This video, from July 2019, shows some foals on the Maryland side of the island, three years after the fertility control program was shut off. Filmed by Dale Rawlings.
RELATED: R.I.P. Assateague Horse Census?
Month: January 2021
EIS for Rock Springs RMP Amendments Turns 1 Today
The document was released for review and comments a year ago today. If the project is approved, it will rank among the greatest losses to America’s wild horses.
The proposed action, Alternative D in the EIS, will effect these changes:
- The Rock Springs Field Office portion of the Adobe Town HMA will become an HA and be managed for zero wild horses. In the Rawlins Field Office portion, all checkerboard land and the area north of the existing Corson Springs southern allotment boundary will become an HA and be managed for zero wild horses. The remainder of the HMA will be managed for an AML of 259 – 536.
- The Divide Basin HMA will become an HA and be managed for zero wild horses
- The Salt Wells Creek HMA will become an HA and be managed for zero wild horses
- The White Mountain HMA will become an HA and be managed for zero wild horses
Resources allocated to the horses may be reassigned to wildlife or livestock.
The following image is based on a map in the executive summary in the EIS. The project area is in southwestern Wyoming.
Grazing allotments in the Rock Springs Field Office are shown in this map. Table 3-2 in the EIS shows the allotments that overlap the HMAs.
The allotment master report for the RSFO has 80 listings, including 34 allotments in the Improve category, 17 in the Maintain category and 29 in the Custodial category.
The Rock Springs allotment, in the Maintain category, intersects three of the HMAs.
The largest permit holder, from an AUM viewpoint, is the Rock Springs Grazing Association, instigator of the project. Refer to the executive summary for details.
The terms of the RSGA consent decree and Alternative D in the EIS are not identical.
UPDATE: References to ‘EA’ in this post have been replaced with ‘EIS.’
RELATED: Rock Springs RMP Recap, Allotment Categories Explained.
Horse Shot in Minnesota
Refer to this report dated January 29 by the Brainerd Dispatch. Doesn’t seem to matter whether they’re wild or domestic.
Public Service Announcement
If you’re new to the wild horse world, you may not know the difference between an AUM and AML but you need to get up to speed on this stuff as soon as possible. These are not the stated definitions, they reflect current management practices.
AML (Appropriate Management Level) – The number of horses or burros an area can support after diverting most of the resources to privately owned livestock.
HA (Herd Area) – An area identified for wild horses or burros in 1971 but no longer managed for them (AML is zero). Now managed almost exclusively for livestock.
HMA (Herd Management Area) – Usually a subset of an HA, an area identified for wild horses or burros in 1971 but now managed primarily for livestock. Referred to as a Wild Horse Territory (WHT) or Wild Burro Territory (WBT) on Forest Service lands.
WHR (Wild Horse Range) – An area managed principally for wild horses, per the original statute, now accounting for less than two percent of areas where wild horses are still allowed by plan.
AUM (Animal Unit Month) – The amount of forage consumed by one cow/calf pair, one wild horse, two wild burros or five domestic sheep in one month.
RMP (Resource Management Plan) – A document that specifies management priorities on public lands and allocates resources accordingly. AMLs derive from these plans.
EA (Environmental Assessment) – A review of the expected consequences of a proposed action, along with those of one or more alternatives, usually carried out before anything happens in the field. Roundups enforce the resource allocations of RMPs—they cannot not change them—so comments involving forage distribution on EAs for roundups are usually rejected.
EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) – A more in-depth analysis of a proposed action and its alternatives, usually reserved for major changes to the way public lands are managed.
The number of wild horses or burros an area can support, after taking back the resources assigned to privately owned livestock, is usually referred to as the True AML on these pages and represents the sum of the animals allowed plan (AML) and the animals displaced from their home range by domestic livestock, frequently climbing into the thousands.
RELATED: So You Want to Help America’s Wild Horses?
Horses Rescued from Mudslide
The storms that hit central California earlier this week almost claimed the lives of two horses but they were pulled from neck-deep mud by firefighters and members of a disaster response team, according to a report posted yesterday by the Monterey Herald of Monterey, CA.
Moving the Nation’s Capital to Mar-a-Lago?
Let the usurper and his toadies wither on the vine in the town by the Potomac.
Making Bleach Great Again!
This stuff has been as hard to find as an Assateague horse census, but it’s been back on the shelves for the past few weeks. For bleaching water buckets.
Life on the Salt River
If breeding patterns are determined by the local ‘advocacy’ group, and not the horses, what will be the condition of the herd twenty years from now? Fifty years from now?
Video produced by GregBarber7.
RELATED: Success on the Salt River.
WHB Shooters Can’t Match Impact of PZP Zealots
Almost four dozen wild burros lost at the Clark Mountain HA in 2020 and over two dozen wild horses lost at the Heber WHT over the past two years, with plenty of outrage.
But when the PZP zealots get rid of an estimated 600 wild horses in the Virginia Range, there’s high fives and press conferences.
What would be the reaction if they were captured by helicopters?
RELATED: Oil and Mining Companies Can’t Match Impact of PZP Zealots.
2021 Grazing Fee Announced
The 2021 fee has been set at $1.35 per AUM for the 2021 grazing season, same as last year, according to a BLM news release issued today. The grazing season on public lands runs from March 1 through February 28.
An AUM represents the forage consumed in one month by a cow/calf pair, one wild horse, two wild burros or five sheep. Forage allocations are often specified in resource management plans.
The new fee corresponds to about 5% of the going rate on private lands.
The method of calculation can be found in Section 1905 of the Public Rangelands Improvement Act, 43 USC 37, one of the rancher-friendly statutes that weakened the WHB Act.
RELATED: Grazing Fee Unchanged in 2020.
Eagle Roundup Day 23
The incident began on January 6. Gather stats through January 28:
- Horses captured: 702, up from 627 on Day 21
- Goal: 1,131
- Returned: 0
- Deaths: 15, up from 11 on Day 21
- Shipped: 544, up from 502 on Day 21
No gather activity was reported on Day 22.
One death occurred on Day 22 as a result of the roundup and three horses were put down on Day 23 due to pre-existing conditions. The overall death rate is 2.1%.
One foal has been caught to date. Roughly 45% of captured adults are male and 55% are female. Some of the mares are probably within a few weeks of foaling. Some may have foaled in the off-range corrals.
Body condition scores are not known.
The HMA of origin was not reported. Three HMAs are involved in the roundup.
The number of unaccounted-for animals is 143.
Some of the mares will be treated with contraceptives and returned to the range but no such activity has been reported. Some may receive GPS radio transmitters.
Data quality on this roundup has been good.
RELATED: Eagle Roundup Day 21.
Condition of Chokecherry and Mount Elinor Allotments?
Eight allotments intersect the two HMAs from Utah involved in the Eagle roundup, Chokecherry and Mount Elinor.
The Allotment Master report for the one administered by the Caliente Field Office in Nevada says it’s in the Improve category.
The report for the seven allotments administered by the Cedar City Field Office in Utah shows four in the Improve category, two in the Maintain category and one in the Custodial category.
At Government Wells, the Custodial allotment, public lands represent 87% of the area and at least 77% of the active AUMs. Western Horse Watchers is unable to explain how it qualifies for that category in view of the 10% rule.
RELATED: Condition of Eagle Allotments?
Building Back Better for America’s Wild Horses?
Refer to this guest column in The Hill, published today. The views expressed in the article are those of its author and not necessarily those of Western Horse Watchers.
RELATED: Best Place to See Oregon Wild Horses Is In the BLM Corrals?
So You Want to Help America’s Wild Horses?
Great. Best way to do that? Don’t focus on the horses.
Instead, learn about the policies, programs and organizations that are forcing them off the range and/or driving their numbers downward.
- Grazing programs
- Resource management plans
- Public-lands ranchers, their overlords, cheerleaders and political allies
- Outplacement programs (adoption, sale, training, shows)
- Financial incentives
- Advocacy groups that push contraceptives
- Proponents of sanctuaries
- Signatories to the Path Forward
- Signatories to the PZP manifesto
- Fuels reduction programs
- Vegetation management programs
- Statutes and regulations
- Stock grower’s associations and farm bureaus
- Departments of agriculture and wildlife
- Colleges and universities
- Rangeland resource commissions
- County commissions
- Public lands councils
- Agricultural and hunting interests
- Advisory boards
Where money is concerned, be very careful with your donations.
Condition of Eagle Allotments?
Of the eight allotments that intersect the Eagle HMA, currently subject to a roundup, four are in the Custodial category—condition unknown. The other four are in the Improve category.
Allotment names and grazing seasons can be found in Table 3.2 of the Final EA for resource enforcement actions in the Complex. Four of them offer year-round grazing.
The Allotment Master report shows little if any state or private lands in the Custodial allotments, so Western Horse Watchers is not sure how the 10% rule applies. All of the active AUMs are tied to public (federal) lands.
Curiously, 51% of the allotments administered by the Caliente Field Office have been placed into that category. Their condition is known only to BLM insiders.
UPDATE: Nine allotments are involved, not eight. The Allotment Master report for the ninth puts it in the Improve category, bringing the total to five. Permittees include the Blue Diamond Oil Corporation and Southern Nevada Water Authority.
RELATED: Allotment Categories Explained.
Eagle Roundup Day 21
The incident began on January 6. Gather stats through January 26:
- Horses captured: 627, up from 612 on Day 19
- Goal: 1,131
- Returned: 0
- Deaths: 11, same as Day 19
- Shipped: 502, same as Day 19
No activity was reported on Day 20. Operations may have moved to another area.
No deaths were reported on Day 21.
One foal has been caught to date. Roughly 45% of captured adults are male and 55% are female. Some of the mares are probably within a few weeks of foaling. Some may have foaled in the off-range corrals.
Body condition scores are not known.
The HMA of origin was not reported. Three HMAs are involved in the roundup.
The number of unaccounted-for animals is 114.
Some of the mares will be treated with contraceptives and returned to the range but no such activity has been reported. Some may receive GPS radio transmitters.
RELATED: Eagle Roundup Day 19.
Saylor Creek HMA Tells Story of America’s Wild Horses
The WHB Act charges the BLM with “maintain(ing) a thriving ecological balance among wild horse populations, wildlife, livestock and vegetation to protect the range from the deterioration associated with overpopulation,” according to a story published this morning by the Idaho Statesman.
The article was developed around recent events at the Saylor Creek HMA.
The Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture have primary responsibility for the WHB Act, now referred to as 16 USC 30, not the BLM.
Search the statute (CTRL+F) for keywords such as ‘balance’ or ‘livestock.’ See if you can find the statement above.
Try searching for ‘thriving ecological balance among wild horse populations, wildlife, livestock.’ It’s not in there.
The idea of managing HMAs and WHTs primarily for livestock comes from federal regulations, created by unelected bureaucrats, not the people’s representatives, presumably at the behest of the public-lands ranchers.
An estimated 95% of the authorized forage at Saylor Creek, neglecting wildlife, has been consigned to the ranchers. They pay around five cents on the dollar for the resource, compared to the going rate on rented pastures.
Not much of an offset to the tens of millions of dollars the government spends each year to make life better for the ranchers, especially on land set aside for the horses.
As for the rest of the western U.S., the land can only support 27,000 wild horses and burros because most of the resources have been diverted to public-lands ranchers.
You only need to read a few of the ‘Short End of Stick’ reports to see that.
Velma understood the problem, but sadly, many of today’s ‘advocacy’ groups do not.
They want to shrink the herds by shooting the mares with contraceptive darts, instead of pushing back against the ranchers.
The ranchers like the idea of cutting herd sizes, but in a more timely fashion.
That’s where the ‘Path Forward’ comes in.
RELATED: IRRC Expands Propaganda.
Note on Allotment Categories
Allotments are placed into the ‘Improve’ category because of privately owned livestock, not because of wild horses and burros.
How much longer before a new category is created?
RELATED: Allotment Categories Explained.
Pinging the Eagle Wild Horses
Personnel from the United States Geological Survey will braid radio transmitters into the tails of wild horses captured during the 2021 Eagle roundup, according to NEPA project DOI-BLM-NV-L030-2021-0008-CX.
The project was approved as a categorical exclusion with no supporting documentation.
Presumably, the horses will be returned to their home range, along with those treated with contraceptives. As of today, no such activity has been reported at the gather page.
Allotment Categories Explained
Refer to this undated BLM document, an attachment to IM2009-018, Process for Setting Priorities for Issuing Grazing Permits and Leases.
Improve (I) – Not achieving rangeland health standards
Maintain (M) – Achieving rangeland health standards
Custodial (C) – Public lands produce less than 10% of forage
Category I allotments have the highest priority for processing authorizations, managing uses and monitoring rangeland health, according to IM2009-018.
These categories appear in some of reports from RAS.
RELATED: Rangeland Conditions in Horse-Free Areas.
Western Horse Watchers Association 