Western Horse Watchers Association
Exposing the Hypocrisy, Lies and Incompetence of the Wild Horse Advocates
A story published this morning by the Herald and News of Klamath Falls, OR said that a request to remove the horses from private lands came from the Green Diamond Resource Company, a forest products concern.
A document cited in the article said the horses have become an increasing nuisance by impacting riparian environments and occupying grazing land intended for tenants.
In wild horse and burro roundups, a pre-existing condition that’s usually handled by putting the animal down, even though he survived the chase and survived on his home range for an unknown number of years.
RELATED: Blindness: Death Sentence for BLM Horses?
Catching up on trailcam photos. Three minutes for a drink and they’re gone. Filmed on the Virginia Range.
On the Salt River with Chris Benner.
The Diamond Complex in central Nevada consists of three HMAs which are managed as a group: Diamond Hills North, Diamond Hills South and Diamond.
The HMAs cover 255,463 acres and have a combined AML of 210. A small part of DHS has been reserved for livestock only, per note c of Table 15 in the Final EA for wild horse management actions in the Complex. The acreage was not given.
The 210 horses allowed by plan require 2,520 AUMs per year. The stocking rate alowed by plan is 0.8 horses per thousand acres. A fractional stocking rate, as noted earlier this year, may indicate large amounts of resources diverted to livestock. Let’s see what the numbers reveal.
Projects involving wild horse and burro roundups are often designed to achieve and maintain AMLs, they do not set them or revise them. Refer to the last paragraph on page 4, Section 1.1, in the EA.
A takeaway from those remarks is that when commenting on a draft EA for wild horse or burro management actions in a given HMA, don’t ask for a reduction in permitted livestock AUMs. That’s not what the project is about.
Those requests, completely valid, should be aimed at the Resource Management Plans, where forage is apportioned. A first step would be to force the government to manage the HMAs principally for wild horses and burros, per the statute.
That’s what the big-name ‘advocacy’ groups should be pursuing, not the implementation of fertility control programs. Don’t give them a penny until they see the light!
The HMAs intersect nine grazing allotments, per Map 2 on page 6 of the EA, which overlap all of the land in the Complex. Table 15 provides the forage allocations and grazing seasons but does not provide the allotment sizes. Therefore, the stocking rates allowed by plan in each allotment can’t be determined.
Although cattle and sheep are permitted within the Complex, the calculations are based on cow/calf pairs only, for a direct comparison to wild horses. The resources required by wild horses are said to be equivalent to cow/calf pairs.
The total estimated forage available to livestock inside the Complex was computed as the sum of the forage amounts in each allotment falling within the Complex, assuming the resource is evenly distributed across those parcels.
For example, the amount of forage contributed by the Black Point allotment would be .98 × 4,312 = 4,226 AUMs per year. The sum of the nine contributions is 17,952 AUMs per year, about seven times higher than the forage allocated to horses.
The Black Point ranchers would have to place 650 cow/calf pairs inside the Complex to graze off 4,226 AUMs in 6.5 months (4,226 ÷ 6.5). The total estimated number of cow/calf pairs allowed by plan inside the Complex is 2,741, compared to 210 horses.
The land available for permitted grazing is 255,463 acres, for an aimed-at stocking rate of 10.7 cow/calf pairs per thousand acres (2,741 ÷ 255,463 × 1,000).
The land available to wild horses inside the Complex is slightly less due to the fenced area in Diamond Hills South but was assumed to be identical to that for livestock.
These management indicators are displayed in the following charts.
The Complex is managed principally for livestock. Wild horses receive 12% of the authorized forage, with 88% going to privately owned cattle and sheep.
The forage assigned to livestock inside the Complex would support an additional 1,496 wild horses for a true AML of 1,706. The pre-gather population was thought to be 1,495 wild horses, plus this year’s foal crop, for a total of 1,794 (1.2 × 1,495).
The number of excess horses in the Complex, to be removed starting later this week, is 88 (1,794 – 1706), not 1,584 (1,794 – 210).
With the horses gone, the ranchers won’t have to worry about moving their animals onto rented pastures and paying (OMG) market rates to feed them.
RELATED: Diamond Wild Horse Roundup Starts Next Week.
Looking south in a remote area of the Virginia Range on August 7. Elevation 6,200 feet.
The PZP zealots are right. That forage would be knee high if it wasn’t for the horses.
They must have fled the scene when they heard me coming.
Fire crews are now in patrol-and-monitor mode and no spread is expected outside of containment lines in the next 48 hours. Sporadic activity may occur within the perimeter as previously unburned fuels are encountered.
The area burned by the fire remains at 139,000 acres and containment has increased to 87%. The number of persons assigned to the incident has decreased to 436.
Today’s map shows no hot spots near the Little Bookcliffs WHR.
The fire was started by lightning on July 31 and now ranks as the largest in Colorado history. At one point, it was within a mile of the WHR.
RELATED: Pine Gulch Fire Smoldering.
So says the writer of a letter to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, published this evening.
The AML of 27,000 does not represent the carrying capacity of lands set aside for wild horses and burros. The true AML is likely five times higher and the current population of 95,000 is not close to that.
So why does everybody have their panties in a knot?
Because the horses and burros are robbing forage from the most noble and deserving inhabitants of America’s public lands: Privately owned livestock.
RELATED: New WHB Off-Range Corrals in the News.
The roundup yielded 594 studs and 757 mares. The sex of the foals was not given.
Do these numbers look like they came from a herd that’s 50% males and 50% females?
The total number of adults is 1,351, with 44% studs and 56% mares. The expected range of variation can be found from basic statistical formulas, where n = 1,351 and p = .50.
Lower limit = .50 – 3 × Sqrt[.50 × (1 – .50) ÷ 1,351] = .459 = 45.9%
Upper limit = .50 + 3 × Sqrt[.50 × (1 – .50) ÷ 1,351] = .541 = 54.1%
The percentage of studs (or mares) in the total should fall between 45.9% and 54.1%, assuming they were gathered at random from a herd that’s 50% males and 50% females.
The observed percentages fall outside these limits, so one or more assignable causes should be sought.
Perhaps the pre-gather composition of the herd was not 50% males and 50% females.
Another possibility is that the contractor targeted family bands. Leaving bachelor bands on the range would skew the sex ratio of the herd in favor of males, slowing population growth and reducing the impact on other mandated uses of public lands.
Can you think of other explanations?
The daily reports stopped on August 28 but there has been no announcement at the BLM news site. Final results:
Foals represented 20.6% of the animals gathered.
The number of unaccounted-for animals was zero, computed as follows:
UAF = Animals gathered – Animals returned – Animal deaths – Animals shipped
The result should be zero, meaning the numbers balance.
BLM said today that approximately 1,165 wild horses will be removed from three HMAs in central Nevada, beginning on or about September 10, due to overpopulation.
The operation will be carried out with helicopters, according to the news release, and will be open to public observation. Of the 1,225 horses to be gathered, 60 will be returned to the area, including 30 mares treated with contraceptives.
The HMAs cover 255,463 acres and have a combined AML of 210, for an aimed-at stocking rate of 0.8 animals per thousand acres. Refer to Table 1 in the Final EA for wild horse management actions in the Diamond Complex.
The HMAs intersect nine allotments according to Map 2 in the EA and all of the acreage is subject to permitted livestock grazing. The total estimated forage assigned to cattle and sheep inside the HMAs, based on data from Table 15 in the EA, is 17,950 AUMs per year, compared to 2,520 AUMs per year for the horses.
Captured animals will be taken to the off-range corrals in Palomino Valley.
Gather stats and daily reports will be posted to this page.
The Forest Service will gather another 500 wild horses from the Devil’s Garden Plateau WHT, beginning September 8, to “address unsustainable impacts on aquatic resources, wildlife, hunting, grazing and other traditional cultural practices.”
In 2018, over 900 wild horses were removed from the area, followed by 500 in 2019.
The operation will be open to public observation on a limited basis, according to the news release, just two persons per day.
The WHT covers 232,520 acres in northern California and has an AML of 335, for an aimed-at stocking rate of 1.4 animals per thousand acres.
The WHT intersects eight allotments and is 100% subject to permitted livestock grazing.
An article published yesterday by the Houston Chronicle might give you the impression that the horses are being forced off their home range by drilling interests. Curiously, the term does not appear in the Final EA for wild horse management actions at Devil’s Garden, but it does note wild horse impacts on the poor ranchers. See Section 2.4.1.2.
The forage allocated to livestock would support an additional 1,309 wild horses, for a true AML of 1,644. The current population, not mentioned in the announcement, may be below that value.
Gather updates and adoption information will be posted to this page.
The operation has concluded, according to the daily reports, with five horses and 43 burros gathered, two horses and 43 burros shipped, and no deaths.
What happened to the three missing horses? Returned to HMA?
The goal of the operation was to remove 50 wild horses and 25 burros.
The operation concluded yesterday, with 68 horses removed. No deaths were reported.
Foals accounted for 17.6% of the total.
What’s the difference? On HMAs subject to permitted livestock grazing (which is most of them), the AML is the number of horses or burros the land can support after diverting most of the resources to privately owned cattle and sheep.
The true AML is the number of horses or burros the land can support after taking back those resources and managing the HMAs principally for wild horses and burros, per the statute. Some resources would be assigned to wildlife, bringing the total to 100%, with special attention to endangered species, per the statute.
The column headed ‘New AML’ in this report could have been labeled ‘True AML,’ as it was computed according to the definition above. You may be shocked by the magnitude of the numbers.
On Sand Wash Basin HMA with Julie Price.
Triple B / Maverick-Medicine HMAs
RELATED: Emergency Roundup Scorecard, August 20.
There are 95,114 wild horses and burros roaming on America’s public lands, according to a story published August 26 by the Jackson Hole News and Guide, compared to a recommended maximum of 26,770.
In Wyoming, the population exceeds the state’s goal by 4,900 animals and ranchers say the excess “robs rangeland from their cattle.”
Curiously, the article did not include any complaints by drillers, miners and loggers.
There is a problem, however. There aren’t any excess horses and burros on America’s public lands, overall.
Yes, some areas are overpopulated in terms of their true AML—the number of animals the land can support if forage diverted to privately owned livestock was returned to the horses and burros. For example, the pre-gather population in the Sulphur HMA, now in a roundup, included 88 excess horses.
But numbers like that are more than offset by shortfalls in other areas. The 68,344 excess animals indicated above is fiction.
The story did not mention that according to the WHB Act, areas set aside for wild horses and burros are to be managed principally for them. Instead, the government supplanted the statute with a regulation. We’ll do that if we feel like it.
It did not mention that almost half of the land set aside for wild horses and burros is no longer managed for them, usually due to ‘inadequate resources.’ Roundups do occur in those areas and many are subject to permitted grazing. The gather at Jakes Wash in Nevada provides an example. The Caliente roundup of 2019 is another.
The article noted that wild horses have no natural predators but did not mention that in most cases they share their land with livestock. The animals that would keep horse populations in check would also be interested in cattle and sheep, and the ranchers aren’t going to tolerate that.
They’ve never been able to tolerate the WHB Act either and have pushed for several amendments since it was signed into law almost 50 years ago.
Today, the WHB program, like predator management programs, is nothing more than a grazing program ancillary, designed to give ranchers unfettered access to cheap feed on America’s public lands.
The enterprise, which has outlived its usefulness, should be shut down effective Monday morning, as the cost of those programs far exceeds the fees paid by the ranchers.
Today’s report said that unburned fuels in the interior may smolder until rain or snow put the fire completely out. This may not happen until mid-September, October, or even as late as November.
The latest map shows hot spots on the south and west sides but containment is holding at 77%. Total area burned is 139,000 acres.
Management teams are transitioning and the number of persons assigned to the incident is declining.
The night shift is no longer needed according to today’s briefing.
Three cheers for our police officers, fire fighters and emergency personnel!
RELATED: Pine Gulch Fire Almost Over?
