On the Virginia Range with Jeremy Cole.
Author: Western Horse Watchers
Example of ‘Principally But Not Necessarily Exclusively’
The Warm Springs HMA is managed primarily for livestock, as shown in the resource allocation quiz.
The current forage allocations are noted in a 2018 EA for resource enforcement actions in the HMA (bottom of page 15 in the pdf).
The management plan allows 202 wild horses in the HMA, which is the current AML.
What would the allocations look like if it was managed as Congress originally intended?
- Forage to horses: 2,424 + 19,392 = 21,816 AUMs per year (livestock gone)
- Forage to wildlife: 204 AUMs per year
How many horses could the resource support?
- New capacity: 21,816 ÷ 12 = 1,818, which is the True AML computed in the quiz
This is what the letter to Haaland is trying to accomplish.
The HMA covers 475,574 acres, so the stocking rate at the new AML would be 1,818 ÷ 475,574 × 1,000 = 3.8 wild horses per thousand acres, about four times higher than the target rate of one wild horse per thousand acres across all HMAs.
Invasive Species Greatest Threat to Planet?
Wild horses made the list in a guest column posted today by The Lewiston Tribune but domestic livestock did not.
Will Letter to Haaland About Livestock Grazing Do Any Good?
Probably not. Elimination of livestock grazing in wild horse areas will likely originate in the judiciary, not in the bureaucracy and not in the legislature.
Last year, at the urging of the advocates, the politicians offered an exciting new alternative to helicopter roundups: Get rid of the horses with contraceptives.
These animals are being forced off the range because most of their food had been sold to public-lands ranchers, not because there are too many of them.
Although the letter has the right idea, Western Horse Watchers believes that its scope is too narrow. The absence of certain signatories should be of great interest.
RELATED: Letter to Haaland Seeks Thriving Ecological Balance?
Dozens of Horses Found Dead in Oklahoma Pasture
Refer to this report by KFOR News of Oklahoma City. The cause of death is under investigation and no charges have been filed.
A woman interviewed for the story, who discovered their remains, said “They were supposed to be safe here.”
‘Slaughtergate’ Shifts Attention Away from Ranching Problem
The story last week by The New York Times about the $1,000 adoption incentive, and the ‘unintended’ consequences associated therewith, fueled the debate about the best way to get rid of wild horses. No surprise that the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses was involved.
Subsequent coverage, such as this report by KLAS News, gives them an opportunity to push their ruinous fertility control programs.
They’re not questioning if the horses need to be removed, only if it can be done ‘humanely.’
“We’re calling it ‘slaughtergate.’ It happens about every decade,” Roy shared. “The BLM gets exposed to sending wild horses, federally protected wild horses and burrows [sic] to slaughter. And the reason this keeps happening is because the BLM keeps rounding up wild horses.”
Why won’t they look upstream in the wild horse management process? Why aren’t they interested in resource allocations and management priorities in wild horse areas?
Because the data would show that many of them are not overpopulated. They have too many cattle and sheep, not too many horses.
The argument in favor of fertility control would fall to the ground—and that’s not good for business.
RELATED: Adoption Incentive Backfiring or Working Exactly as Planned?
Sand Wash Horses Running Out of Water
They are starting to concentrate around four ponds that haven’t dried up, according to a report by KUSA-TV in Denver.
Volunteers hauled water to the horses in 2018, avoiding an emergency roundup.
They receive about 18% of the authorized forage in the HMA.
Status of Allotments at Warm Springs HMA?
Most of the horses were removed in the 2018 roundup, with some of the mares destined for spay research.
Although the research was tabled, plans for returning them to the HMA were called off.
The ranchers have pretty much had the place to themselves for almost three years.
Horses from other areas, sensing the void, could have migrated into area.
The HMA intersects two grazing allotments, per Section 4a in the 2018 EA for resource enforcement actions in the HMA.
The Allotment Master report from RAS shows both in the Improve Category.
If most of the herd is gone, can the area still be considered a unique genetic resource?
In the future, will you be able to adopt a Warm Springs horse or a horse that was captured in the Warm Springs HMA?
RELATED: Answers to Resource Quiz.
Answers to Resource Quiz
Refer to the following data from a 2018 EA for resource enforcement actions at the Warm Springs HMA in Oregon. The HMA covers 475,574 acres.
1. How many horses are allowed by plan?
2,424 ÷ 12 = 202, this is the AML
2. Livestock receive ____ times more forage than the horses.
19,392 ÷ 2,424 = 8 times more
3. The horses receive ____ percent of the total authorized forage.
2,424 ÷ (2,424 + 19,392 + 204) = .11 = 11%
4. How many horses have been displaced from the HMA by livestock?
19,392 ÷ 12 = 1,616 horses displaced
5. What is the True AML?
202 + 1,616 = 1,818
6. If the current population is 468, the HMA contains ____ excess horses.
Zero, 468 < 1,818
7. The stocking rate allowed by plan is ____ horses per thousand acres.
202 ÷ 475,574 × 1,000 = 0.4, the average across all HMAs is 1
8. If the grazing season is five months, how many cow/calf pairs are allowed by plan?
19,392 ÷ 5 = 3,878 cow/calf pairs
9. The stocking rate allowed by plan is ____ cow/calf pairs per thousand acres.
3,878 ÷ 475,574 × 1,000 = 8.2, considerably higher than the rate for horses
10. The HMA was set aside for ________ but is managed primarily for ________.
Wild horses, livestock
BONUS QUESTION: The best way to get rid of excess horses is _______________.
Irrelevant, there are no excess horses
Conclusion: The management priorities in the HMA are backwards.
RELATED: Resource Allocation Quiz.
Currituck Wild Horses Go Off the Reservation
A band of six left the 4WD area north of town to visit the local grocery, only to be escorted back to their habitat, according to a story by OBX Today.
The fence that keeps the horses away from the populated area was damaged by Hurricane Dorian in 2019.
The herd manager for the local advocacy group said you should never chase the horses or try to move them yourself. Let the advocates do that or they may be killed.
Western Horse Watchers estimates that the group got rid of ten to fifteen wild horses this year with their fertility control program.
Who’s the greater threat to these animals? You or the advocates?
SoCal Wild Burro Removal Starts Next Week
Approximately 300 burros will be gathered from the Centennial HA beginning May 28.
The operation will be carried out with helicopters, according to the news release, and will be open to public observation.
The area is not managed for burros. It can be found on page 10 of the California WHB maps. The Centennial HMA, on page 11, is managed for wild horses.
The destination of captured animals was not provided in the announcement.
The location of the gather stats and daily reports is not known.
ISPMB Takes Next Step in New Heritage Center
An advisory council, consisting of four individuals with expertise in business, law, conservation and Native American traditions, has been established for the project, according to a news release dated May 20.
Additional members will be announced in the next few weeks.
The proposed facility would be located in South Dakota.
The announcement concludes with a note about the organization’s research that led to a model for managing wild horses based on the idea of stable family bands.
Western Horse Watchers agrees with the concept and believes it warrants further study.
However, an email sent to ISPMB on March 6, asking for a link to the reports, which were to be published by the end of 2018 according to the second paragraph in a rebuttal of criticisms regarding conditions at the ranch in 2016, was never answered.
RELATED: ISPMB Building Heritage Center?
Not the Same SAFE Act?
Legislation to stop horse slaughter in the U.S., known as the Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act, was introduced in the House today, according to a news release by Animal Wellness Action.
Previously, the measure was called the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act.
Should You Fund Groups Trying to Stop Wild Horse Roundups?
Although it’s suggested in a guest column appearing in today’s edition of the Pagosa Daily Post, most of them are pushing contraceptives instead.
They’re not questioning if removals are necessary, only the best way to effect them.
Why would you want to go after the horses when 85% of their food has been diverted to privately owned livestock? Was the land not set aside for them?
Resource Allocation Quiz
Refer to the following data from a 2018 EA for resource enforcement actions at the Warm Springs HMA in Oregon. The HMA covers 475,574 acres.
1. How many horses are allowed by plan?
2. Livestock receive ____ times more forage than the horses.
3. The horses receive ____ percent of the total authorized forage.
4. How many horses have been displaced from the HMA by livestock?
5. What is the True AML?
6. If the current population is 468, the HMA contains ____ excess horses.
7. The stocking rate allowed by plan is ____ horses per thousand acres.
8. If the grazing season is five months, how many cow/calf pairs are allowed by plan?
9. The stocking rate allowed by plan is ____ cow/calf pairs per thousand acres.
10. The HMA was set aside for ________ but is managed primarily for ________.
BONUS QUESTION: The best way to get rid of excess horses is _______________.
You get one lifeline. Feel free to reach out to your local advocacy group.
Gather Schedule Updated
The schedule was updated May 7 for the remainder of FY 2021. Most of the activity will occur in Utah, Oregon and Nevada.
Emergency roundups are also possible.
The chart shows 35 wild horses removed from private lands at the Chloride Canyon HMA in April, but Western Horse Watchers was unable to find any announcements at the BLM news site or Utah gather page.
Two More Horses Found Dead in Cloudcroft Area
The latest discovery brings the total to seven, according to a report by KRQE News of Albuquerque, NM. Authorities believe they were shot to death.
The story did not indicate if they were free-roaming horses, which are known to inhabit the area.
By comparison, the advocates got rid of an estimated 600 wild horses on the Virginia Range in 2021 and about 100 more at the Salt River.
Who’s the greater threat to America’s wild horses?
RELATED: Horses Found Dead in Southern New Mexico.
SJR3 Post Mortem
The writer of a guest column appearing today in the Sierra Nevada Ally looks back at some of the issues that never came up in the hearings.
Although not stated explicitly, one of the most remarkable statistics in the debate is the amount of money the government spends on the WHB program and other grazing program ancillaries to prop up just 3.5% of the nation’s cattle output.
RELATED: SJR3 Fails?
Court Sides with FOA in Effort to List Pryor Horses as Endangered
A district court’s ruling in favor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been reversed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, according to an opinion filed May 17.
The district court was ordered to enter judgment in favor of Friends of Animals in an action challenging a FWS rule, 50 C.F.R. § 424.14(b), that requires affected states to receive a 30-day notice of intent to file a petition to list an endangered species.
Western Horse Watchers was unable to find an announcement explaining the ruling at the FOA home page.
The 38,000 acre Pryor Mountain WHR, an area managed principally for wild horses, is on the Wyoming-Montana border.
RELATED: Attempt to List Pryor Mustangs as Endangered Not Over Yet.
UPDATE: Statement added to FOA’s web site.
Mustang Monday
On Cumberland Island with Let’s Be Us.
Western Horse Watchers Association 