Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep
The Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep was the first subject of The Migrating Mural® series. Ink Dwell memorialized this majestic mountaineer with a network of six public artworks along a 120-mile stretch of California highway 395. Found only in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains and one of three bighorn species, the sheep’s population plummeted to around one hundred individuals in the 1990s due to a domestic sheep disease. Thanks to conservation efforts their population has now grown to more than 500 sheep.
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Willie
This mural represents the growth stages of a male sheep from lamb to ram. The Mt. Williamson herd unit is one of the original native herd units, surviving the spread of disease from domestic sheep, which drove total Sierra bighorn numbers down to roughly 100 animals.
Willie, an 8-year old ram, stands proudly in front of 14,375-foot Mt. Williamson, California’s second tallest mountain.
Sage to Summit
Inspired by the name of the store upon which it is painted, this mural depicts (L to R) the sheep’s seasonal forage from winter to fall: sagebrush, bitterbrush, sierra columbine and alpine sedge.
Gun Club
The Wheeler Crest herd unit has a pronounced altitude migration pattern, descending from high altitudes in the summer to lower elevations in the winter. The arrow represents the seasonal temperature gradient, above and below the tree line, along which they migrate.
Lone Pine Regional Airport
Bighorns have been roaming the Sierras for 300,000 years and the glaciers represent the three glacial cycles they have survived. Images of sheep petroglyphs, painted by local members of the Lone Pine Shoshone-Paiute tribe, pay homage to those who first painted bighorns on Sierra rock walls.
Mono Basin Visitor Center
The Mt. Gibbs Herd Unit, represented by topo lines of the mountain itself, faces particular threat from mountain lion predation. The species silhouetted—pika, jackrabbit, great horned owl, Jeffrey pine, pronghorn antelope, black bear, osprey, mountain quail, American badger, greater sage grouse, and cliff swallows—are important parts of the Mono Basin ecosystem.