Virginia Range Real Estate Prices Still Going Bonkers

Here are two listings that recently appeared on Zillow:

Castle Peak Rd, 3,296 sq ft, 16.7 ac, grid connected, has horse setup, $1.25 million
Goldfield Rd, 4,363 sq ft, 16.4 ac, grid connected, no horse setup, $1.65 million

There is no Prop 13 in Nevada and assessed values can climb rapidly in seller’s markets.

On the bright side, as a land owner, you can tell the advocates that your property is off limits to their darting efforts.

Even if you don’t have property on the Virginia Range, you can still help the horses by not giving money to the advocates.

Listings for the area on Redfin, filtered for 10 acre lots minimum, can viewed here.

Shackleford Stallions Jostle for Territory, Dominance

The behaviors described in this story by AP News are normal.

The question you should be asking is will their attempts to breed do any good?

Move Over Cattoor, Advocates Want Larger Share of Market

The wild horse removal business is getting crowded.

The Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses is hiring, more volunteers are making the pilgrimage to Billings and every mare has a target on her.

Wild Horses Through the Eyes of the Advocates 01-19-22

The new pest control program for the Three Fingers and Jackies Butte HMAs, with its mandate for intensive fertility control, will be cheered by the advocates, who will not only embrace it but offer to apply it, assuring that most of the resources in the area go to the public-lands ranchers.

Status of American Prairie Grazing Decision

A BLM public affairs officer told Western Horse Watchers yesterday that a proposed grazing decision is subject to a 15-day protest period, which, for American Prairie, is now in progress.

A 30-day appeal period begins when/if a final grazing decision is issued.

All protest letters received must be reviewed to determine if they meet the standards of federal grazing regulations.

The PAO did not indicate if any such letters had been received.

The protest period for a proposed grazing decision is not an open comment period for the general public. Certified letters are sent to qualified parties, as defined by federal grazing regulations. The BLM can accept protest documents for consideration and any protest filed should document the reason(s) why the proposed decision is in error.

The PAO said the final grazing decision would be posted to the project website and would be accompanied by another news release.

Draft EA for Three Fingers and Jackies Butte Out for Review

The announcement appeared in the classifieds of the Argus Observer, not the BLM news site.

The project folder contains the EA only. No maps, notices or appendices were posted.

The Proposed Action, discussed in Section 2.2.1 of the EA, includes wild horse removals and intensive fertility control over a ten-year period. Treatment options include PZP, PZP-22 and GonaCon Equine.

The Three Fingers HMA covers 62,508 public acres in Malheur County, OR and the 150 horses allowed by plan require 1,800 AUMs per year. The target stocking rate is 2.4 wild horses per thousand acres.

The Jackies Butte HMA covers 65,211 public acres in Malheur County with the same AML and stocking rate. (Click on image to open in new tab.)

Both HMAs are subject to permitted grazing according to Section 3.2.2 of the EA.

Three Fingers lies within the Riverside pasture of the Three Fingers Allotment and the Wildhorse Basin pasture of the Board Corrals Allotment. Livestock inside the HMA receive about 5,000 AUMs per year based on data in Table 5.

Jackies Butte coincides with the Dry Creek Native pasture of the Jackies Butte Summer Allotment. Livestock inside the HMA receive around 4,000 AUMs per year using figures in Table 6.

The population management plan would enforce these forage allocations, ensuring that livestock are the primary consumers of resources in both HMAs.

Comments can be submitted by email until May 9.

Foal-Free Friday, Watching the Herds Disappear

On the Virginia Range with Victor champion. The advocates care far more about their standing with the bureaucrats and ranchers than they do about the horses.

Any Challenges to American Prairie Grazing Decision?

An email inquiry sent to the BLM earlier today was not immediately answered.

The proposed decision, dated March 29, is subject to a 15-day appeal period.

Bold Prediction for Motorized Equipment Hearing

The advocates will argue that helicopters are cruel and inhumane and that the herds should be managed with PZP.

The cattlemen will claim that the HMAs are overpopulated and that the government should get rid of them with helicopters.

Protect Wild Horses from Advocates 08-29-21

There will be no voices for the horses and nothing good will come out of it because it’s focused on the wrong things.

The meeting, set for April 26, will be livestreamed.

Marietta Wild Burro Roundup in the Works?

A new project was created in ePlanning yesterday but no documents were posted and there are no opportunities for public comment at this time.

The WBR covers 66,045 acres and the 104 burros allowed by plan require 624 AUMs per year.

The equivalent stocking rate is 0.8 wild horses per thousand acres.

The area is managed principally for burros and is not subject to permitted grazing.

The first opportunity for public involvement will likely be in the scoping phase, which may or may not be announced at the BLM news site.

Drought and Wildfires Forcing Ranchers to Be Self-Sufficient?

They’re cutting herd sizes and looking for other pastures according to a story posted yesterday by Capital Press of Salem, OR.

Operating their businesses on their own land, while paying the going rate to feed their animals, apparently is not an option.

Congress directed the BLM and Forest Service to offer vacant allotments to permittees affected by drought or wildfire in the FY 2022 omnibus spending bill.

RELATED: Rising Price of Hay Explained.

Scoping Begins for Expansion of Yuma Proving Ground

The BLM seeks public input on the withdrawal of 22,000 acres in southwestern Arizona for a precision parachute buffer area, according to a yesterday’s news release.

The action would preclude the customary uses of public lands, including mining, mineral and geothermal leasing, subject to existing rights. Other uses, such as recreation and hunting, would be subject to rules specified by Congress, which will make the final decision.

A project has been opened in ePlanning but no documents have been posted.

A request for a map to the BLM PAO was not immediately answered.

The Cibola-Trigo HMA overlaps the western portion of the facility. The project map indicates the parcel is on the west side of Highway 95, adjacent to the HMA.

The impact on wild horses and burros is not known.

The news release said that two online meetings would be hosted jointly by the Army and BLM but dates were not provided.

Comments can be submitted by email until July 5.

Advocates Seek Roundup Delay in Wake of Strangles Outbreak

In yesterday’s article by Cowboy State Daily, the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses tried to link the incident at Wheatland to wild horse roundups in Wyoming.

The group wants the helicopters grounded not because they care about the horses but because they want a larger share of the horse removal business.

If the government said “OK, we’ll stop the roundups and get rid of them with PZP,” they’d be delighted, along with their army of volunteers.

Advocates are the Predators 11-30-21

Difference Between Helicopter Roundups and Darting Programs

In a helicopter roundup, you come back after four weeks and half of the horses are gone.

In a darting program, you come back after ten years and half of the horses are gone.

Darting programs are helicopter roundups in slow motion.

Visitors Remove Foal from Shackleford Banks

The horse became separated from its mom and followed the group for several hours, when it was taken aboard their boat and removed from its habitat, according to a report posted today by The Outer Banks Voice.

The visitors were cited for their actions, presumably by the Park Service.

There are no roads connecting the island to the mainland.

Strangles Kills Five Horses at Wheatland Off-Range Corrals

A BLM spokesman acknowledged the loss in an article posted this morning by Cowboy State Daily.

Mustang Monday

Horses have the day off. On the Black Mountain HMA with Aleta Ewing.

Status of Allotments in American Prairie Grazing Decision

The Allotment Master Report provides acreage, active AUMs and management status for the seven allotments involved in the project.

The decision was announced last week in a BLM news release.

The figures in the report differ slightly from those in Table I of the Final EA.

American Prairie Allotment Calcs 04-03-22

Garey Coulee, French Coulee, Whiterock Coulee and Flat Creek will flip to bison if the decision is not overturned. East Dry Fork will remain approved for cattle.

Five of the allotments are in the Improve category, including the two already approved for bison, representing 95.6% of the public acres.

Forage production on the seven allotments averages 128.2 AUMs per year per thousand acres, enough to support ten wild horses per thousand acres, as noted previously.

The allotments are found in four units managed by American Prairie: White Rock, Dry Fork, Sun Prairie and Sun Prairie North.

Dark blue corresponds to the base properties and light blue represents public lands with grazing privileges tied thereto.

The advocates travel to Billings to learn how to get rid of wild horses.

By going a little farther to the north, you can learn how to preserve them.

American Prairie Decision Offers New Way to Save Wild Horses?

The nonprofit obtained grazing privileges on BLM allotments by acquiring private lands, known as base properties, tied to the allotments. Then it petitioned the agency to change the type of livestock and seasons of use on those allotments.

The process was documented in the NEPA project.

How do you acquire a base property? Good question.

Western Horse Watchers surveys Nevada real estate listings from time to time, looking for properties with BLM grazing rights.

None found to date.

The transactions may occur in an inconspicuous manner to make sure the properties don’t fall into the wrong hands. That would be anyone not in the ranching clique.

But the concept has been identified: Purchase a base property and ask to BLM (or Forest Service) to change the permit, citing the American Prairie decision.

The government may argue that bison are indigenous and horses are not.

Horses appear in the North American fossil record while cattle and sheep do not, yet they dominate western rangelands.

The precedent for non-native animals is well established.

What if you don’t have millions of dollars to purchase a base property then wait five years to see if the bureaucrats approve your request?

You can still help wild wild horses by

Not giving money to the advocates
Cutting them off
Leaving them out of your end-of-life plans

Those steps won’t cost you a nickel.

Yes to American Prairie, No to Mustang Monument

If the decision is not overruled, American Prairie will be able to graze bison on four BLM allotments currently permitted for cattle. Two of the seven allotments covered by the project are already designated for bison. One is permitted for cattle and will remain that way.

The nonprofit obtained grazing preference through the purchase or acquisition of private lands serving as base properties for the allotments.

In a similar manner, Madeleine Pickens, founder of Mustang Monument, purchased base properties tied to the Spruce and Valley Mountain allotments in eastern Nevada.

The plan was to take 30,000 wild horses out of government pens and put them on the allotments, initially with the concurrence and support of the BLM.

The agency later reneged, as explained in this story by KLAS News of Las Vegas, bowing to pressure from the public-lands ranchers.

The status of the NEPA project that assessed the environmental impacts of the proposed sanctuary is not known, or if one even exists.

The advocates probably won’t see any opportunities for the Montana Solution in the decision favoring American Prairie, which could provide a basis for redress of the BLM’s conduct at Mustang Monument, so don’t be surprised if they ignore it.