Month: April 2025

Overpopulation and AMLs

AMLs are often expressed as a range, such as 120 – 200.

In this example, horse #121 is excess, the beginning of overpopulation according to current management practices.

The high end of the range usually corresponds to around 20% of the authorized forage.

The management plan allows 200 wild horses and livestock equivalent to 800 horses.

If the current population is less than 5X AML, the HMA is not overpopulated from a resource viewpoint, but the ranchers won’t be able to access all of the AUMs on their permits until corrective actions are taken.

The AML range usually allows for a doubling of herd size between those actions.

A narrow range means little if any growth.

The new AML at Pryor Mountain, 107 – 120, implies heavy use of fertility control pesticides and sterilization of mares, synonymous with conservation in advocacy circles.

RELATED: BLM Releases Pryor Mountain Final Planning Documents.

Foal-Free Friday, Uproar and Outrage Edition

There is much distress among the advocates at the prospects of losing 3,700 wild horses in three HMAs in Wyoming, yet there is nary a concern about the fate of wild horses at the Salt River and Virginia Range.

There, the advocates are wiping out herds of approximately 300 and 3,400, respectively, by sterilizing the mares.

Why is the former considered eradication while the latter passes for conservation?

RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Cycle of Dependency Edition.

Scoping Begins for Lincoln County Public Lands Sale

The project covers the sale of approximately 5,500 acres in 66 parcels according to the BLM news release.

Some are the Caliente Complex.

The scoping report includes eight maps showing their locations.

To find them in the ArcGIS viewer, turn on the PLSS layer and zoom/drag the map to the township-range blocks indicated in the report.

To identify the overlapping herd areas and allotments, turn on those layers.

Map 1 of 8

  • No parcels in herd areas

Map 2 of 8

  • In Little Mountain HA
    • Rnd 9, Caliente C, Sec 27, 40 acres
    • Rnd 10, Caliente B, Sec 27, 40 acres
    • Rnd 10, Caliente A, Sec 27, 40 acres
    • Rnd 9, Caliente D, Sec 27, 40 acres
  • In Clover Creek HA
    • Rnd 6, Caliente A, Sec 08, 80 acres
    • Rnd 6, Caliente B, Sec 17, 160 acres
    • Rnd 5, Caliente A, Sec 14, 640 acres

Map 3 of 8

  • No parcels in herd areas

Map 4 of 8

  • No parcels in herd areas

Map 5 of 8

  • In Fortification HA
    • Rnd 10, Mount Wilson B, Sec 34, 20 acres
    • Rnd 10, Mount Wilson A, Sec 34, 20 acres
    • Rnd 5, Mount Wilson A, Sec 34, 40 acres
    • Rnd 5, Mount Wilson B, Sec 34, 40 acres

Map 6 of 8

  • In Little Mountain HA
    • Rnd 5, Panaca A, Sec 16, 40 acres
    • Rnd 5, Panaca B, Sec 16, 40 acres
    • Rnd 5, Panaca C, Sec 20, 40 acres
    • Rnd 6 Panaca A, Sec 19, 40 acres

Map 7 of 8

  • No parcels in herd areas

Map 8 of 8

  • No parcels in herd areas

The following image shows the 640-acre parcel in map 2 of 8, east of Caliente NV.

The project description does not say how the land would be offered for sale or when.

Trump Nominates Sgamma to Lead BLM

She currently serves as president of the Western Energy Alliance according to a report by AP News.

Western Horse Watchers was unable to find a statement opposing wild horses at the WEA public lands page.

You’ll have to go the American Farm Bureau Federation or Public Lands Council for that.

The advocates would have you believe that drilling and mining are the greatest threats to these animals, as permitted grazing devours entire HMAs and beyond.

We Want Whats Best for the Ranchers 04-01-25

As of today, the BLM org chart shows the director’s position as vacant.

RELATED: Shultz to Head Forest Service.

Leadership Harder to Find at Salt River Than Foals!

One of the objectives in the Land Management Plan for the Tonto National Forest is to evaluate at least one vacant allotment every two years to (1) convert it to forage reserves, (2) grant it to a current or new permittee or (3) close it to permitted grazing.

The 2018 report on forage availability states in Appendix 5 that the Goldfield, Bartlett, St. Clair and Sunflower allotments are most similar in vegetation, soil, and topography to the Salt River horse zone.

The ArcGIS viewer indicates that Bartlett and St. Clair are vacant.

Appendix 5 also indicates that the two allotments offered a combined 7,404 AUMs on 116,430 acres, equivalent to 617 wild horses, or 5.3 wild horses per thousand acres.

Your faithful public servants claim the rangelands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres.

If the advocates had a base property that met Forest Service requirements, they could ask the agency to attach it to one or both of the allotments, securing grazing preference thereon.

The livestock type would be horses and the season of use would be 12 months.

This would probably require a NEPA review, which could span several years, complete with blowback from ranching interests.

But it would be better for the horses compared to their current situation, crammed into a 20,000-acre habitat with the number of viable mares decreasing every year.

RELATED: Leadership Needed at Salt River.

More Options for Salt River Horses 03-18-25