The Tier 1 analysis in Appendix A of the draft EIS for the Rock Springs RMP amendment provides data for current conditions on the Salt Wells Creek HMA.
The numbers were copied into a spreadsheet to see if the current management plan favors privately owned livestock over wild horses and if so by how much.
The EIS did not provide allotment sizes, grazing seasons, and livestock types within the HMA. The grazing season on some of the allotments is three months, according to Section 3.10 of the EIS, and on others it’s four to six months, so an average grazing season of four months was assumed.
Forage requirements and stocking rates for livestock were computed for cow/calf pairs, whose resource requirements are said to be equivalent to those of wild horses, allowing a side-by-side comparison. The grazing permits may allow other animals.
Key indicators are presented in the following charts.
The HMA is already managed primarily for livestock—the horses are just a blip on the radar screen. It will be zeroed out in the revised RMP, but who will notice?
The big-name ‘advocacy’ groups, unfazed by these results, will demand more contraceptives for wild horses, because they are allies of the public-lands ranchers.
Don’t give them a penny.
RELATED: Divide Basin Horses Get Short End of Stick.
Western Horse Watchers Association 