The numbers of endangered bighorn sheep are rebounding at a nearby park, according to a recent census.

Volunteers counted 329 Peninsular bighorn sheep in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park during the weekend, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The trend reinforces what the Palm Desert-based Bighorn Institute found last month. To read about their findings, click here.

Only 255 sheep were counted during last year’s census, though the recent number is lower than the 356 counted in 2009.

The federal government established protections for the animals when their numbers shrank during the 1980s and 1990s, according to the newspaper.

In the late 1990s, fewer than 300 lived in the desert, experts estimated.

Census takers work in July because the heat drives the sheep to watering holes where counting them is easier, according to the report.

Trails were closed in areas surrounding the preserve to keep humans away from the sheep. To read more about the closures, click here.