Western Horse Watchers Association
Exposing the Hypocrisy, Lies and Incompetence of the Wild Horse Advocates
The resolution was introduced February 1. Now in committee.
It would urge the federal government to declare a moratorium on all wild horse and burro roundups and would urge the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service to restore wild horses and burros to their legal areas throughout California.
The writer of an open letter in the Pagosa Daily Post has the answer: Relocate wild horses from areas where they are in conflict with livestock (which is most of them) to remote wilderness areas that are unsuited for livestock grazing.
Although the letter was addressed to DOI Secretary Haaland, she probably doesn’t have the authority to carry it out per Section 1339 of the statute.
Section 1333(a) refers to public lands that sustain existing herds (in 1971) of wild free-roaming horses and burros as “sanctuaries for their protection and preservation.”
Western Horse Watchers looks at resources allowed by plan, not current usage, to understand how an area is managed.
Forage consumption, grazing seasons and herd sizes may change from year to year.
Animal numbers are usually reported for wild horses and cow/calf pairs, even if the area is managed for burros and sheep.
RELATED: Evaluating Management Priorities in Mixed-Use Areas.
On the Salt River with Tina Wooten.
When I started this blog three and a half years ago, I was pretty sure that public-lands ranching was going to be a major issue.
What I wasn’t expecting is the large number of bogus advocacy groups, working not in the best interest of America’s wild horses, but for those of the ranchers.
RELATED: Sizing Up Threats to America’s Wild Horses.
The management plan assigns 363 × 12 = 4,356 AUMs per year to the horses at the upper end of the AML.
The Draft EA for resource enforcement actions in the HMA provides data for livestock grazing in Table 2.1. Additional information was obtained from the Allotment Master report in RAS.
Livestock receive 19,758 AUMs per year per Table 2.1. The total authorized forage inside the HMA is 4,356 + 19,758 = 24,114 AUMs per year, neglecting wildlife.
That means the horses can consume up to 18% of the authorized forage, sometimes referred to as ‘their food.’
The proposed action will gather the HMA to the lower end of the AML, leaving around 163 horses. Growth of the herd will be minimized with contraceptives.
The remaining horses will require 163 × 12 = 1,956 AUMs per year, just eight percent of the authorized forage, on land set aside for them.
AUM curtailments, if any, can be relaxed after the roundup, as forage consumed by ‘excess’ horses shifts back to the ranchers. This ‘thriving ecological balance’ should prevail for many years, thanks to the fertility control program and its adherents.
The forage assigned to livestock would support an additional 1,645 wild horses, for a True AML of 363 + 1,645 = 2,008.
The current population of 828 is well within this range.
If the HMA was managed principally for wild horses, per the original statute, there would be no need for a roundup and fertility control program.
RELATED: Comments Invited on Draft EA for Sand Wash Gather Plan.
The Draft EA for the Sand Wash gather plan refers to it in a section about record keeping for wild horse fertility control programs (bottom of page 22 in the pdf).
A web search pointed to a site called ‘WHIMS Web (AWHC).’ It is not a ‘dot gov,’ which would signify government ownership.
The warning message says “Actual or attempted unauthorized use of this system will result in criminal and/or civil prosecution” and “WHIMS Web reserves the right to review, monitor, and record all activities on the system,” which are “subject to review by law enforcement officials.”
Good grief, what are they hiding?
If it’s a database for wild horse darting programs on public lands, why isn’t it in the public domain?
BLM released a preliminary environmental assessment yesterday for wild horse management actions in the Sand Wash Basin HMA over a ten-year period.
The Proposed Action features gathers to the low end of the AML and fertility control treatments to reduce the herd’s growth rate. Injections could be administered by the automatic darting machine introduced last year, according to the narrative on page 11 of the EA (page 15 in the pdf).
The project area extends well beyond the HMA, as shown on the map in Appendix A.
HMAs to the north have been targeted by the Rock Springs gather plan.
The HMA covers 157,730 acres in northwestern Colorado, including 154,940 acres managed by the BLM. The AML is 163-362. The stocking rate at the high end of the AML is 2.3 wild horses per thousand acres.
The current population is thought to be 828 wild horses, according to the news release.
The HMA is subject to permitted livestock grazing, per Table 2.1 in the EA.
The EA says that the nuisance gather started in January is still in progress.
Comments will be accepted through May 2.
The horses can access one bedroom, but five have been reserved for other mandated uses (see Lexicon).
However, if you’re a wild horse in the Little Colorado, Saylor Creek or Lost Creek HMAs, you get half a broom closet.
RELATED: Hypothesis Confirmed.
BLM requests public input regarding future wild horse management actions in the North Lander Complex, according to a news release issued yesterday. The land can’t support the current number of horses plus other mandated uses.
The Complex includes four HMAs and covers about 375,000 acres east of Lander, WY.
The AML is 536 and the target stocking rate is 1.4 wild horses per thousand acres.
The current population is thought to be around 1,600 wild horses.
Roundups would be used to achieve the AML. Methods for slowing growth rates could include castrating or vasectomizing stallions, sex ratio skewing, intrauterine devices for mares and GonaCon, a fertility control drug.
Western Horse Watchers was unable to find the project in ePlanning.
Resource allocations and management priorities, not mentioned in the announcement, can be assessed when an environmental assessment is released. Presumably, the HMAs are subject to permitted livestock grazing.
Comments can be submitted by email through April 30.
Animal Protection New Mexico has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible, according to a report by AP News.
Their remains were found near the town of Cloudcroft, in the Lincoln National Forest.
The story did not say if they were free-roaming horses, which are found in the area.
BLM announced yesterday the availability of a preliminary environmental assessment for wild horse and burro management actions in the Lake Mead Complex near Las Vegas, NV.
The Proposed Action, described in Section 2.2.2 of the EA, features roundups over a ten year period and fertility control vaccines. All wild horses would be removed from the Complex and burros would be removed to the lower end of their AML.
The Complex includes three herd areas near the state line. The BLM map shows HMAs inside the HAs but the EA says only one of them has an AML. Refer to Section 4.3.1.5.
Livestock grazing is not allowed inside the Complex, according to Section 3.1, but the grazing status of surrounding lands was not given. A keyword search of the EA yielded no occurrences of ‘AUM.’
The AML for wild horses is zero in all three areas. The AML for burros is zero in Muddy Mountains and El Dorado, and 98 in Gold Butte, per Section 1.2. However, the HMA page for Muddy Mountains shows an AML of 50.
The aimed-at stocking rate at Gold Butte is 98 ÷ 178,000 × 1,000 = 0.6 wild burros per thousand acres, equivalent to 0.3 wild horses per thousand acres. The target stocking rate across all HMAs is one wild horse per thousand acres.
A draft FONSI has been posted with the project documents.
Comments will be accepted through April 30.
The HMA, one of five affected by the Rock Springs gather plan, does not contain any checkerboard land and is not included in the Rock Springs RMP amendments, as noted at the end of Section 1.1 in the Draft EA.
The management plan assigns 1,200 AUMs per year to wild horses at the upper end of the AML, with 45,004 AUMs per year assigned to privately owned livestock.
That means the horses are allowed to consume up to 2.6% of the authorized forage in the HMA, also known as ‘their food.’
Doesn’t that seem a bit strange? The land was set aside for the horses.
The proposed action will gather the HMA to the lower end of the AML, leaving around 69 horses. Growth rates will be minimized with contraceptives.
The horses will need 828 AUMs per year after the roundup, about 1.8% of the authorized forage.
The fertility control program locks the pattern in, maximizing benefits to the public-lands ranchers.
RELATED: Aim of Rock Springs Gather Plan.
The story has been picked up by AP News. The plan calls for the removal of 3,500 wild horses from five HMAs near Rock Springs, WY.
Another gather plan was announced today, affecting four HMAs east of Lander, WY.
RELATED: Aim of Rock Springs Gather Plan.
The proposed action will achieve a thriving ecological balance in the five HMAs targeted by the project. The EA makes sure there will not be too much collateral damage when it is carried out. A finding of no significant impact does not apply to wild horses!
What are the management priorities in those areas? Data from Tables 1 and 8 in the EA tell the story.
Roughly 16,000 wild horses have been displaced from their home range by privately owned livestock, about one third of those in off-range holding.
How many have been forced out by drilling and mining?
The True AML is eight times higher than the current AML. The average stocking rate across the five HMAs at the new AML is 5.3 wild horses per thousand acres, about half of that on the Virginia Range.
The current population of 5,105 is well within the new limit, so there is no need for a roundup or fertility control program. There are no excess horses and the area is not overpopulated.
The problem is public-lands ranching.
Although the land was set aside for wild horses, roundups may occur as early as July because the HMAs are managed primarily for livestock.
RELATED: Comments Invited on Draft EA for Rock Springs Gather Plan.
BLM announced today the availability of a preliminary environmental assessment for resource enforcement actions in the Wyoming checkerboard. The EA looks the effects of a proposed action and those of one or more alternatives.
The 30-day review period begins today. Implementation of the selected alternative, which will affect five HMAs, could occur as soon as July 2021, according to Section 2.0.
The proposed action features roundups to the low end of AMLs and fertility control treatments. Western Horse Watchers was unable to determine how many years the selected alternative would be valid.
Four of the five HMAs are involved in the Rock Springs RMP amendments.
The HMAs are subject to permitted livestock grazing, per Table 8 in the EA. The table does not provide allotment sizes and grazing periods but those can be obtained from RAS, along with the allotment conditions.
Comments can be submitted online though April 30.
Maps and appendices have been posted with the project documents.
A story posted yesterday by The Virginian-Pilot says the filly wanted to nurse on a mare who was not producing milk. She would not let the mom near the foal and became increasingly aggressive, according to the report.
Perhaps the mare was trying to steal the foal?
Is any of this related to the fertility control program?
At the December 2017 Nevada Board of Agriculture meeting, where a decision was made to transfer ownership of the Virginia Range horses to a private group, comments were made about the side-effects of PZP (beginning at 2:33:40 in this video).
The speaker was shouted down by other individuals at the meeting.
The organization, based in Kamas, UT, was mentioned yesterday in the guest column about the Onaqui wild horses.
They are PZP zealots, working with government to ensure that privately owned livestock receive 83% of the authorized forage in an area set aside for wild horses, according to figures in the column.
RELATED: Running the Onaqui Numbers.
The number of horses allowed by plan is 210. These animals require 12 × 210 = 2,520 AUMs per year and about 10 × 210 × 365 = 766,500 gallons of water per year.
The guest column in The Salt Lake Tribune says the horses receive 17% of the authorized forage, with 83% assigned to livestock, neglecting wildlife.
The total authorized forage should be around 2,520 ÷ .17 = 14,824 AUMs per year.
The forage assigned to livestock should be about 14,824 × .83 = 12,304 AUMs per year.
The True AML would be = (2,520 + 12,304) ÷ 12 = 1,235.
The current population of around 500 wild horses is well within that range, so there is no need for a roundup or fertility control program.
Why is the HMA on the roundup list for this summer? Because it’s managed primarily for livestock, not wild horses.
RELATED: Onaqui Livestock Receive Five Times More Forage Than Horses?
