The incident began on January 11.  Gather stats through February 2:

• Target: Horses
• Type: Planned
• Method: Helicopter
• Captured: 1,510, up from 1,413 on Day 20
• Average daily take: 65.7
• Capture goal: 2,060
• Removal goal: 2,030
• Returned: 4, no change from Day 20
• Deaths: 13, no change from Day 20
• Shipped: 1,431, up from 1,258 on Day 20

Helicopters did not fly on Day 22 due to high winds.

The death rate is 0.9%.

The cumulative total includes 635 stallions, 693 mares and 182 foals.

Youngsters represented 12.1% of the horses captured, consistent with a herd growth rate of 7% per year, assuming a 5% death rate.  A growth rate of 20% per year is often used by land managers to predict herd sizes.

Of the adults, 47.8% were stallions and 52.2% were mares.

Body condition scores were not reported.

The location of the trap site within the Complex was not provided.

Day 23 ended with 62 unaccounted-for animals.

The number of horses removed to date is 1,506.  Mares returned to the Complex will be treated with fertility control of unspecified type.

Other statistics:

• AML: 638 (across two HMAs, one WHT and one HA)
• Forage assigned to horses: 7,656 AUMs per year
• Pre-gather population: 3,244
• Forage liberated to date: 18,072 AUMs per year
• Water liberated to date: 15,060 gallons per day
• Forage assigned to livestock: 43,344 AUMs per year (estimated)
• Horses displaced from Complex by permitted grazing: 3,612
• True AML: 4,250
• Stocking rate at new AML: 3.5 wild horses per thousand acres
• Horses displaced from Complex by drilling and mining: Ask the advocates

RELATED: Pancake Roundup Day 20.

The incident will begin on February 8, according to today’s news release, even though the Decision Record, signed on January 24, is subject to a 30-day appeal period.

Helicopters will push the horses into the traps and operations will be open to public observation.

The capture goal is 376 and the removal goal is unknown.  Population suppression of unspecified type will be applied to slow the herd growth rate.

The HMA covers 265,675 acres in western Utah and the 250 horses allowed by plan require 3,000 AUMs per year.  The stocking rate allowed by plan is 0.9 wild horses per thousand acres.

The pre-gather population is thought to be around 600 wild horses.

The HMA intersects nine grazing allotments, according to Table 3.1 of the Final EA for resource enforcement actions therein, and livestock receive an estimated 10,256 AUMs per year, assuming the resource is evenly distributed across the allotments.

The HMA is 100% subject to permitted grazing and the horses receive 23% of the authorized forage, but it does have a Herd Management Area Plan (HMAP).

Captured animals will be taken to the Axtell off-range corrals.

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

RELATED: Sulphur Resource Enforcement Plan Approved, First Awareness.

Participants will be able to offer comments, feedback and suggestions regarding current traffic and safety issues related to the horses, according to the announcement.

A link to the Zoom meeting was provided.  Questions can be submitted online.

Although the advocates will be present, Western Horse Watchers does not know if the darting program qualifies as hazard abatement.

The Sulphur HMA, mentioned in a column by St. George News, is overpopulated with 497 wild horses, while the government authorizes privately owned livestock equivalent to 854 horses in the same area, on top of the 250 allowed by plan.

The advocates believe that the horses are the problem but they can’t agree on the best way of getting rid of them.

Meanwhile, the ranchers operate under the cover of a media blackout, evident in the article.

The story may contain material from older columns, suggested by the reference to Deniz Bolbol of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, reffered to on these pages as the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses.  No such person could be found at their staff directory.

It did, however, identify the new Virginia Range Fertility Control Program Coordinator.

RELATED: Excess Horses in Sulphur HMA?

Which species will be declining in numbers?  Which one will become the primary consumer of resources on the range, if it isn’t already?

What would you say about the sincerity of the writer in this response to the January 27 column in the Reno Gazette Journal about the importance of roundups?

Western Horse watchers believes that the setting of AMLs is a discretionary process, while the determination of the available resources—and thus the carrying capacity of the land—is scientific, contrary to the statement in the article.

If you write a budget, are you going to collect data and test hypotheses to decide how much to spend on meals and entertainment?

You can have 100% livestock, neglecting wildlife, 100% wild horses, or anywhere in between, as long as the sum of the allocated AUMs does not exceed the available AUMs.

In practice, AMLs correspond to 20% or less of the authorized AUMs.

RELATED: Rangelands, Roundups and Sustainability in Nevada.