Month: October 2021

RSGA Understands Management Process, Unlike Advocates

Their operations manager, speaking about the BLM and the Rock Springs roundup, told the WyoFile reporter in an article published today that “They have management plans with defined numbers.  They should do their job and get it back to the numbers [for which] they plan to manage horses.”

The advocates, rather than challenge the plans and their lopsided resource allocations, tell you the government should be getting rid of the horses with PZP, not helicopters, and they need more of your money to carry out their important work.

BLM Casts RSGA as Archenemy of Wild Horses?

So says a coalition of county commissioners and conservation districts, according to a report posted this morning by the online news service WyoFile.

Wild horse conservationists could make that argument, but not the government.

A case brought by RSGA resulted in a court order that’s driving the roundup and forcing the BLM to close three of the HMAs and downsize a fourth.

The BLM assigned 90% of the active AUMs in the massive Rock Springs allotment to RSGA, shown in the Western Watersheds map.

Enemies would not be so generous.

Rock Springs Allotment Map 10-12-21

As for the status of the roundup, the gather page is still in blackout mode.  While an IT failure of a day or two might be excusable, this is not.  It has been going on for nearly a week.

RELATED: Can’t Blame Ranchers for Rock Springs Roundup?

Majority of Americans Oppose Rock Springs Roundup?

A poll commissioned by The Cloud Foundation found that 69% of respondents opposed removing all wild horses from 1.5 million acres of public lands in southern Wyoming to accommodate the oil/gas and livestock industries, according to a report published today by Cowboy State Daily.

Over 2,000 U.S. adults participated in the survey.

How useful is that result?

Does it correspond to events occurring now?

How did they go from 69% of respondents to 69% of Americans?

The roundup will not remove all of the horses.

The impact on wild horses by oil and gas exploration and production is miniscule, almost non-existent, compared to that of public-lands ranching.

A five-acre drill pad would displace 1/200th of a wild horse at typical stocking rates.

Five wild horses would be displaced from the range for every thousand drill pads.

In the five HMAs affected by the roundup, an estimated 16,000 wild horses have been displaced from their home range by privately owned livestock.

RELATED: Management Priorities at Rock Springs HMAs.

NOTE: Western Horse Watchers has been unable to cover the Rock Springs roundup due to the BLM IT outage.  Although the site was available for a short time on October 9, no activity had been reported.  The blackout was ongoing as of 11:30 PM EDT today.

Devil’s Garden Roundup Day 25

The incident began on September 16.  Reports covering activity through October 10 have been posted to the Modoc news page:

  • Type: Planned
  • Method: Helicopter
  • Horses captured: 401, up from 345 on Day 20
  • Average daily take: 16.0
  • Capture goal: 600
  • Removal goal: 600
  • Returned: 1, no change from Day 20
  • Deaths: Unknown
  • Shipped: Unknown

The number of horses captured on Day 22 was not given but assumed to be 25, given a cumulative total of 401 through Day 25.

Foals represented 14.5% of the horses captured.  Of the adults, 50.4% were males and 49.6% were female.

Body condition scores were not provided.

The death rate and number of unaccounted-for animals cannot be determined.

Other statistics:

  • AML: 402
  • Forage assigned to horses: 4,824 AUMs per year
  • Pre-gather population: 1,926
  • Forage liberated to date: 4,800 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 4,000 gallons per day
  • Forage assigned to livestock: 15,711 AUMs per year (estimated)
  • Horses displaced from WHT by livestock: 1,309 (2.6% of off-range holding)
  • True AML: 1,711

RELATED: Devil’s Garden Roundup Day 20.

Livestock Grazing Here to Stay?

Eliminating cattle grazing to facilitate the well-being of herds of wild horses is not an option legally available to BLM, according to the writer of an opinion piece in today’s edition of The Salt Lake Tribune.

There was a difference in 1971 between areas where wild horses were found and areas where they were not found.

Today, some of those areas, referred to as HMAs, are managed primarily for livestock, while others, known as HAs, are managed almost exclusively for livestock.

With the 50th anniversary of the statute only about two months away, would you say that’s what Velma and the 92nd Congress had in mind?

RELATED: BLM Gaslighting American Public About Wild Horses?

Status of Stone Cabin Allotments

A Determination of NEPA Adequacy (DNA), which refers to a 2011 Final EA for resource enforcement actions in the HMA, preceded the Stone Cabin roundup.

The EA, DOI-BLM-NV-B020-2011-0106-EA, is not available in ePlanning.

Two grazing allotments overlap the HMA, according to the Western Watersheds map.

Stone Cabin Allotments 10-09-21

The allotment boundaries coincide roughly with the HMA boundary, suggesting that the HMA is 100% subject to permitted grazing.  The forage consumed by livestock grows in an area set aside for wild horses.

The Allotment Master report at RAS provides acreage, AUMs and management status.

Stone Cabin Allotment Data & Calcs 10-10-21

The DNA said the HMA covers 407,706 total acres, including 402,567 acres of BLM land, very close to the acreage designated for grazing.

Both allotments are in the Improve category, along with all of the public acres.

The 364 horses allowed by plan receive 4,368 AUMs per year, about 23% of the total authorized forage, neglecting wildlife.

The forage assigned to livestock would support an additional 1,192 wild horses, for a True AML of 1,556, considerably higher than the pre-gather population of 1,037.

The 1,192 horses displaced from the HMA by livestock represent about 2.4% of the 50,000 wild horses in off-range holding.

If that pattern was true in other HMAs, all of those horses could be returned to the range by ending public-lands ranching in about 40 more.

RELATED: Stone Cabin Roundup Day 33.

Stone Cabin Roundup Day 33

The incident began on September 1.  Gather stats through October 3:

  • Type: Emergency
  • Method: Bait
  • Horses captured: 304, up from 261 on Day 18
  • Average daily take: 9.2
  • Capture goal: 450
  • Removal goal: 450
  • Returned: 0
  • Deaths: 8, no change from Day 18
  • Shipped: 296, up from 231 on Day 18

The daily reports could not be accessed for two days due to a BLM IT outage.

No horses were caught on Days 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32 and 33.

The death rate is 2.6%.

Foals represented 14.8% of the horses gathered.  Of the adults, 46.3% were male and 53.7% were female.

Body condition scores were not reported.

Day 33 ended with no unaccounted-for animals.

Other statistics:

  • AML: 364
  • Forage assigned to horses: 4,368 AUMs per year
  • Pre-gather population: 1,037
  • Forage liberated to date: 3,648 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 3,040 gallons per day
  • Forage assigned to livestock: Unknown
  • Horses displaced from HMA by livestock: Unknown
  • True AML: Unknown

The Western Watersheds map shows two grazing allotments overlapping the HMA, Stone Cabin and Willow Creek.  Click image to open in new tab.

Stone Cabin Allotments 10-09-21

An estimate of the forage assigned to livestock, and the number of wild horses displaced thereby, should be a straightforward task.

The number of horses the HMA can support, the True AML, can be computed from those estimates, even though the advocates say it’s almost impossible to determine.

RELATED: Stone Cabin Roundup Day 18.

No Shedding of Tears for the Public-Lands Ranchers!

A guest column about wild horses published this morning by The Durango Herald concludes with this question: “And what about those ranch families whose income depends on cattle and sheep that have less and less to eat?”

What about them?  Nobody’s trying to put them out of business.

Confine them to their base properties and let them pay market rates to feed their animals, like everybody else.  No more gravy train.

Manage wild horse areas principally for wild horses, not privately owned cattle and sheep, as specified in the statute.

Pancake Gather Plan

Surprise Complex Roundup Day 11

The incident began on September 28.  Gather stats through October 8:

  • Type: Planned
  • Method: Helicopter
  • Horses captured: 897, up from 555 on Day 7
  • Average daily take: 81.5
  • Capture goal: 1,220
  • Removal goal: 1,050
  • Returned: 82, up from 16 on Day 7
  • Deaths: 14, up from 9 on Day 7
  • Shipped: 592, up from 396 on Day 7

The daily reports could not be accessed for two days due to a BLM IT outage.

Three horses were put down on Day 8 and one died of a broken neck.  A yearling was put down on Day 11.  The death rate is 1.6%.

On Day 8, 66 horses were returned to the Massacre Lakes, Bitner, Nut Mountain and Wall Canyon HMAs.  Mares were treated with fertility control.

Body condition scores have not been reported.

Gather ops on Day 10 and 11 were in the High Rock and Fox Hog HMAs.  Six HMAs are involved in the roundup.

Test results for pigeon fever, reported on Day 7, have not been provided.

Surprise Complex Map 10-02-21

Day 11 ended with 209 unaccounted-for animals.

Other statistics:

  • AML: 496
  • Forage assigned to horses: 5,952 AUMs per year
  • Pre-gather population: 1,300
  • Forage liberated to date: 9,780 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 8,150 gallons per day
  • Forage assigned to livestock: Unknown
  • Horses displaced from Complex by livestock: Unknown
  • True AML: Unknown

RELATED: Surprise Complex Roundup Day 7.

Centennial Wild Horse Roundup Starts Tomorrow

The incident will occur at the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, where most of the HMA is located, due to conditions related to the drought and two wildfires last year that burned approximately 45,000 acres.

Helicopters and wranglers will push the horses into the traps, according to the news release, but the operation will not be open to public observation.

The capture and removal goals are 250.  The roundup is not on the August 30 schedule.

The HMA covers 318,499 acres in central California.  The AML is 168 and the stocking rate allowed by plan is 0.5 wild horses per thousand acres.

The pre-gather population was not specified.

Centennial HMA Map 11-07-21

The Western Watersheds map, reproduced above, shows one grazing allotment on the northwest side of the HMA but outside of China Lake.  Click image to open in new tab.

Captured animals will be taken to the off-range corrals at Ridgecrest, CA.

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

Wild burros, not allowed by plan, were removed from the HMA earlier this year.