The Warm Springs HMA is managed primarily for livestock, as shown in the resource allocation quiz.
The current forage allocations are noted in a 2018 EA for resource enforcement actions in the HMA (bottom of page 15 in the pdf).
The management plan allows 202 wild horses in the HMA, which is the current AML.
What would the allocations look like if it was managed as Congress originally intended?
- Forage to horses: 2,424 + 19,392 = 21,816 AUMs per year (livestock gone)
- Forage to wildlife: 204 AUMs per year
How many horses could the resource support?
- New capacity: 21,816 ÷ 12 = 1,818, which is the True AML computed in the quiz
This is what the letter to Haaland is trying to accomplish.
The HMA covers 475,574 acres, so the stocking rate at the new AML would be 1,818 ÷ 475,574 × 1,000 = 3.8 wild horses per thousand acres, about four times higher than the target rate of one wild horse per thousand acres across all HMAs.
Western Horse Watchers Association 