The new pest control plan is still in the scoping phase and a preliminary EA is still months away, but the Western Watersheds map indicates the HMA intersects four grazing allotments. Click on image to open in new tab.
The Allotment Master report puts all of the BLM/public acres in the Improve category.
The forage densities (AUMs per thousand acres) provide a basis for estimating the carrying capacities of the allotments.
For example, Aragonite should be able to support 61.5 ÷ 12 = 5.1 wild horses per thousand acres. North Cedar Mountain should be able to support 7.7 wild horses per thousand acres.
This would be in addition to the horses already allowed by plan.
The aimed-at stocking rate for Cedar Mountain is 0.9 wild horses per thousand acres, in line with the target rate across all HMAs of one wild horse per thousand acres.
Why are those numbers so low? Because most of the resources have been assigned to privately owned livestock.
RELATED: Scoping Begins for Cedar Mountain Pest Control Plan.
Western Horse Watchers Association 