The Tobin Range HMA, one of three Herd Management Areas in the East Pershing Complex, covers 198,236 total acres, including 186,654 public acres.
The 42 horses allowed by plan receive 504 AUMs per year, or 2.7 AUMs per year per thousand public acres.
The stocking rate allowed by plan is 0.2 wild horses per thousand acres, compared to a target rate across all HMAs of one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).
Why is it so low?
Table 8 in the Final EA for pest control and resource enforcement in the Complex shows five allotments that overlap the HMA.
The overlap percentages seem reasonable based on the arrangement in the National Data Viewer, except for Buffalo Valley. Western Horse Watchers believes the figure is closer to 15%, not 27%, so that amount will be used in the calculations.
The Allotment Master Report at RAS supplies acreage, management status and active AUMs.
Three of the allotments are managed by the Humboldt River Field Office and two are managed by the Mount Lewis Field Office, so two reports were created (HRFO | MLFO).
The allotments offer a weighted average 54.8 AUMs per year per thousand public acres, 20 times more than the land can produce for horses!
How is this possible?
The land-use plan has assigned most of the forage to livestock—in the lawful home of wild horses. Thus it is true that the horses have been cheated by the bureaucrats in favor of the ranchers with the cooperation of the advocates. (The advocates don’t like to talk about resource management. They want the ranchers to win.)
How many horses have been displaced from the HMA by permitted grazing?
Horses displaced = 11,187 ÷ 12 = 932
What’s the True AML?
True AML = 42 + 932 = 974
What’s the stocking rate at the new AML?
Stocking rate = 974 ÷ 186,654 × 1,000 = 5.2 horses per thousand public acres
The HMA is managed principally for livestock, with the horses receiving just 4.3% of the authorized forage, neglecting wildlife.
The BLM will collect 11,187 × 1.35 = $15,102.45 per year from ranching activity inside the HMA while it spends 932 × 5 × 365 = $1,700,900 per year to care for the horses displaced thereby.
Would you say that’s a wise use of the public lands?
The calculations above assume considerable dietary overlap between horses and livestock and uniform distribution of forage across the allotments.
RELATED: How Many Wild Horses Can the East Range HA Support?
Western Horse Watchers Association 