An estimated 2,060 wild horses will be captured starting on or about January 10, with 2,030 to be removed, from the Pancake Complex west of Ely, NV.
The incident, representing about 10% of the resource enforcement goal announced earlier this week, appears near the bottom of page 1 in the latest schedule.
Helicopters will push the horses into the traps, according to the news release, and the operation will be open to public observation.
The Complex covers 1,228,739 acres per Table 1 in the Final EA and the 638 horses allowed by plan require 7,656 AUMs per year.
The stocking rate allowed by plan is 0.5 wild horses per thousand acres, considerably lower than the target rate of one wild horse per thousand acres across all HMAs, and a potential indicator of large amounts of forage assigned to privately owned livestock.
The pre-gather population is thought to be 3,244.
The Western Watersheds map shows numerous grazing allotments intersecting the Complex and the data in Tables 3 – 6 show that it’s managed primarily for livestock.
The excess horses (those above AML) have been consuming resources assigned to the public-lands ranchers but the helicopters will shift them back. A darting program could accomplish the same thing but in a much longer timeframe.
Captured animals will be taken to the off-range corrals at Palomino Valley, Indian Lakes and Sutherland.
Gather stats and daily reports will be posted to this page.
RELATED: Decision Reached in Pancake Gather Plan.
Western Horse Watchers Association 