles hazed by USDA Wildlife Services in Wyoming by 2020, compared to zero reported during 2016–2018.
- 2028–2029: New projected timeline for National Wildlife Research Center nonlethal deterrent testing, delayed by the relocation directive.
Research Delayed
The cabinet directive has come at a cost to longer-term research. Perry said the relocation effort has effectively sidelined a National Wildlife Research Center project aimed at identifying cost-effective nonlethal deterrents to eagle predation. That study, which was previously on track, has been pushed back to 2028 and 2029. In 2026 and 2027, agency resources will be directed toward the relocation program instead.
Zoom Out
Golden eagles are protected under the Bald Eagle Protection Act, amended in 1962 to include the species, which limits the range of legal responses available to ranchers and federal agencies. The birds face mounting pressures independent of the livestock conflict — including habitat loss, lead poisoning, and strikes with wind turbines. Federal land management decisions affecting Wyoming wildlife corridors have drawn increasing scrutiny as energy development and conservation interests collide across the state.
Bedrosian, speaking to the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission last October, framed the stakes plainly: Wyoming’s relationship to golden eagles mirrors its role in sage grouse conservation — the state serves as a critical hub for the species across the broader western population. That outsized ecological significance complicates any management approach that prioritizes agricultural relief over population-level recovery.
What’s Next
Federal wildlife managers will continue relocation efforts through the current season while seeking willing recipient states. The National Wildlife Research Center is expected to resume nonlethal deterrent testing no sooner than 2028. Federal staffing constraints across western land management agencies may further affect the pace and scope of future eagle management efforts in Wyoming.