The Decision Record, signed on July 7, authorizes the Proposed Action, which features removals of excess animals to low AML as quickly as possible, population suppression using PZP or GonaCon, IUDs, manipulation of sex ratios, and monitoring of herds with GPS tracking devices.  Refer to Section 2.2.1 in the Final EA.

A roundup is not imminent but at least 750 wild horses will need to be removed from state, private and BLM-managed public lands in and around the Complex to ensure a healthy landscape, according to the news release.

The new resource enforcement plan, effective immediately, has a ten-year life.

The Complex intersects 16 grazing allotments.

Three HMAs and one HA are affected.

The DR and EA were posted with other project documents.

RELATED: Draft EA for Bible Springs Complex Out for Review.

On the internet auction site with Gypsy Equestrian.  Bidding in progress July 5-12.

Operations concluded yesterday, according to a statement at the gather page, with 390 horses captured, 369 shipped, ten deaths and one returned.

The total includes 147 stallions, 194 mares and 49 foals, based on the daily reports.

The total at the gather page was 380, based on 184 mares captured.

The capture goal was 383 and the removal goal was 353.  Mares treated with fertility control may be returned to the HMA at a later date.

The death rate was 2.6%.

Foals represented 12.6% of the total.

Of the adults, 43.1% were male and 56.9% were female.

Body condition scores were not provided.

Video from Day 2 showing the mistreatment of a foal sparked outrage among observers and may have killed public support for the Wild Horse Protection Act (helicopter ban).

RELATED: BLM to Thin Buffalo Hills Herd Starting This Week.

UPDATE: The July 11 news release said up to 27 mares will be treated with GonaCon and returned to the HMA.

The project targets wild horses in and around the HMA, referred to in Section 1.1 of the EA as the HA.  The HA covers 411,636 total acres, including 211,593 acres in the HMA.

The HA was marked with a blue border on Map 1, page 92 in the pdf.  It extends into the Dugway Proving Grounds.

Lands outside the HMA are not managed for wild horses and have no AML.

The AML for the HA would be identical to the AML for the HMA but the stocking rate allowed by plan would be lower.

The 390 horses allowed by plan in the HMA require 4,680 AUMs per year.  The forage assigned to wild horses in the HA would be identical.

The HA intersects four allotments, discussed previously.

Data for livestock grazing were presented in Table 6 of the EA, page 26 in the pdf.

The table indicates that four percent of Aragonite is inside the HA.

Map 2 in the EA, page 93, shows the allotment boundaries relative to the blue border.

Would you say that Aragonite, circled in red, is 4% inside the HA?  Looks more like 95%.

How about North Cedar Mountain?  Table 6 says 15%.  Looks more like 90%.

The allotments represent forage taken from the horses and sold on the cheap to the public-lands ranchers.  This is why AMLs are small relative to the available resources.

If you use the figures in Table 6, you will underestimate the forage assigned to livestock inside the HA.

If you use the eyeball estimates above for Aragonite and North Cedar Mountain, you come up with 17,068 AUMs per year assigned to livestock inside the HA.

That’s 3.6 times more forage than assigned to the horses.

The HA is managed primarily for livestock.

The forage assigned to livestock would support an additional 1,422 wild horses, for a True AML of 1,812.

The current population, thought to be 766 according to Section 1.1 of the EA, is well within this range.

The True AML could be achieved by confining the ranchers to their base properties and expecting them to pay the going rate to feed their animals.

But that’s not what’s going to happen.

The new resource enforcement plan, or livestock protection plan if you prefer, will get rid of as many horses as necessary to ensure the ranchers get their due.

The advocates would likely support the plan if it was limited to the Montana Solution and helicopters were only used for catch-treat-release.

RELATED: New Resource Enforcement Plan for Cedar Mountain Announced.

A foal born on the island will soon have a new name after a successful auction by the Assateague Island Alliance, according to a report published July 7 by The Dispatch of Berlin, MD.

A similar report last year gave the number of foals born in 2021 and the size of the herd.

Not so this year.

Those figures are no longer appropriate for the public domain.

The herd is still trying to recover from the darting program that was shut off in 2016.

The advocates point to the island as a paragon of wild horse management.

Western Horse Watchers was unable to find an announcement with the 2022 census results at the AIA home page, so they may be helping the Park Service with the cover-up.

Who knows?

RELATED: Park Service Goes Underground with Assateague Horse Census?

A story posted today by Sierra Daily News says the Forest Service will hold an online meeting next week to discuss the planning process.

The event may also serve as a motorized equipment hearing.

Roundups have occurred every fall in the WHT since 2018.

Maybe they just created it.

Traps were built and put in service last month.

Horses were caught on June 28 and 29 but none since.

All were shipped on June 30.

The total includes eight stallions, seven mares and three foals.

Youngsters represented 16.7% of the horses captured.  Of the adults, 53.3% were males and 46.7% were females.

Body condition scores were not given.

No deaths were reported.

The number of unaccounted-for animals is zero.

RELATED: Piceance Bait Traps Fall Short.

On June 30 Western Horse Watchers sent an email to a public information officer at the Nevada Department of Agriculture asking for a copy of the latest report on the Virginia Range darting program by the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses.

As of today, no response has been received.

RELATED: NDA Extends Virginia Range Darting Program.

Refer to this brief dated July 7 by Law Street Media.

The complaint alleges violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act and Administrative Procedures Act by the Forest Service regarding horses in the Apache National Forest.

Exhibits referenced in the complaint were not provided.

Plaintiff demands trial by jury.

Defendants include Tom Vilsack, acting United States Secretary of Agriculture, and Judy Palmer, acting U.S. Forest Supervisor.

RELATED: ISPMB Claims Forest Service Removing Wild Horses Illegally.

The advocates will tell you that the Montana Solution is safe and reversible but experience indicates otherwise.

Trailcam images from the Virginia Range show injuries.

The herd on Assateague Island (Maryland side) is struggling to recover from the darting program, which was shut off in 2016.  Last year it grew just 7.8% and this year the Park Service refused to publish the census results, breaking a long tradition of transparency.

Wherever it’s applied, we see

• Barren mares
• Confused stallions
• Injuries and infections
• Shrinking herds
• Abnormal sex ratios
• Disruption of natural order
• Subordination to livestock

Death rates are probably increasing, as explained previously.

A compilation of the effects of PZP on wild horses, assembled in 2015, appears in a report prepared by ISPMB, beginning on page 30.  The research was carried out and documented by others.  The findings predate and outrun the 2016 incident at ISPMB.

• The vaccine does not prevent disease, it causes disease
• PZP tricks the immune system into waging war on the ovaries
• Treatments may lead to ovarian cysts
• Recovery of fertility at end of treatments is slow (if at all)
• Antibodies can be transferred to offspring via placenta and mother’s milk
• One shot can sterilize a filly if darted before puberty
• Risk of stillbirths may go up

The protocols call for selected mares (selected by advocates) to be taken off the treatments until they produce live foals.  Why would the procedures say “live foals?”

The advocates care far more about their standing with the bureaucrats and ranchers than they do about wild horses.

The following video shows their handiwork at the Salt River.  Support for the program comes from the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, a common denominator in many fertility control programs.

RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Exposing the Lies of the Advocates.

The incident began on July 1.  Gather stats through July 7:

• Target: Horses
• Type: Planned
• Method: Helicopter
• Captured: 328, up from 235 on Day 5
• Average daily take: 46.9
• Capture goal: 383
• Removal goal: 353
• Returned: 1, no change from Day 5
• Deaths: 8, no change from Day 5
• Shipped: 244, up from 177 on Day 5

The death rate declined from 3.4% to 2.4%.

The total, based on the daily reports, includes 118 stallions, 167 mares and 43 foals.

The total at the gather page is 318.

Youngsters represented 13.1% of the animals captured.  Of the adults, 41.4% were male and 58.6% were female.

Body condition scores were not given.

The herd can’t be growing at a rate of 20% per year with a birth rate of 13% per year.

Abnormal sex ratios are often found in herds subject to the Montana Solution.

The location of the trap site within the HMA was not disclosed.

Day 7 ended with 75 unaccounted-for animals.

Mares treated with fertility control will be returned to the area at a later date.

Operations will likely conclude by Day 9.

Other statistics:

• AML: 314
• Forage assigned to horses: 3,768 AUMs per year
• Pre-gather population: 541
• Forage liberated to date: 3,924 AUMs per year
• Water liberated to date: 3,270 gallons per day
• Forage assigned to livestock: 1,135 AUMs per year (estimated)
• Horses displaced from HMA by permitted grazing: 94
• True AML: 408
• Stocking rate at new AML: 3.1 horses per thousand acres
• Horses displaced from area by drilling and mining: Ask the advocates

RELATED: Buffalo Hills Roundup Day 5.

The Decision Record, signed on July 6, authorizes the Proposed Action, which features removal of younger animals, sex ratio skewing, sterilization of stallions and IUDs and Gonacon for mares over a ten-year period.  Refer to page 9 in the Final EA.

The DR and EA were posted with other project documents.

Four HMAs are affected.

The management plan assigns 7.6 times more forage to livestock than the horses and the Proposed Action will assure that the ranchers get their due.

Henceforth you may refer to it as a resource enforcement plan, pest control plan or livestock protection plan.

The BLM news release said a roundup is not on the national schedule, but one could be authorized later this year.

RELATED: Preliminary EA for North Lander Complex Out for Public Review?

A report by the Steamboat Pilot & Today said 18 horses have been captured since the incident began on June 16.

The goal was 99 according to the latest schedule.

The number of animals shipped, deceased and returned was not provided.

Helicopters are set to fly starting on July 15.

RELATED: Piceance Blackout Continues.

It’s set to begin on July 8 according to the latest schedule.

The incident may or may not be announced at the BLM news site and progress reports may or may not be posted in the usual location.

It’s toast.  The optics are horrible, thanks to its supporters.

Those protesting the treatment of that foal would be first in line to get rid of it with the Montana Solution.

RELATED: New Tagline for Helicopter Ban.

It’s not “Save a Horse, Hire a Cowboy,” it’s “Abuse a Foal, Pardon a Cowboy.”

The advocates think this footage will convince the American people that removals by wrangler are better than removals by helicopter.

RELATED: So Long, Helicopter Ban?

The incident began on July 1.  Gather stats through July 5:

• Target: Horses
• Type: Planned
• Method: Helicopter
• Captured: 235, up from 156 on Day 3
• Average daily take: 47.0
• Capture goal: 383
• Removal goal: 353
• Returned: 1, up from zero on Day 3
• Deaths: 8, up from 3 on Day 3
• Shipped: 177, up from 72 on Day 3

Two horses were put down on Day 4 because of physical defects.  Two more were put down on Day 5 for similar reasons and one died from a fractured neck, probably from crashing into a pipe panel.

They’d be alive today if there was no roundup.

The death rate is 3.4%.

A mare was released on Day 4 but no details were given.

The cumulative total includes 87 stallions, 122 mares and 26 foals.  The cumulative total at the gather page is 225.

Youngsters represented 11.1% of the animals captured.  Of the adults, 41.6% were male and 58.4% were female.

The herd can’t be growing at a rate of 20% per year with a birth rate of 11% per year.

Abnormal sex ratios are often found in herds subject to the Montana Solution.

The location of the trap site within the HMA was not disclosed.

Day 5 ended with 49 unaccounted-for animals.

The removal goal is 66% complete.  Mares treated with fertility control will be returned to the area at a later date.

Other statistics:

• AML: 314
• Forage assigned to horses: 3,768 AUMs per year
• Pre-gather population: 541
• Forage liberated to date: 2,808 AUMs per year
• Water liberated to date: 2,340 gallons per day
• Forage assigned to livestock: 1,135 AUMs per year (estimated)
• Horses displaced from HMA by permitted grazing: 94
• True AML: 408
• Stocking rate at new AML: 3.1 horses per thousand acres
• Horses displaced from area by drilling and mining: Ask the advocates

RELATED: Buffalo Hills Roundup Day 3.