A preliminary environmental assessment for remote darting in the HMA has been posted for public review.
The plan would be effective for ten years, according to the news release.
The Proposed Action, discussed in Section 2.1 of the EA, calls for the use of PZP, GonaCon and PZP-22.
The goal is to reduce growth rates to five percent per year or less.
Treatment would be withdrawn after five years, until the mares produce foals—which they won’t, because they’re sterile. The ten-year timeframe is not necessary.
The HMA is subject to permitted grazing and the management plan assigns four times more forage to livestock than the horses.
The darting program will keep the resource scales tipped in favor of the public-lands ranchers for longer periods or time, perhaps indefinitely, which is what the advocates are trying to accomplish in other areas.
Comments will be accepted until January 17.
The news release said that they can be submitted electronically at the NEPA page for the project, but Western Horse Watchers was unable to find the link. E-mail addresses for BLM staff were provided.
Western Horse Watchers Association 