Black Mountain Roundup Over

The operation concluded on March 25, according to a statement at the gather page, with 106 burros captured, 106 shipped and no deaths.

The capture and removal goals were 80 each.

The cumulative total included 58 jacks, 38 jennies and 10 foals.

Youngsters represented 9.4% of the total. Of the adults, 60.4% were male and 39.6% were female.

The number of unaccounted-for animals was zero.

The location of the trap site within the HMA was not specified.

Black Mountain HMA Map 02-25-22

Pancake Coalition Continues Legal Battle

Another briefing was filed in federal court yesterday by Animal Wellness Action, CANA Foundation and Wild Horse Education to demonstrate how a lack of management planning fails to protect wild horses from industrial encroachment, loss of genetic viability and even from harm during capture, according to a news release appearing today on EIN.

The group claims that the BLM moves directly to roundups while skipping the Herd Management Area Plans outlined in current policy (HMAPs), shirking any reasonable attempt to manage wild horses on the range.

Laura Leigh of Wild Horse Education said everything on the public lands has a site-specific plan for management that allows full participation by stakeholders except wild horses. The agency creates removal plans, not management plans.

How can you manage an area principally for wild horses, as specified in the original statute, with 98% of the resources to the horses and 2% reserved for wildlife, when the land-use plan assigns most of the resources to privately owned livestock?

And if you’re going to accept the current resource allocations and miniscule AMLs, why go to the trouble of writing HMAPs?

If you want to see the horses wild and free on their home range, and this does not mean subordination to ranching interests or gradual extermination by the Montana Solution, you have to focus on the land-use plans and the policies that affect them.

Plaintiffs in the case will be speaking at the Save Our Wild Horses Conference later this month.

The Sulphur HMA, which has an HMAP, is a disaster for the horses.

Rebooting the Flock

After spending four weeks in a galvanized tub with a heat lamp, these guys graduated to the halfway house last night, a small cage next to the main coop where they’ll spend another four weeks before being turned out with the veterans.

Temperatures dropped into the mid 40s but they survived.

Chicks have to be kept warm until they grow feathers, a process that takes around three weeks.

The cage has wire mesh on the sides but is lined with flakes of hay.

The flock has declined in recent years, mostly because of predation, and egg production is now just four or five per week.

A few years ago, chicks could be purchased for $3 apiece. These were $6 each at the beginning of March.

The price of hay has gone up because of wild horses, according to the Nevada Rangeland Resources Commission. Can we blame this on the horses too? Or should we be looking at the one-horse pony and his illicit administration?

Chicks Moved to Halfway House 04-01-22

Wyoming Is a Fence-Out State

The rule applies to cattle and bison, according to a brochure posted by the Wyoming Game & Fish Department, but not sheep.

The status of free-roaming horses was not discussed.

The brochure is based on “A Landowner’s Guide to Wildlife Friendly Fences,” written in 2008 for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. The 2012 edition, included in the Final EA for changes to grazing allotments requested by American Prairie, has many useful ideas for fence design and construction.

Montana is also a fence-out state, limited to cattle only. The guide is silent on the status of free-roaming horses.

The BLM requires sturdy six-foot fences to adopt wild horses, which are not considered in the brochures.

The permeability of pipe panel fences to wildlife depends on the height and number of rails per panel. They are an expensive option for large areas.

Wood is not recommended, except for support posts, which should be installed on the outside of the panels. A horse can break a 4×6 treated post.

From time to time predator poop is found in this corral, probably from coyotes.

RELATED: Is Wyoming a Fence-Out State?

UPDATE: The link to the brochure doesn’t work. Try this one.

Pipe Panel Fences 04-02-21

Drilling and Mining Move Over, New Threat to Wild Horses

The advocates have a keen ability to focus on the wrong things.

In this column by New York Lifestyles Magazine, Manda Kalimian, founder and CEO of the CANA Foundation, explains why climate change is the greatest threat to wild horses, not the BLM or public-lands ranchers.

She will be one of the speakers at the Save Our Wild Horses Conference later this month and is on record as a proponent of slaughter.

Also headlining the show are a trained PZP darter and a lobbyist for the PZP fanatics.

Foal-Free Friday, Dedicated to the Advocates

At the Salt River with Angela J Fellrath. Listen closely to the remarks at 0:30.

The surrogates for the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses will be at a crossroads in a few years: Do they back off and allow the mares to foal, which will make them miss their herd reduction target, or do they press on with the darting effort, rendering the mares sterile?

If they opt for the latter, they’ll be able to walk away and ruin another herd, maybe the ‘Jumping Mouse’ horses near Alpine.

PLC Has a Cow Over Montana Grazing Changes!

The Public Lands Council issued a news release today condemning a decision by the BLM to change the livestock type and grazing seasons on seven allotments near the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in the northern half of the state.

The project began with the acquisition of base properties by American Prairie that secured grazing preference on the allotments.

American Prairie then submitted a plan to the BLM to graze bison on those allotments.

Refer to Map 1-1 in Appendix A of the Final EA for the arrangement and Section 1.1 for an overview (pages 93 and 7 in the pdf).

The Allotment Master Report puts five of the allotments in the Improve category, one in Maintain and one in Custodial.

The Authorization Use Report shows five of the allotments permitted for cattle and two for indigenous animals.

The long-term effect of bison on rangeland health is not known.

The BLM news release said the allotments currently provide 7,969 AUMs across 63,500 public acres, or 125 AUMs per year per thousand acres.

That resource would support ten wild horses per thousand acres (125 ÷ 12).

The government has stated repeatedly that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).

The Virginia Range was carrying ten wild horses per thousand acres before the advocates got involved. Now they’re forcing the herd into the government box.

Additional Comments Sought for Pryor Management Plan Update

Comments submitted during the scoping period in 2020 need not be resubmitted, according to today’s news release, but an additional document regarding genetic diversity has been posted to the project folder for public review.

The goal is to improve herd genetics, but not at the expense of ecosystem sustainability and the available resources.

The Western Watersheds map shows the WHR is surrounded on three sides by grazing allotments, both Forest Service and BLM. Grazing does not occur inside the WHR.

The map does not show the portion of the WHR managed by the Forest Service.

Bringing in horses from other areas dilutes herd identity.

It’s a management trick that boosts genetic diversity while keeping herd sizes small, a nod to the public-lands ranchers.

In the future, you won’t be able to adopt a Pryor Mountains horse, only a horse captured in the Pryor Mountains WHR.

Rising Price of Hay Explained

The following video, produced for the Nevada Rangeland Resources Commission, offers two possibilities (4:42 to 6:39).

There are too many horses on the range – Ranchers are removing livestock from their allotments and feeding them on their own property, increasing demand
There are too many horses off the range – The government is removing them from the same allotments and feeding them in holding facilities, driving up demand

Can both be true?

The sad part is that the ranchers must operate their businesses on their own land and pay the going rate to feed their animals. Nobody in this country is expected to do that.

The price of hay in this area is now around $125 per AUM. This comes as a shock to the ranchers, who have been insulated from the realities of a free market, at least on the cost side, for decades.

World events and the ill-advised policies of the current administration have no effect.

Although probably not intended by its producers, the film shows how to fix the Wild Horse and Burro Program: Confine the ranchers to their base properties and let them pay market rates to feed their animals. No more gravy train, no more sucking on the government teat.

UPDATE: Video replaced by newer version.

Motorized Equipment Hearing in the News

This story by KLAS News of Las Vegas notes that the online meeting will consider the use of helicopters in the management of wild horses and burros, which Dina Titus and her supporters want to ban.

Roundups will still occur and resource allocations that strongly favor the public-lands ranchers will not be changed.

It’s a stupid idea which explains why the advocates like it.

H.R. 6635, the ‘Save a Horse, Hire a Cowboy’ Act, was introduced in Congress on February 7 and referred to the House Natural Resources Committee.

Litchfield Arsonist to Accept Plea Deal

The suspect, arrested in 2018 while traveling to Russia, is accused of conspiracy to commit arson, arson of a government building and possession of a destructive device in connection with the 2001 incident, among others.

Sentencing terms aren’t public, according to a story posted today by The Oregonian of Portland, OR.

TRNP Livestock Management Plan Revamp in the News

This report by AP News has been picked up by some outlets. Includes a link to a story by The Bismarck Tribune.

If you want to see the original wild horses of TRNP, visit the Nokota Horse Conservancy.

How to Estimate the Carrying Capacity of HMAs

The method has been demonstrated numerous times on these pages:

Identify the allotments that intersect the HMA
Determine the forage assigned to livestock inside the HMA
Convert that amount to wild horses
Add the result to the current AML

The third step yields the number of animals displaced from the HMA by permitted grazing—adopted, sold or shipped to long-term holding.

The final value is the True AML, the number of animals the area could support if it was managed principally for wild horses, as specified in the original statute.

Today’s news release by the BLM regarding the FY 2023 budget suggested that AMLs represent carrying capacities, which they do not, except for four HMAs where permitted grazing does not occur.

The advocates don’t want you looking at the numbers because the rationale for their darting programs would fall to the ground.

You don’t ask a poor man how to get rich and you don’t ask the advocates how to save wild horses.

Land Can Only Support 04-21-21

White House Seeks $153 Million for WHB Program in FY 2023

The expenditure would be part of a $1.6 billion budget for the BLM according to today’s news release.

The amount requested for the program next year exceeds the amount authorized this year by 11.7%.

The fiscal year begins on October 1.

The announcement said the current population of 86,000 animals is more than three times greater than the carrying capacity of BLM-managed lands, which is false.

The current population is three times more than allowed by plan.

Consider this metaphor: Wild horses can use one bedroom but they’re currently using three. It’s a six bedroom home but they didn’t tell you that part.

The other five bedrooms are reserved for privately owned livestock, the illegal aliens of America’s public lands.

Strangles Outbreak at Wheatland Off-Range Corrals

The facility has been closed until a veterinarian determines the animals are no longer showing signs of illness, according to a BLM news release.

It was one of the dropping-off points for horses captured in the Rock Springs roundup.

Mustang Monday

Back to Shannon County with Tim Layton.

WMI Reader Says ASNF ‘Jumping Mouse’ Horses Not Near Alpine

Is Dallas near Fort Worth?

The trap zone is closer to Alpine than Dallas to Fort Worth, by a factor of two, despite the statements in a column dated March 25.

The horses moved into the area, which includes habitat for the New Mexico Jumping Mouse, after the 2011 Wallow Fire, according to the report by ABC15 News of Phoenix.

Any Accountability to Public in ASNF Wild Horse Roundup?

A public affairs officer for the Forest Service described it as a law enforcement action, but will the agency release any information from the crime scene as the suspects are apprehended?

The capture and removal goals, for the initial phase of the project, are 20 and 20, and the pre-gather population is thought to be around 400.

Unknown at this time:

Number of animals captured
Breakdown by age and sex
Number of deaths
Number of animals shipped
Number of animals returned to forest
Forage assigned to livestock in the protected area

A closure notice still appears on the ASNF alerts page but Western Horse Watchers was unable to find any progress reports for the roundup.

Curiously, the Restricted Area (trap zone) does not appear on the ASNF closure map.

New Public Lands Foundation Actually ‘BLM Foundation’

The news release dated January 19 referred to the nonprofit as the Foundation for America’s Public Lands but the formal name is the Bureau of Land Management Foundation, according to §1748c of FLPMA.

Apparently, the idea did not win enough support in Congress to pass as a standalone bill, so it was attached to the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017, the same way the Wild Horse and Burro Task Force was established earlier this month.

Language in the 2017 spending bill was dropped into FLPMA as an amendment.

The Foundation was authorized to

Borrow money and issue bonds, debentures, or other debt instruments
Enter into contracts with public agencies, private organizations and persons
Carry out any activity necessary and proper to advance its purposes

As for conflicts of interest, members of the Board or officers or employees of the Foundation shall not participate in the consideration or determination of any question before the Foundation that affects the financial interests of the member, officer or employee, or the interests of any corporation, partnership, entity or organization in which the member, officer or employee is an officer, director or trustee, or has any direct or indirect financial interest.