Heber Objection Period Begins

The Forest Service copied the following documents to the project folder on August 29:

Final environmental assessment
Final territory management plan
Draft decision notice

Scroll down to the Project Summary, expand the Project Documents section and click on the AdminReview folder.

Only those who participated in the planning process are eligible to object.

The DN would authorize Alternative 2, the Proposed Action, discussed on page 18 of the EA (page 24 in the pdf) and beyond.

Horses currently occupy an area much larger than the 19,700-acre WHT so initial management actions will be directed at achieving AML within the designated space.

Active AUMs and acreages of surrounding allotments should be reviewed to determine if the proposed AML (104) and stocking rate (5.3 wild horses per thousand acres) are reasonable.

Surgical sterilization was dropped from the analysis.

Chemical sterilization, via PZP and GonaCon, is on the table.

Expanding the territory, increasing the AML and reducing livestock grazing didn’t make the cut.

The WHT lies within the Heber and Black Canyon Allotments. Figure 6 in the EA shows the overlapping pastures.