HMAs don’t have base properties but the overlapping allotments do.
Smith Creek Ranch covers 2,778 deeded acres near Austin, NV according to the listing on Land & Farm.
The map at the agent’s listing shows grazing preference on the Carson, Edwards Creek and Porter Canyon allotments.
Edwards Creek and Porter Canyon overlap the Desatoya HMA according to the National Data Viewer.
The agent’s remark about strictly maintained horse management suggests that buyers of these properties consider the herds to be liabilities not assets.
The Allotment Master Report puts all three in the Improve category.
Together they offer 10,733 AUMs per year on 183,970 public acres, or 58.3 AUMs per year per thousand public acres, enough to support 4.9 wild horses per thousand public acres.
Believers of the overpopulation narrative think public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).
The livestock type is cattle and all three allotments have 12-month grazing seasons according to the Authorization Use Report.
Thus, if a buyer wanted to convert the preference to horses, there’d be no change to the AUMs and grazing seasons, only the livestock type.
The authorized forage would support up to 894 wild horses.
RELATED: When Are Sanctuaries Helpful to Wild Horses?
Western Horse Watchers Association 