Author: Western Horse Watchers

The Charade Is Climate Change

It’s a naturally occurring process that is not affected by human activity, despite claims to the contrary by the writers of this column in the Sierra Nevada Ally.

We don’t want livestock off the public lands because they emit carbon, we want them removed because they displace wild horses and burros.

Confine the ranchers to their base properties and let them pay market rates to feed their animals.  Impact on carbon emissions?  None.

Stick with rangeland degradation, which is a repeated and repeatable pattern, but avoid carbon-induced climate change, which is unproven.

Countdown to 50 | 9 Days to Go

The natural ecological balance of the original WHB Act referred to wildlife that inhabit public lands, particularly endangered species.  There was no provision for livestock.

Today we recognize the legislative achievements of the cattlemen.

Their desire for unfettered access to cheap feed on America’s public lands drove many of the changes to the statute, including the introduction of AMLs, which shifted most of the resources in areas identified for wild horses to privately owned livestock.

RELATED: Countdown to 50 | 10 Days to Go.

Thriving Ecological Balance-3

Fox-Lake Range Wild Horse Roundup Announced

The incident will begin on or about December 10, according to a news release dated December 3.

Helicopters will push the horses into the traps and the operation will be open to public observation.

The capture goal is 88 and the removal goal is 20.  Mares returned to the range will be treated GonaCon, a contraceptive that may actually function as a sterilant.

The current population is thought to be around 154.

The HMA, part of the Smoke Creek Complex, covers 177,724 public and private acres in northwestern Nevada and has an AML of 204, as shown in Table 1 of the 2017 Final EA for resource enforcement actions therein.

The stocking rate allowed by plan is 1.1 wild horses per thousand acres, in line with the target rate of one wild horse per thousand acres across all HMAs.

Like Challis, the herd has not reached AML, yet a roundup is needed to prevent “undue or unnecessary degradation of the public lands.”  Removing wild horses, not privately owned livestock, will help achieve standards for rangeland health.

Fox-Lake Range HMA Map 12-05-21

The HMA lies within the Rodeo Creek and Pole Canyon allotments, according to the Western Watersheds map.  The allotment map furnished with other NEPA documents shows the Complex boundary but not the HMA boundaries.

Refer to Section 3.9 in the EA for a discussion of livestock grazing in the Complex.

The land-use plan assigned zero AUMs per year to wild horses and 540 AUMs per year to livestock in Pole Canyon, with 2,448 AUMs per year assigned to wild horses and 5,540 AUMs per year to livestock in Rodeo Creek.

The AUMs available for grazing may have changed since the EA was published but the current values can be accessed at RAS.  Roughly 10% of the Rodeo Creek AUMs are outside the HMA.

Captured animals will be taken to the off-range corrals at Palomino Valley.

Gather stats and daily reports will be posted to this page.

Countdown to 50 | 10 Days to Go

The current statute bears little resemblance to the original and no longer affords the protections sought by Velma.

Today we recognize the important work of the advocates.

Next to the federal government, nobody’s getting rid of more wild horses than they are.

Like the helicopter pilots and wranglers, the advocates stop the horses from reclaiming their food, ensuring that ranchers receive most of the resources in areas set aside for wild horses, as specified by the bureaucrats in the land-use plans.

Advocates are the Predators 11-30-21

Rock Springs Roundup Day 58

The incident began on October 7.  Gather stats through December 3:

  • Type: Planned
  • Method: Helicopter
  • Horses captured: 2,940, up from 2,727 on Day 56
  • Average daily take: 50.7
  • Capture goal: 4,400
  • Removal goal: 3,500
  • Returned: 46, no change from Day 56
  • Deaths: 15, no change from Day 56
  • Shipped: 2,708, up from 2,495 on Day 56

The death rate is 0.5%.

The cumulative total includes 1,149 stallions, 1,193 mares and 598 foals.  The gather page shows 1,319 stallions.

1,319 + 1,193 + 598 = 3,110

Foals represented 20.3% of the horses captured.  Of the adults, 49.1% were male and 50.9% were female.

Body condition scores were not reported.

Gather activity continued at Salt Wells Creek and Adobe Town.  Five HMAs are involved in the roundup.

Rock Springs HMAs 10-13-21

Day 58 ended with 171 unaccounted-for animals.  The total number of horses removed is 2,940 – 46 = 2,894, which includes these animals.

Other statistics:

  • AML: 2,165 (across five HMAs)
  • Forage assigned to horses: 25,980 AUMs per year
  • Pre-gather population: 5,105
  • Forage liberated to date: 34,728 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 28,940 gallons per day
  • Forage assigned to livestock: 191,791 AUMs per year (estimated)
  • Horses displaced from HMAs by livestock: 15,982 (32% of off-range holding)
  • True AML: 18,147

RELATED: Rock Springs Roundup Day 56.

Rock Springs Roundup Day 56

The incident began on October 7.  Gather stats through December 1:

  • Type: Planned
  • Method: Helicopter
  • Horses captured: 2,727, up from 2,478 on Day 54
  • Average daily take: 48.7
  • Capture goal: 4,400
  • Removal goal: 3,500
  • Returned: 46, no change from Day 54
  • Deaths: 15, up from 12 on Day 54
  • Shipped: 2,495, up from 2,270 on Day 54

A stallion suffered a broken leg and a mare suffered a ruptured uterus on Day 55 as a result of the roundup.  A stallion was euthanized on Day 56 due to a pre-existing leg injury.  The death rate is now 0.6%.

The cumulative total includes 1,066 stallions, 1,106 mares and 555 foals.  The gather page shows 1,236 stallions.

1,236 + 1,106 + 555 = 2,897

Foals represented 20.4% of the horses captured.  Of the adults, 49.1% were male and 50.9% were female.

Body condition scores were not reported.

Gather activity continued at Salt Wells Creek and Adobe Town.  Five HMAs are involved in the roundup.

Rock Springs HMAs 10-13-21

Day 56 ended with 171 unaccounted-for animals.  The total number of horses removed is 2,727 – 46 = 2,681, which includes these animals.

Other statistics:

  • AML: 2,165 (across five HMAs)
  • Forage assigned to horses: 25,980 AUMs per year
  • Pre-gather population: 5,105
  • Forage liberated to date: 32,172 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 26,810 gallons per day
  • Forage assigned to livestock: 191,791 AUMs per year (estimated)
  • Horses displaced from HMAs by livestock: 15,982 (32% of off-range holding)
  • True AML: 18,147

RELATED: Rock Springs Roundup Day 54.

Rock Springs Gather Deaths in the News

The loss of two mares on Day 53 is discussed in this article by Cowboy State Daily but that’s not the story.

The writer sourced some of the information from the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, architects of the industrial-scale darting program on the Virginia Range that’s equivalent to a roundup of 500 to 1,000 wild horses every year.

The way to avoid gather-related injuries and deaths is to end wild horse reproduction, not public-lands ranching, which is the cause of the removals.

Many of the advocates concur with that approach.  Some send mixed messages.

Note that the author repeated the government’s figures without checking the math: “As of Sunday, BLM officials have gathered 2,478 horses (1,044 stallions, 1,001 mares and 503 foals), with the goal of rounding up 3,500 by the end of the year, if not sooner.”

Rock Springs Roundup Day 54

The incident began on October 7.  Gather stats through November 29:

  • Type: Planned
  • Method: Helicopter
  • Horses captured: 2,478, up from 2,262 on Day 52
  • Average daily take: 45.9
  • Capture goal: 4,400
  • Removal goal: 3,500
  • Returned: 46, no change from Day 52
  • Deaths: 12, up from 9 on Day 52
  • Shipped: 2,270, up from 2,096 on Day 52

Two mares ran into panels and broke their necks on Day 53.  A horse was euthanized on Day 54 due to a leg injury.  The death rate is 0.5%.

The cumulative total includes 974 stallions, 1,001 mares and 503 foals.  The gather page shows 1,044 stallions.

1,044 + 1,001 + 503 = 2,548

Foals represented 20.3% of the horses captured.  Of the adults, 49.3% were male and 50.7% were female.

Body condition scores were not reported.

Gather activity continued at Salt Wells Creek and Adobe Town.  Five HMAs are involved in the roundup.

Rock Springs HMAs 10-13-21

Day 54 ended with 150 unaccounted-for animals.  The total number of horses removed is 2,478 – 46 = 2,432, which includes these animals.

Other statistics:

  • AML: 2,165 (across five HMAs)
  • Forage assigned to horses: 25,980 AUMs per year
  • Pre-gather population: 5,105
  • Forage liberated to date: 29,184 AUMs per year
  • Water liberated to date: 24,320 gallons per day
  • Forage assigned to livestock: 191,791 AUMs per year (estimated)
  • Horses displaced from HMAs by livestock: 15,982 (32% of off-range holding)
  • True AML: 18,147

RELATED: Rock Springs Roundup Day 52.