It’s the third of three HMAs in the East Pershing Complex, now subject to the largest roundup of FY24.
The HMA covers 178,927 total acres, including 176,800 public acres, and the 205 horses allowed by plan receive 2,460 AUMs per year.
The stocking rate allowed by plan is 1.2 wild horses per thousand public acres, in line with the target rate across all HMAs of one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).
Table 8 in the Final EA for pest control and resource enforcement in the Complex shows seven allotments that intersect the HMA.
Three Field Offices are involved:
- Humboldt River – Pleasant Valley, Rawhide, Rochester, Jersey Valley
- Mount Lewis – South Buffalo
- Stillwater – Copper Kettle, Boyer Ranch
Three more steps are needed to determine the carrying capacity.
The overlap percentages in the table seem reasonable based on the arrangement in the National Data Viewer, except for Boyer Ranch and Copper Kettle.
The estimated overlaps for those two allotments are 20% and 25%, not 91% and 94% per table 8. These values will be used in the calculations.
The Allotment Master Report at RAS provides management status, acreage and active AUMs, with three iterations required (HRFO | MLFO | SFO).
Approximately 41% of the public acreage does not meet standards for rangeland health.
The allotments offer a weighted average 34.6 AUMs per year per thousand public acres, not very attractive from a ranching viewpoint.
The management plan assigns an estimated 4,212 AUMs per year to livestock inside the HMA, assuming the resource is evenly distributed across the allotments.
The number of wild horses displaced from their lawful home by permitted grazing is therefore 4,212 ÷ 12 = 351.
The True AML is 205 + 351 = 556, the number of horses the HMA could support is it was managed principally them as specified in the original statute.
As of today, it’s managed primarily for livestock.
The new AML can be achieved by confining the ranchers to their multi-million-dollar base properties in a year-round off season.
The private corrals operated by JS Livestock, destination of horses captured in the roundup, demonstrate the feasibility of this idea.
Instead of allowing the horses to fill their niche on public lands, the bureaucrats cram them into taxpayer-supported feedlots, while giving most of their food and water to the government dependents.
As a result, the agency collects 4,212 × 1.35 = $5,686 per year from ranching activity inside the HMA, while it spends 351 × 5 × 365 = $640,575 per year to care for the horses displaced thereby.
Would you say that’s a wise use of the public lands?
None of this is necessary according to the advocates. Just beat the horse populations down with ovary-killing pesticides and let the ranchers have their way. Problem solved.
RELATED: How Many Wild Horses Can the Augusta Mountains HMA Carry?
Western Horse Watchers Association 