Yesterday, BLM announced the opening of a 30-day comment period for a preliminary environmental assessment of proposed management actions on the Swasey Mountains HMA in western Utah that include roundups and population growth suppression.

An EA looks at the consequences of a proposed action along with those of one or more alternatives.

The HMA covers approximately 135,000 acres and has an AML of 100, for an aimed-at population density (stocking rate) of 0.7 horses per thousand acres.

The HMA intersects four grazing allotments, according to Section 3.2.1 of the EA.

The forage allocated to livestock inside the HMA is estimated to be 7,800 AUMs per year, compared to 1,200 AUMs per year for the horses.

Comments—substantive only, please—can be submitted at this page.

A report posted this morning by Delmarva Now says results from the program are encouraging but boosters will be needed for another two or three years before the vaccine can be considered effective.

Eight ponies on the Virginia side of Assateague Island have died from the disease, formally known as Pythiosis, since 2018.

RELATED: Vaccine for ‘Swamp Cancer’ in Development.

A judge ruled today that the FWS erred in rejecting a petition by Friends of Animals to classify the wild horses of the Pryor Mountains as an endangered species.

The group claimed that the AML is too low, putting the Old Spanish genetic lineage at risk of extinction, according to a report posted today by Courthouse News Service.

The judge recommended that the decision be vacated and the FWS ordered to reconsider the petition.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as the National Marine Fisheries Service, are responsible for classifying and protecting endangered species in the U.S.

BLM announced today the signing of a FONSI (Finding of No Significant Impact) on January 17, clearing the way for a roundup on February 3.

Approximately 200 excess horses will be gathered, with 150 permanently removed from their home range.  Fifty animals will be returned to the HMA, including 25 mares that have been treated with contraceptives.

The operation, to be carried out with helicopters, will be open to public observation and captured animals will be taken to the Indian Lakes off-range corrals in Fallon, NV.

A link to the gather stats and daily reports was not provided.

RELATED: Comments Invited on Reveille Gather Plan.

The event ends January 28.  More information at the Wild Horse & Burro Online Corral.

You’ll need to create an ID and password to access the listings.  Refer to the User Guide.

RELATED: BLM Nabs Fish Springs Mustangs.

The roundup page for the Eagle Complex says “For the reporting purposes of this gather, all of last year’s weanable foals will be counted as adults,” but it does not supply a definition of ‘weanable.’

Barn witches and other knowitalls would probably put the age at four months but if you followed the development of a mom/baby pair—without interfering—you’d know it’s at least six to eight months before the foal can survive mostly on solid food, or as much as a year, when the next one is born.  Nursing can go on for two or three years if there are no more births.

Anyway, if they don’t disclose the number of youngsters found in the traps, you can’t test their assertion that the herd is growing at a rate of 20% per year.

RELATED: Eagle Roundup Day 4.

In front of the Gila River Sand & Gravel plant on Highway 347 by James Joseph.

The daily reports indicate 351 horses gathered through 01-19-20, with five deaths (1.4%) and no foals.  Roughly 44% percent of the captured animals were male and 56% were female.  The thriving ecological balance is only 1,250 horses away.

RELATED: Eagle Roundup Day 2, Eagle Wild Horses Get Short End of Stick.

Report from Sand Wash Basin HMA by Denver7 – The Denver Channel.

On the Pryor Mountains WHR with A. Renee Faber.

Refer to the Grazing Program Fact Sheet provided last week when proposed changes to livestock grazing regulations were announced.

Data from 2018, provided in the fact sheet, along with other relevant statistics, were copied into a spreadsheet to compare the treatment of livestock on public lands with that of wild horses.

Although privately owned cattle and sheep were allowed on those lands in addition to wild horses and burros, the calculations pertain to cow/calf pairs and horses only, for purposes of simplicity.  Horses and cow/calf pairs are said to be equivalent in terms of their resource requirements.

These figures are compared in the following charts.  An AUM corresponds to about 600 pounds of dry forage, depending on quality and type.

Wild horses had a much smaller footprint and environmental impact in 2018, compared to livestock, yet they were blamed for most of the problems.  That is the deceit.

The AUMs consumed by the horses would support an additional 152,000 cow/calf pairs, with a value of $150 million or more, which explains why the ranchers and their allies in government want to get rid of them.  That is the greed.

If the horses are denuding the landscape at a stocking rate of 2.8 per thousand acres, what do you suppose is happening when cow/calf pairs are turned out at a rate that’s almost five times higher?

RELATED: BLM to Modernize Grazing Regulations on Public Lands.

The daily reports indicate 183 horses captured through January 17, with no foals.

Is that what you’d expect for a herd that’s growing at a rate of 20% per year?

No, you’d expect to find 153 adults and 30 foals, although it is a bit early in the season.

A simple model for population growth would be 100 adults last year plus 20 foals this year, so the youngsters would represent 16.7% of the herd (20 out of 120).

RELATED: Eagle Roundup Begins.

News releases from the Forest Service, updated yesterday.

Article by AZ Central, posted today.  Includes history of herd.

Story by the White Mountain Independent, posted today.

Report by AP News, posted today.

Curiously, nobody wants to talk about the livestock grazing allotments that intersect the Heber WHT.  See map on page 7 of the management plan drafted in November, 2018.

RELATED: Heber Wild Horses Use Water That ‘Other Animals’ Need?

Changes to regulations announced yesterday that affect domestic livestock on public lands in the western U.S. include targeted grazing, a technique that falls under the broader heading of outcome-based grazing.

The idea is to reduce [edible] fuels that might lie in the path of a wildfire.

The fact sheet includes a photo of an infamous fence experiment, where domestic cattle graze vegetation down to stubble.  Normally, when you see imagery like this, wild horses and burros are on the other side of the fence.

If the goal is to selectively denude the landscape—the supposed domain of wild horses and burros—why aren’t those animals doing the job?

Because the preferred outcome is to enrich the public-lands ranchers.

RELATED: BLM to Modernize Grazing Regulations on Public Lands, Comments Invited on Targeted Grazing Project in Nevada.

An Arizona congressman believes that “some people are frustrated with the wild horses because they use the water tanks or use resources that other animals in the area also need,” according to a report posted this evening by AZFamily of Phoenix.

Who do you suppose that might that be?  Is he suggesting a culprit or motive?

RELATED: Residents Want Answers About Heber Wild Horse Shootings, Gossip About Motives in Heber Wild Horse Shootings?

The project will streamline the grazing permit process and provide greater flexibility for land and resource management, according to a news release posted today.

Public comments can be submitted until February 28.  Project documentation can be found at this page.

As always, comments should be substantive.  For example, “The United States does not receive fair market value for forage consumed by domestic livestock on public lands, as required by FLPMA; the fee should be brought in line with market conditions.”

It’s one of the few things that hasn’t been touched by inflation.  If gasoline was priced like the grazing fee, you’d be paying about seventeen cents per gallon.

Be sure to compare the allotment map to the HMA map.  In which state is public-lands ranching the most prevalent?  Where is the largest grazing allotment?

The grazing program fact sheet says that the BLM collected $17.3 million for livestock grazing in 2018.  The fee that year was $1.41 per AUM, so 12.3 million AUMs were sold to the public-lands ranchers.

That’s two million cow/calf pairs on 155 million acres, assuming a six month grazing season, for a stocking rate of 12.9 cow/calf pairs per thousand acres.

The stocking rate for wild horses on BLM land is currently about three animals per thousand acres.

Now, which species is overpopulated?

Wild horses on public lands consume about one million AUMs per year.

The forage sold to public-lands ranchers would support ONE MILLION wild horses.

Approximately 50,000 wild horses are warehoused in off-range corrals and pastures.

Livestock allowed on public lands are worth over TWO BILLION DOLLARS, assuming half of them ship to slaughter.

Advocacy groups that push PZP are so far gone—and so out of touch—that you should not be giving them any of your money.

RELATED: Livestock Grazing in Nevada, Public-Lands Ranching Is Big Business.

Eighty wild horses were captured yesterday according to the daily reports, with no deaths reported.

RELATED: Eagle Roundup Delayed?

Thirty federally protected horses have been found dead of possible gunshot wounds in the last 15 months and the investigation has not turned up any suspects or motives.

Some residents and visitors to the forest are worried that the shooter could pose a threat to the public, according to a report posted today by the White Mountain Independent.

RELATED: Necropsies Performed on Heber Wild Horses.

A resolution was introduced yesterday in the Kentucky state senate calling for the creation of an Abandoned Horse Task Force.  If approved, the group would discuss the problems caused by abandoned horses, ways to stop individuals from abandoning their horses and ways to remove horses currently running at large, according to a report posted today by the Louisville Courier Journal.

The three surviving horses are still roaming the area near the mine and the reward for information on the shootings has risen to $23,000.

RELATED: Floyd County Wild Horse Rescue in Progress.