Nevada
Nevada’s state animal may face die-offs, relocation due to drought
A symbol of the persistent spirit of life in the American West, bighorn sheep have long made their home in the country’s driest desert.
Far before white settlers reached Las Vegas, these hearty animals enjoyed Southern Nevada’s bountiful water sources alongside the Nuwu, or Southern Paiute Native Americans. Tribes viewed their lives as intertwined with the sheep’s lives, hunting them but honoring their sacrifice.
But today, as the nation’s driest state grows more arid, the animals face a dire dilemma: a lack of water needed to survive. With more than 200 days of no measurable rain in the Las Vegas Valley and counting, the clock is ticking as the dry streak threatens to cut off their food source and potentially warrant relocation out of state.
“You can provide as much water as you want to, but it’s going to eventually get to the point where there’s not enough groceries on the ground — or vegetation,” Joe Bennett, the Nevada Department of Wildlife’s southern region game supervisor, said in an interview Friday. “I don’t know when we’ll reach that threshold.”
Bennett joined his wildlife department colleagues at a Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners meeting last week, emphasizing the need for officials to pay attention to bighorn sheep populations in the coming months.
“If we don’t take action, there definitely will be hundreds of animals that will die,” Mike Cox, the state’s biologist over bighorn sheep and mountain goats, told commissioners in his report.
Huge water guzzlers not enough
Biologists believe the precarious future of Nevada’s beloved desert bighorn sheep is predicated on climate change.
Southern Nevada’s future is a hotter and drier one, Cox said.
The last two decades have brought more intense periods of drought with higher temperatures and longer days without rain, he said. Instead of three out of 10 years under drought conditions, it’s more like five or six dry years out of 10.
“We’re not going in the right direction in terms of our climate,” Cox said. “I started my career in Las Vegas, and I remember the consistent monsoonal patterns.”
The populations most at risk right now reside in the Muddy Mountains and Arrow Canyon Range near Moapa, McCullough Range on the outskirts of Henderson and the southern Spotted Range near Indian Springs, Cox said.
Boulder City’s beloved herd that mingles alongside humans at Hemenway Park in the River Mountains isn’t on that list, largely because of its proximity to Lake Mead and plenty of year-round grazing.
Extreme drought last hit the bighorn sheep populations from 2020 to 2022, when biologists saw herds move eastward in the Muddy Mountains. That shift in population density has strained water resources even more, Cox said.
In times of extreme dryness, the state wildlife department will conduct water hauls to so-called water guzzlers, or 9,000-to-11,500-gallon tanks that provide drinking water. The state has access to remote sensing technology that shows water levels at each guzzler, and officials said they are planning another water haul this month.
“They’re having to stay on these guzzlers longer,” said Bennett, the game supervisor. “They’re not able to move off of them and use resources that are further away that they would normally use during the winter months.”
Solutions still in the works
It’s not clear yet what route wildlife officials will take to reduce deaths among bighorn sheep in Southern Nevada.
Even with available water, dried-out vegetation isn’t cutting it — and officials aren’t aware of any proven solutions to artificially supplying food sources.
Trans-locating some of the most affected bighorn sheep to either Northern Nevada or out of state to Utah is an option they are considering, Bennett said.
One drawback is that several of the sub-populations suffer from pneumonia strains — an emerging challenge the department has been tracking for at least a decade. Officials don’t want to spread disease, and each herd has its own circumstances, he said.
“We just have to make sure, wherever we likely move them, that we’re not putting them in a bad situation,” Bennett said.
The state wildlife department, along with non-governmental organizations focused on bighorn sheep, will meet and formulate a plan to best manage bighorn sheep populations in the near future. Officials said a more official plan will be presented at the next board meeting scheduled for March 7 and 8.
While no immediate intervention is necessary to sustain the populations, this challenge of drought and disease is one that biologists across the West will grapple with for decades to come.
“That’s the balancing act that we biologists have to play,” Bennett said.
Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.
The Las Vegas Raiders have orchestrated many groundbreaking moves this offseason, but none as important as the impact they made at a fundraising event.
Over the weekend, the Raiders hosted the Silver & Black Gala, raising $2.5 million for mental health in Nevada. Sunday marked the third time the organization had hosted the event, which has produced a tremendous turnout.
Several individuals spoke during the event, including Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis and president Sandra Douglass Morgan, who each highlighted the importance of acknowledging mental health.
Davis’ Thoughts
- “We’re here to raise money for mental health, which is one of the most important things we can all deal with,” Davis said. “Every one of us is impacted by mental health and our families, friends, or anywhere else, we are all directly affected. That’s why it’s so critical to raise money for our community. We’re grateful for you all, and appreciate you being here.”
Morgan’s Thoughts
“Mental health remains one of the most urgent issues across Nevada,” Morgan said. “Through the Silver & Black Gala, the Raiders Foundation is helping expand access to trusted, community-based resources that meet people where they are. This year’s recipients reflect the depth and complexity of that work, supporting our community in schools, clubhouses, homes, shelters, and family systems statewide.”
The Raiders also honored former player Carl Nassib and NFL broadcaster Jay Glazer on Sunday night as the winners of the Commitment to Excellence award. Here is what each of them had to say.
Glazer’s Thoughts
- “First, this is incredible what the Raiders are doing,” Glazer said. “God blessed me with the ability to communicate, so I’m going to use that to try and help other people. When we’re willing to share our scars, we turn them into strength—into something that connects us as teammates with nothing to hide. That’s what builds a true team, a championship team. I’m proud to stand with you and be part of this team tonight.”
Nassib’s Thoughts
- “It is truly a privilege to be up here,” Nassib said. “We’re creating space for people to be vulnerable—and that work is truly lifesaving. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about showing up and reminding people they’re not alone.”
Overall Thoughts
This has been a tremendous event over the last few years, and the Raiders’ organization has done a great job of raising awareness for mental health. This will be an event that the team will continue to host in the future.
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Nevada
Nevada workers fear homelessness as housing, jobs vanish before July deadline | Fox News Video
The final casino resort in Primm, Nevada, will close this summer after years of declining tourism, ending gaming operations in the once-busy border town and putting hundreds of employees out of work.
Primm Valley Casino Resorts is shutting down its remaining hotel and casino operations in July as experts point to increased competition, changing travel habits and post-pandemic losses behind the decline.
RENO, Nev. (News 4 & Fox 11) — Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo (R) is in a strong position heading into the thick of his 2026 reelection bid — a huge war chest, almost universal name recognition and strong favorability numbers among the electorate.
Though Lombardo is likely focusing on the general election already, he faces 6 longshot candidates in the GOP primary seeking to upset him in June.
Nevada Governor GOP primary: 6 longshot candidates taking on incumbent Joe Lombardo
The challengers face a ‘Herculean’ task, said Mike Noble, CEO and founder of Noble Predictive Insights, an Arizona-based nonpartisan pollster focusing on the Southwest region.
“I see it as a Herculean task for anyone. If someone was coming in with like, I don’t know $10 million or something to spend, sure I can see that might be competitive, but I don’t see any of them coming anywhere near close to that. And so again, I just think I think it’s a non-factor at this point,” Noble said.
RELATED | Ballot Battleground: Nevada podcast: Early Noble poll shows dead heat in governor’s race
Despite the long odds, News 4-Fox 11 reached out to all candidates requesting an interview as part of our commitment to 2026 election coverage and our Know Your Candidates series. Three of the 7 running interviewed with us — Irina Hansen, Kameron Hawkins, Lombardo and Jose Zelaya did not respond to multiple emails requesting an interview.
We asked them similar questions about Gov. Lombardo’s leadership as governor, how they would pass a balanced budget and whether they support taxpayer subsidies for sports teams or major projects.
Click the candidate’s name to watch their full interview. Quotes below have been edited for space and clarity.
Donald J. Beaudry Jr. is an entrepreneur who founded BlkEdgeAi, a financial technology firm specializing in AI-driven trading systems and market strategy, according to his campaign website.
He told News 4-Fox 11 that Nevada has been drifting the last four years with ‘no captain, no vision.’ He believes his Wall Street-like trading market called NGEX (Nevada Global Exchange) would generate enough revenue to eliminate sales taxes, property taxes, business taxes and vehicle registration fees.
“I completely blueprinted it out and calculated that this model could generate enough revenue in this state that we could eliminate all the state taxes and fees that are currently in place and use that as the revenue source for the state and make everybody, every man, woman and child throughout Nevada, a shareholder in the dividends of that exchange … it would be a kind of Wall Street type of stock market, but far broader, more advanced, and exponentially more profitable.”
Matthew Rian Winterhawk is the founder of SmartSlaps foundation, a nonprofit that works to help schools and students with civic engagement and community responsibility.
If elected, he described going through a DOGE-like review of the state budget to determine which areas can be cut or kept depending on their ‘dollar to impact’ ratio.
“What I would like to do is go through every department, I’m talking top to bottom, from here from the primary to the beginning. We will cut every piece of administrative bloat across the system … I need more money for my teachers. Teachers never see it, students never see it, the impact never reaches the classroom. It’s 100% administrative bloat.”
The son of immigrants, Barak Zilberberg is now an entrepreneur and real estate investor based in Las Vegas. He ran for governor in 2022, earning 0.2% of the vote in the GOP primary. He told News 4-Fox 11 he’s also running for President in 2028.
He said he’s running for governor to improve the educational system, bring jobs to Nevada and open up federal land to build more affordable housing.
“We’ve got get high-speed railing systems in here where we can transit very easily, efficiently, and basically moving around between economies of both cities. Not only that, I’d like to bring Disneyland here and the Olympics, sponsor the Olympics here. I just want to make this a well-known place of entertainment, a hub.”
To help voters make informed decisions this election year, News 4-Fox 11 is publishing and broadcasting dozens of interviews with candidates who will appear on the June primary ballot.
In fairness to all candidates, they were asked a series of similar questions. We are posting the full interviews online so voters can watch their responses in their entirety.
Visit our Know Your Candidates 2026 page to view other race previews and meet other candidates.
Email reporter Ben Margiott at bjmargiott@sbgtv.com. Follow @BenMargiott on X and Ben Margiott KRNV on Facebook.
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