The incident will begin on August 29, according to a BLM news release.
The August 10 schedule indicates a capture goal of 97 and a removal goal of 67, with 30 horses returned to the HMA, including 15 mares treated with fertility control.
The announcement said 100 would be removed.
Helicopters will push the horses into the traps and operations will be open to public observation.
The HMA covers about 60,000 total acres, including 49,000 acres managed by the BLM, in western Utah near the Bible Springs Complex.
The AML is 60 and the current population is thought to be 137, including foals.
The news release refers to the difference as “excess horses,” meaning more horses than allowed by plan, not more horses than the land can support.
The stocking rate allowed by plan is one wild horse per thousand acres, in line with the target rate across all HMAs.
The HMA intersects five grazing allotments according to the Western Watersheds map.
A 2016 EA indicates four allotments, with an estimated 2,959 AUMs per year assigned to livestock inside the HMA, compared to 720 AUMs per year for the horses.
The BLM will collect $3,995 per year in grazing fees from ranching activity inside the HMA while it spends $450,775 per year to care for the 247 horses displaced thereby.
Would you say that permitted grazing is a wise use of the public lands?
Captured animals will be taken to the off-range corrals in Axtell.
Gather stats and daily reports will be posted to this page.
A roundup two years ago took 143 wild horses off the HMA.
Western Horse Watchers Association 