The allotment covers 81,960 public acres but there is only one pasture so it may operate as a general use area shared by two permittees, with cattle and sheep moving across the land as specified in the AMR.
The actual arrangement is unknown.
If free-roaming horses replaced cattle, the other permittee would still be entitled to graze sheep.
The advocates may never make such a request as they have been working for years to cement their relationship with the bureaucrats and ranchers.
The base property tied to 1,471 AUMs in the allotment consisted of a 40-acre parcel but the preference was transferred to another parcel inside a 944-acre tract before it was purchased by the advocates.
Thus, the land ratio is very good. Up to 81,960 public acres can be accessed through the acquisition of 944 deeded acres.
Unfortunately, the allotment overlaps the Pine Nut Mountains HA, an area that could be returned to the horses not by spending millions of dollars on a base property but by purging the bureaucracy of ranchers and ranching sympathizers and overturning the planning process that zeroed it out.
A refuge should increase territory for wild horses while decreasing lands occupied by livestock.
In summary, the allotment satisfies two of four requirements for a refuge:
If the project moves ahead and the cattlemen are howling, along with their cheerleaders, it might be worthy of your support.
RELATED: Buckeye Grazing Preference Transfers to CAAWH.
Western Horse Watchers Association 