The Forest Service will gather another 500 wild horses from the Devil’s Garden Plateau WHT, beginning September 8, to “address unsustainable impacts on aquatic resources, wildlife, hunting, grazing and other traditional cultural practices.”
In 2018, over 900 wild horses were removed from the area, followed by 500 in 2019.
The operation will be open to public observation on a limited basis, according to the news release, just two persons per day.
The WHT covers 232,520 acres in northern California and has an AML of 335, for an aimed-at stocking rate of 1.4 animals per thousand acres.
The WHT intersects eight allotments and is 100% subject to permitted livestock grazing.
An article published yesterday by the Houston Chronicle might give you the impression that the horses are being forced off their home range by drilling interests. Curiously, the term does not appear in the Final EA for wild horse management actions at Devil’s Garden, but it does note wild horse impacts on the poor ranchers. See Section 2.4.1.2.
The forage allocated to livestock would support an additional 1,309 wild horses, for a true AML of 1,644. The current population, not mentioned in the announcement, may be below that value.
Gather updates and adoption information will be posted to this page.
Western Horse Watchers Association 