Month: October 2020

FREES Conference Last Week

A story by the Powell Tribune of Powell, WY says the Free Roaming Equids and Ecosystem Sustainability Network met last week in Cody to discuss wild horse overpopulation and its effects on wildlife and multiple use of public lands.

The meeting follows one held last year in Reno.

The group seeks healthy herds on healthy rangelands, according to the report, which means “achieve and maintain AMLs,” code words for “manage HMAs principally for cattle and sheep.”

On the Red Desert Roundup

As the photos roll out, remember that you are watching an enforcement action.

Media coverage—if there is any—will focus on casualties and the treatment of the horses but the real injustice was done years ago, by those who wrote and approved the resource management plans.

On the Lost Creek HMA, for example, the horses receive an estimated four percent of the authorized forage, excluding wildlife.  They have been consuming more than their fair share, around 16%, so the herd needs to be cut down to size.

The same is true for the ‘Path Forward,’ a plan with the same goal but much broader scope: Enforce the resource allocations across all HMAs, manage them principally for cattle and sheep.

Path Forward Signatories

Notably absent from the signatories are drillers and miners, the supposed boogeymen of western rangelands.

But there are dozens of ‘advocacy’ groups that can be added to the list—always begging for your money—so they can make sure those forage allocations never go any higher.

They, like the public-lands ranchers, are enemies of America’s wild horses.

Hypothesis Revisited, Again

The original statement went something like this: The number of wild horses and burros in off-range holding can be explained by the misappropriation of forage on just a few dozen HMAs.

How’s the theory holding up?  Twelve more areas have been considered since the last report, they appear in the sidebar on the right titled ‘Short End of Stick.’

Data from those posts have been added to the original list, starting with the Big Summit WHT and ending with the Lost Creek HMA.

Short End of Stick Recap 10-14-20-1

Some areas are managed for burros but the calculations are based on wild horses.  If you want to know the number of burros displaced from an area by privately owned livestock, multiply the horses denied by two.  Same for the AMLs.

For the areas considered so far, livestock receive about 84% of the authorized forage (excluding wildlife), with the balance going to horses.  The total number of horses displaced from their home range is 46,770.

If you prefer a mix, you could say 45,000 horses + 2 × 1,770 burros = 48,540 wild horses and burros displaced from their home range, which is roughly equal to the number of horses and burros in off-range holding.

The theory has been validated.

The true AML of 55,503 is six times higher than the current AML of 8,733, slightly more than predicted by the Rule of 5.

Imagine what the true AML would be for all HMAs and WHTs!

The problem is not too many horses or not enough contraceptives.  The problem is public-lands ranching.

RELATED: Hypothesis Revisited.

Cattle and Horses

Mullen Fire Creeping Toward Deerwood Ranch?

The ‘Albany bulge’ has broken out to the north, bringing the fire closer to the suspected location of the off-range pasture (area labeled Middle Creek in the following map).

Yesterday’s fact sheet said a fire line has been established in the Middle Creek area between the fire and Centennial.

Mullen Fire and Deerwood Ranch 10-13-20-1

The fire has burned 176,000 acres since September 17 and is now 30% contained.

An email asking about the location of the ranch was never answered.

RELATED: Mullen Fire Moving East.

Saylor Creek Roundup Over

A month ago Western Horse Watchers was informed that the operation had concluded and that a news release was forthcoming.

The daily reports ended on August 24, with 104 horses removed.  The goal was 81.

The HMA has been dethroned as the worst example of wild horse mismanagement in the ‘Short End of Stick’ series, replaced by Lost Creek, where the horses receive just four percent of the total authorized forage, instead of five percent at Saylor Creek.

RELATED: Status of Saylor Creek Roundup?

Thriving Ecological Balance-3

Lost Creek Horses Get Short End of Stick

Helicopters will be flying over the Lost Creek HMA, one of five HMAs in the Red Desert Complex, any day now.  Their mission is to enforce the resource allocations of the Rawlins RMP.

The HMA covers 251,000 acres in central Wyoming and has an AML of 82.  The horses require 984 AUMs per year and the stocking rate allowed by plan is 0.3 wild horses per thousand acres.

What do these numbers tell you about the way the HMA is managed?  The fractional stocking rate may indicate large amounts of forage diverted to livestock.

The HMA intersects one allotment according to Map 2 in the Final EA for wild horse management actions in the Complex.  The allotment extends into the Antelope Hills HMA but the EA does not provide the percentage in each.

Western Horse Watchers estimates that it’s one part in Antelope Hills and five parts in Lost Creek, or 83% in Lost Creek.  The estimated size of the allotment is 251,000 ÷ .83 = 302,410 acres.  Both HMAs are 100% subject to permitted grazing.

Table 5 in the EA provides the grazing season and permitted AUMs.  Although cattle and sheep are allowed on the allotment, the calculations are based on cow/calf pairs only, for a direct comparison to wild horses.  The resource requirements of cow/calf pairs and wild horses are said to be equivalent.

Lost Creek HMA Calcs A-1

The forage available to livestock inside the HMA is .83 × 27,292 = 22,652 AUMs per year, assuming the resource is evenly distributed across the parcel.

The Cyclone Rim permittees would have to place 3,539 cow/calf pairs inside the HMA to graze off 22,652 AUMs in 6.4 months.  The stocking rate allowed by plan is 3,539 ÷ 251,000 × 1,000 = 14.1 cow/calf pairs per thousand acres.

These management indicators are compared in the following charts.

Lost Creek HMA Charts-1

The HMA is managed primarily for livestock, with the horses receiving just four percent of the total authorized forage (excluding wildlife).  The HMA doesn’t have a Herd Management Area Plan (HMAP) but if it did do you think you could revise it independently of the RMP?

The pre-gather population in the HMA, thought to be around 4X AML (per the news release for the Complex), would include 246 excess horses, so the need for a roundup, along with other population controls, is obvious.

However, the forage assigned to livestock would support an additional 1,888 horses, for a true AML of 1,970.  There are no excess horses in the HMA, the roundup is not needed and there is no justification for a fertility control program.

RELATED: Red Desert Gather, Part 2, Starts Next Month.

Paisley Desert Emergency Roundup Starts This Weekend

BLM announced today that 750 wild horses will be removed from the Paisley Desert HMA, beginning on October 10, due to lack of water.

The operation will be carried out with helicopters, according to the news release, and will be open to public observation, except for horses found on private land.

The HMA covers 271,667 acres in central Oregon and has an AML of 150, for an aimed-at stocking rate of 0.6 wild horses per thousand acres.

As noted earlier this year, the fractional stocking rate may indicate large amounts of forage diverted to privately owned livestock.

Paisley Desert HMA Map

An environmental assessment from 2009 indicates the HMA intersects four grazing allotments, with livestock receiving 10,151 AUMs per year, compared to 1,800 AUMs per year for the horses.  Curiously, the HMA has a Herd Management Area Plan (HMAP).

The pre-gather population is thought to be around 1,050.  The true AML is 996.

Captured animals will be taken to the off-range corrals in Hines, OR.

Gather stats and daily reports will be posted to this page.

Clark Mountain Roundup in Progress

BLM is removing 30 to 40 wild burros from the Clark Mountain HA and surrounding lands near the CA-NV border.  The operation was not announced at the BLM news site and may be closed to public observation due to the method of capture.

The Decision Record was signed on August 10, subject to a 30-day appeal period.

The documents for the project were generating error messages earlier today but you can view the DR here.  The area has no AML and is no longer managed for burros.

Clark Mountain HA Map

Gather stats were not found at the customary location and the destination of captured animals is not known.

The roundup follows the loss in 2019 of 46 burros who were gunned down.  That case is still under investigation.

RELATED: No Arrests in Clark Mountain Burro Case.

Mullen Fire Moving East

Today’s InciWeb report states that the fire has spread slightly to the northeast and east over the last 24 hours, with containment holding at 14%.  The total area burned is now about 161,200 acres.

Winds out of the west and southwest are expected over the next 48 hours.

Western Horse Watchers is estimating the fire to be about five miles west of Deerwood Ranch and two miles to the south.  An email sent to the ranch earlier today has not been answered.  The location on the following map is a best guess.

Mullen Fire and Deerwood Ranch 10-07-20 A-1

The ranch is home to 350 wild horses, according to the BLM page for off-range pastures.

RELATED: Deerwood Off-Range Pasture Threatened by Mullen Fire?