Water for Wildlife

October 5, 2023

Question: With the drought being over is it less urgent or necessary to provide water guzzlers to Desert Bighorn Sheep?

Answer: Even though California experienced substantial rainfall and runoff in 2023, southern California’s Sonoran Desert still received below-average precipitation.

For more than 40 years, CDFW and volunteer groups like the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep and Desert Wildlife Unlimited, have assisted desert-roaming wildlife with ensuring water is available to desert wildlife by maintaining wildlife water developments (WWDs), also known as guzzlers. These large tanks are designed to refill on their own with rainfall that’s collected and then stored for drinking during hot and dry summer months.

Because desert water supplies are always a challenge, CDFW and its partners work with land management agencies to explore improvements to the WWD system. Those improvements would increase the capacity and collection efficiency of the tanks and rain collection system. While bighorn sheep are the largest consumers of desert water systems, golden eagles, badgers, bobcats and mountain lions also benefit. Dozens of WWDs are in use in both the Sonoran and Mojave deserts, as natural water sources have become increasingly unreliable due to drought and climate change.