An unspecified number of wild horses will be removed from three HMAs in southeast Oregon, starting on September 8, due to inadequate food and water.

Helicopters will push the horses into the traps, according to the news release, and the incident will be open to public observation.

Around 100 horses will be returned to the area when conditions improve.

The pre-gather population is thought to be around 2,500.

The three HMAs cover approximately 956,000 acres and the 892 horses allowed by plan receive 10,704 AUMs per year.  The stocking rate allowed by plan is 0.9 wild horses per thousand acres, slightly less than the target rate of one wild horse per thousand acres across all HMAs.

The HMAs intersect seven grazing allotments, discussed in these ‘Short End of Stick’ reports: Coyote Lake, Sheepshead, Sand Springs.  Privately owned livestock receive an estimated 27,011 AUMs per year in the Complex, sometimes referred to as public lands set aside for wild horses.

Captured animals will be taken to the off-range corrals Bruneau, ID and Palomino Valley, NV.

Gather stats and daily reports will be posted to this page, which indicates a removal goal of up to 1,900.

The announcement said many of the horses are emaciated and dehydrated but will they disclose the body condition scores when the operation begins?

The forage assigned to livestock would support an additional 2,251 wild horses, for a True AML of 3,143, the number of animals the area could sustain if it was managed principally for wild horses.

RELATED: Barren Valley Gather EA Comes and Goes, No News Release.

The incident started on August 30 and ended on August 31, with 253 horses captured, 252 shipped and one death, according to the figures at the gather page.  The removal goal was 220.

No activity had been reported earlier today.

Foals accounted for 21.7% of the horses gathered.  Of the adults, 48% were males and 52% were females.

The operation, which separated the horses from 3,036 AUMs per year of their food, concluded with no unaccounted-for animals.

RELATED: Palomino Buttes Emergency Roundup Starts Next Week.

His letter to the DOI and BLM requested an immediate six-month moratorium on roundups, according to a report posted today by Craig Press.

But a story by AP News said the request was ignored and the incident will go on as planned, noting that grazing permittees in the HMA have “reduced their activity because of drought and overgrazing by mustangs.”

RELATED: Sand Wash Roundup Announced.

This map from InciWeb shows the location of the fire relative to South Lake Tahoe and the Nevada state line.  Spread has mostly been to the east and northeast.

A story by Carson Now says a Type 1 incident command is headed to the area.

The Tamarack Fire, still burning, is 82% contained.

The Pine Nut Mountains HA, which includes the HMA, is off the map, just a few miles east of Minden, NV.

RELATED: Caldor Fire Closing in on Tahoe.

Snapshot of activity to date:

West Douglas HA

• Start date – July 26
• Status – Complete

Paisley Desert HMA

• Start date – August 1
• Status – No announcement

Antelope Complex

• Start date – August 2
• Status – Complete

Conger HMA

• Start date – August 11
• Status – Complete

Flanigan HMA

• Start date – August 12
• Status – No activity reported

Stone Cabin HMA

• Start date – August 15
• Status – No activity reported

Stinkingwater HMA

• Start date – August 15
• Status – Complete

Palomino Buttes HMA

• Start date – August 30
• Status – No activity reported

Sand Wash Basin HMA

• Start date – September 1
• Status – Pending, no activity reported

Barren Valley Complex

• Start date – September 8
• Status – No announcement

A planned roundup at Beatys Butte HMA was set to begin on August 1 but no activity has been reported.

The Owhyee Complex is on the schedule for a planned roundup beginning on September 1 but there has been no announcement.

A planned roundup is on the list for the Surprise Complex starting on September 27 but it has not been announced.

RELATED: Drought: Pretext for Massive Wild Horse Removals?

There are no wild horse areas in its path, unless it crosses the Nevada state line like the Tamarack Fire, but this thing has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past few days and now threatens a huge resort area, and all its investment, in South Lake Tahoe.

Where’s Pat Seekins and his Rocky Mountain Type 1 Team when you need them?

The Pine Nut Mountains wild horses and Virginia Range mustangs are likely in the fallout zone from the fire.

The incident ended today with 2,203 horses captured, 11 deaths and 2,192 shipped, according to the cumulative totals at the gather page.  The numbers balance, so there are no unaccounted-for animals.

The figures in the daily reports yield 2,202 horses captured, 11 deaths and 2,186 shipped, leaving five unaccounted-for animals.

RELATED: Antelope Complex Emergency Roundup Starts This Weekend.

UPDATE: A BLM news release dated August 31 said 2,192 horses removed, which is not consistent with the data at the gather page.

The incident began on August 2.  Gather stats through August 29:

• Type: Emergency
• Horses captured: 2,202, up from 1,940 on Day 26
• Average take: 78.6 horses per day
• Capture goal: 2,200
• Removal goal: 2,200
• Returned: 0
• Deaths: 11, up from 10 on Day 26
• Shipped: 2,091, up from 1,809 on Day 26

The roundup goal has been reached.

A stallion was put down on Day 28 due to injuries sustained in the gather.  The death rate is 0.5%.

Foals accounted for 16.7% of the horses gathered.  Of the adults, 42.3% were male and 57.7% were female.

Body condition scores were not reported.

The location of gather operations has not been specified.  Four HMAs are involved.

Day 28 ended with 100 unaccounted-for animals.  Field work will likely conclude in another day or two.

To date, 776 stallions and 1,058 mares have been captured, which may or may not reflect the distribution of males and females in the Complex.

Other statistics:

• AML: 789 (across four HMAs)
• Forage assigned to horses: 9,468 AUMs per year
• Pre-gather population: 6,032 plus foals
• Forage liberated to date: 26,424 AUMs per year
• Water liberated to date: 22,020 gallons per day
• Forage assigned to livestock: 72,946 AUMs per year (estimated)
• Horses displaced from HMAs by livestock: 6,079 (12% of off-range holding)
• True AML: 6,868

Theme for this year’s roundup: You can have your wild horse and burro program as long as it doesn’t interfere with the grazing program.

RELATED: Antelope Roundup Day 26.

Table 7 in the Draft EA for resource enforcement actions identifies six grazing allotments that intersect the HMA.

Although the project was sponsored by the Black Rock Field Office, three of them are administered by the Humboldt River Field Office, so you have to run the Allotment Master report in RAS twice [Part 1, Part 2].

How do you find other field offices?  Look on a BLM Nevada map for the Winnemucca District, which was cited in the EA.

Most of the data were sourced from the AM reports, except the percentages inside the HMA, which were given in Table 7.

Three of the allotments are in the Improve category, along with 79% of the public acres.

Forage production in the allotments averages 37.7 AUMs per thousand acres per year, compared to 9.8 AUMs per thousand acres per year for wild horses inside the HMA, suggesting that the land could support more than the 217 horses allowed by plan.

The forage assigned to livestock inside the HMA, 7,394 AUMs per year, is 2.8 times higher than the forage assigned to horses, establishing the HMA as one of the milder cases of wild horse mismanagement.

Ratios of four to eight are often encountered, telling you that the HMAs are not managed principally for wild horses, as specified in the statute.

The calculated allotment area falling inside the HMA, 274,555 acres, is slightly larger than the 264,974 acres assigned to the HMA in Table 1 of the EA.

RELATED: Draft EA for Jackson Mountains Gather Plan Out for Review.

At Sand Wash Basin HMA with Dawn Morrow.

Helicopters will be flying in a few days but the advocates have already done some of the heavy lifting.

The news release dated August 26 by Return to Freedom indicates that hundreds of wild horses have been eliminated “with safe, proven and humane fertility control.”

The announcement says nothing about livestock grazing in the HMA and the large amount of forage assigned thereto.  Why aren’t they telling you about that?

Why aren’t they standing up to the ranchers and their allies in government?

The government will permanently remove 82% of the horses in the area, due to a temporary change in the weather, but a recent video suggests the narrative is false.

With the horses gone, what do you suppose will return to normal as quickly as possible?

RELATED: Return to Freedom Backpedals on Sand Wash Roundup?

The festival would normally be kicking off this weekend in the Black Rock Desert northeast of Gerlach, NV, surrounded by wild horses.

The BLM issued temporary restrictions for the area on August 18, effective through October 31.

RELATED: Burning Man Scrubbed.

A preliminary environmental assessment for resource enforcement actions in the Jackson Mountains HMA was released yesterday for public comment.  The EA was posted with other project documents in ePlanning.

The Proposed Action features gathers to low end of AML, fertility control, IUDs, sex ratio skewing and sterilization of mares, according to Section 2.2.

The plan will be effective for ten years.

The HMA covers 264,974 acres in northern Nevada and the 217 horses allowed by plan receive 2,604 AUMs per year.  The stocking rate allowed by plan is 0.8 wild horses per thousand acres.

The population as of July was thought to be 1,018 per Table 1.

Table 7 shows six grazing allotments that overlap the HMA, along with the percentages falling within.

Comments can be submitted in writing or by email through September 26.

The incident began on August 2.  Gather stats through August 27:

• Horses captured: 1,940, up from 1,718 on Day 24
• Average take: 74.6 horses per day
• Capture goal: 2,200
• Removal goal: 2,200
• Returned: 0
• Deaths: 10, up from 9 on Day 24
• Shipped: 1,809, up from 1,558 on Day 24

A stallion was lost on Day 25 due to injuries sustained in the gather.  The death rate is now 0.5%.

Foals accounted for 17.0% of the horses gathered.  Of the adults, 42.8% were male and 57.2% were female.

Body condition scores were not reported.

The location of gather operations has not been specified.  Four HMAs are involved.

Day 26 ended with 121 unaccounted-for animals.

To date, 690 stallions and 921 mares have been captured, which may or may not reflect the distribution of males and females in the Complex.

Other statistics:

• AML: 789 (across four HMAs)
• Forage assigned to horses: 9,468 AUMs per year
• Pre-gather population: 6,032 plus foals
• Forage liberated to date: 23,280 AUMs per year
• Water liberated to date: 19,400 gallons per day
• Forage assigned to livestock: 72,946 AUMs per year (estimated)
• Horses displaced from HMAs by livestock: 6,079 (12% of off-range holding)
• True AML: 6,868

RELATED: Antelope Roundup Day 24.

He was freed by the advocates and walked away, but later collapsed, according to a story posted this morning by WRAL News of Raleigh, NC.

No longer able to stand, the advocates somehow got him into a trailer and took him to their rescue, where he was put down after treatment.

The case follows another from last month where a mare survived for a year with a leg injury, but was lost after the advocates got involved.

Meanwhile, they’re pumping the mares full of PZP, despite these deaths, and the threat of large-scale losses from hurricanes, as happened to the Cedar Island herd in 2019.