On March 8, the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners voted unanimously to draft a cover letter in support of a letter written by the Coalition for Healthy Nevada Lands, Wildlife and Free-Roaming Horses asking the BLM to remove wild horses from public lands in Nevada, arguing that it’s consistent with Commission Policy 67.

This was item 8 on the agenda.

Testimony runs from 2:45:58 to 3:40:25, followed by Board discussion.

Video cued up to the mark.  Just hit go.

RELATED: Coalition Asks Wildlife Board to Support Anti-Horse Agenda.

Horses have the day off.  At the Lake Pleasant HMA with Jaron Skalka.

The incident concluded on March 9 with 90 horses captured, 39 shipped, 51 released and one dead.

The capture and removal goals were 80 and 35.

The numbers don’t balance.  More horses were processed than caught.

The death rate was 1.1%.

Body condition scores were not given.

The number of mares treated with fertility control pesticides was not specified.

The operation supported three tenets of rangeland management.

RELATED: McCullough Peaks Roundup Set for November 27.

If you point the National Data Viewer to the area east of Minden, NV and turn on the Public Land Survey System, you’ll get a grid on which you can plot the parcels owned by the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses.

The large divisions, denoted by heavy red lines, correspond to township/range blocks covering approximately 36 square miles.

The fine red lines denote sections within the blocks covering approximately one square mile (640 acres) each.

The small boxes inside the sections represent 40 acre lots.  There are 36 sections in a block and 16 lots per section.

The map shows the Pine Nut Mountains HA, denoted with a black border, and two allotments with green borders.

The Douglas County assessor’s office provides a map for each parcel, which helps you find them on the grid.  Click on image to open in new tab.

All of the acreage falls within the HA, which has an AML of zero and is managed principally for livestock.

A small herd lives in the area, to the chagrin of the BLM, but the Pine Nut advocates are driving the numbers down with their favorite pesticide, referred to by CAAWH as the Montana Solution.

Buckeye Creek runs through APNs 1321-00-001-024, 1322-00-001-034, 1322-00-002-005, 1322-00-002-067 and 1222-00-001-061, so they may qualify as a riparian zone.

Given that they’re in an area where livestock are welcomed but horses are not, who will benefit from conservation efforts?

RELATED: CAAWH Spends $3.6 Million on Fish Springs Land Grab.

Two tribal members have submitted bids in response to a Request for Feral Horse Roundup Services issued by the Grazing Board, according to a story dated March 8 by Native Sun News Today.

The current population is thought to be between 2,500 to 3,000 animals.

The horses rob forage, which sells for $26.75 per AUM, from livestock operators.

After the horses are gathered, the contractor will be responsible for transporting them to the tribal rodeo grounds for an impoundment process of at least five days.

Unclaimed animals will be sent to the Billings Livestock Commission for sale.

The reservation covers approximately 444,000 acres in southeastern Montana and is headquartered in Lame Deer.

The incident started on January 22.  Results through March 8:

• Scope: McCullough Peaks HMA
• Target: Horses
• Method: Bait
• Type: Planned
• Goals: Gather 80, remove 35
• Captured: 90, no change from Day 46
• Shipped: 24, no change from Day 46
• Released: 51, up from 41 on Day 46
• Deaths: 1, no change from Day 46
• Average daily take: 1.9
• Unaccounted-for animals: 14

The Day 47 report said trapping was complete.

The capture goal has been exceeded by 12.5%.

The 14 horses in temporary holding will likely be shipped, bringing the total removed to 39 and beating the goal by 11%.

The number of mares treated with fertility control pesticides is unknown.

The death rate is 1.1%.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

Body condition scores were not provided.

The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.

• Forage liberated to date: 468 AUMs per year
• Water liberated to date: 390 gallons per day

The National Data Viewer shows habitat loss and overlapping allotments.  Click on map to open in new tab.

An estimated 535 wild horses have been displaced from their lawful home by permitted grazing, making the True AML almost five times higher than the current AML.

The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.

RELATED: McCullough Roundup, Day 46.

The February 1 schedule now says March 5.

The capture goal is 21,853, compared to 21,603 on February 1, and the removal goal is 20,510, compared to 20,260 on February 1.

In the December 8 schedule, the capture goal was 20,942 and the removal goal was 19,870.

RELATED: BLM Updates FY24 Roundup Plan.

A report by KFGO News says Congress passed legislation directing the Park Service to keep horses in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

A report by WZFG News says the bill directs the National Park Service to maintain “the historic scene commensurate with the historic herds during the period when President Theodore Roosevelt was a rancher in the area.”

A search of Congress.gov for “historic scene commensurate” yielded only one result, a report accompanying a FY24 spending bill for the Department of the Interior.

The language appears on page 40 of the pdf.

RELATED: Hard Truths about TRNP Horses

UPDATE: A story by The Hill indicates the Senate passed a $460 billion spending package yesterday, after the House approved it on Wednesday, providing funding for the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Interior, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Commerce and Energy, among others.  A link to the legislation was not included.

UPDATE: A news release by the White House indicates it’s HR 4366.

The Jones Boys Ranch covers 435 deeded acres near Lockes, NV, a ghost town on U.S. Highway 6.

There are two houses on the property: The main home has three beds and two baths, the bunk house has 2/2.

A spring produces over 200 gpm according to the listing.

The deeded acreage is surrounded by the Butterfield Allotment, on which the property has grazing preference.

The allotment overlaps a small portion of the Quinn and White River HAs.

The National Data Viewer shows the arrangement.  Click on image to open in new tab.

The parcel offers 4,776 active AUMs on 122,080 public acres, according to the Allotment Master Report, enough to support 398 wild horses.

The stocking rate would be 3.3 wild horses per thousand public acres.

This brings more distress to the bureaucrats and ranchers, who insist that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).

The allotment is in the Custodial category with condition unknown.  This is unusual for a parcel of this size.  Buyers should discuss with the Tonopah Field Office.

As with other base properties, the new owner could petition the BLM for a change in livestock type and season of use so horses could roam the area, as American Prairie did for bison in Montana.

The incident started on January 22.  Results through March 7:

• Scope: McCullough Peaks HMA
• Target: Horses
• Method: Bait
• Type: Planned
• Goals: Gather 80, remove 35
• Captured: 90, up from 68 on Day 44
• Shipped: 24, up from 14 on Day 44
• Released: 41, up from 40 on Day 44
• Deaths: 1, no change from Day 44
• Average daily take: 2.0
• Unaccounted-for animals: 24

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

No horses were shipped on Day 45 due to poor road conditions.

The capture goal has been exceeded by 12.5%.

Roughly half of the horses in temporary holding would need to be shipped to achieve the removal goal.

Retained mares might be treated with fertility control pesticides before release.

The churn rate has decreased sharply in the last three days, suggesting that the Cody Field Office has switched from a fishing expedition to Git-R-Done.

The death rate is 1.1%.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

Body condition scores were not provided.

The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.

• Forage liberated to date: 588 AUMs per year (will go down if horses returned)
• Water liberated to date: 490 gallons per day (ditto)

The National Data Viewer shows habitat loss and overlapping allotments.  Click on map to open in new tab.

An estimated 535 wild horses have been displaced from their lawful home by permitted grazing, making the True AML almost five times higher than the current AML.

The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.

RELATED: McCullough Roundup, Day 44.

Cattle and sheep ranchers say the horses eat the forage within their grazing permits, which is true, but, not mentioned in today’s article by the Mountain Journal, those permits are in the lawful home of wild horses.

RELATED: McCullough Roundup, Day 44.

The incident started on January 22.  Results through March 5:

• Scope: McCullough Peaks HMA
• Target: Horses
• Method: Bait
• Type: Planned
• Goals: Gather 80, remove 35
• Captured: 68, up from 52 on Day 41
• Shipped: 14, no change from Day 41
• Released: 40, up from 37 on Day 41
• Deaths: 1, no change from Day 41
• Average daily take: 1.5
• Unaccounted-for animals: 13

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

The Day 44 report said 16 horses were caught and three were released.  The status of the other 13 is not known.

The roundup continues to have a high churn rate.  If the 13 horses are shipped, the capture-to-remove ratio would drop to 2.4:1, in line with the target of 2.3:1.

Some horses may have been caught more than once.

The death rate is 1.5%.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

Body condition scores were not given.

The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.

• Forage liberated to date: 336 AUMs per year (assuming 28 horses removed)
• Water liberated to date: 280 gallons per day

The National Data Viewer shows habitat loss and overlapping allotments.  Click on map to open in new tab.

An estimated 535 wild horses have been displaced from their lawful home by permitted grazing, making the True AML almost five times higher than the current AML.

The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.

RELATED: McCullough Roundup, Day 41.

At the end of 2023 there were 117 horses on Shackleford Banks, according to an undated report by NPS, down from 124 at the end of 2022.

Five foals were born in 2023, for a birth rate of four percent.

Twelve horses died.

The herd consisted of 62% females and 38% males at the end of December.

The low birth rate and unusual sex ratio are likely due to the safe, proven and reversible fertility control program.

Nine mares who had recent foals were treated in 2023.

The report did not indicate the pesticide of choice, but it is probably PZP.

Shackleford Banks is at the southern end of the Cape Lookout National Seashore.

RELATED: Shackleford Herd Grew Slightly in 2022.

The incident started on January 22.  Results through March 2:

• Scope: McCullough Peaks HMA
• Target: Horses
• Method: Bait
• Type: Planned
• Goals: Gather 80, remove 35
• Captured: 52, up from 48 on Day 37
• Shipped: 14, up from 9 on Day 37
• Released: 37, up from 35 on Day 37
• Deaths: 1, no change from Day 37
• Average daily take: 1.3
• Unaccounted-for animals: None

The figures above are based on the daily reports.

The Day 41 report said two more horses were removed, bringing the total to 15.

To check this value, subtract the horses released from the horses captured:

Removed = Captured – Released = 52 – 37 = 15

The roundup continues to have a high churn rate.  The capture-to-remove ratio is 3.5:1, compared to a target of 2.3:1.

Some animals may have been caught more than once.

The death rate is 1.9%.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.

• Forage liberated to date: 180 AUMs per year
• Water liberated to date: 150 gallons per day

The National Data Viewer shows habitat loss and overlapping allotments.  Click on map to open in new tab.

An estimated 535 wild horses have been displaced from their lawful home by permitted grazing, making the True AML almost five times higher than the current AML.

The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.

RELATED: McCullough Roundup, Day 37.