The news release indicates the BLM conveyed 929 public acres to the Washington County Water Conservancy District in exchange for 89 private acres designated as critical habitat for the Mojave desert tortoise.
Figure 3.4 in the Final EA shows the arrangement. The BLM parcel has a purple border and the private parcel is red.
Four allotments were affected by the project but the smallest was hit the hardest.
Table 3.3 in the Final EA gives the acreage and active AUMs.
Warner Valley, consisting of 834 public acres, will lose 700 acres and 119 of 124 active AUMs according to section 3.5.5.1.
It’s not clear what will happen to the Warner remnant.
The EA did not consider the loss in value of the base property tied to the allotment due to a near total loss of grazing preference.
The allotment master report puts Warner Valley in the Custodial category, condition unknown.
Before the exchange, the allotment supported livestock equivalent to 12.4 wild horses per thousand public acres.
Your faithful public servants claim that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres.
► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.
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