Western Horse Watchers Association
Exposing the Hypocrisy, Lies and Incompetence of the Wild Horse Advocates
The closure went into effect July 24, according to a BLM news release issued today.
A map provided with the announcement shows the affected area, which includes a small portion of the Red Rock HMA. Impacts to wild horses are not known.
InciWeb says the fire was started by lightning on July 20 and is now 97% contained.
Why not take them on darting expeditions or travel to HMAs during grazing season to see all the privately owned livestock? The two experiences would fit together perfectly.
Will it be spent on automatic darting machines or will it just line the pockets of those in the PZP supply chain?
The $11 million authorization still has to clear several legislative hurdles.
RELATED: Ties Between PZP Zealots and Public-Lands Ranchers Revealed.
There are four million permitted cattle and sheep on public lands in the western U.S., according to the writer of a letter to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, compared to 81,000 wild horses, but the horses need to be managed with PZP.
After all, it’s been used for 30 years.
Where? Assateague Island. Many wild horse ‘advocates’ point to the area as a paragon of wild horse management but the results have been disastrous.
RELATED: BLM Opinion Piece Acclaims ‘Path Forward,’ Ignores Livestock.
On the Virginia Range with Jeff Hamlin.
Some folks would dispute that. The Virginia Range has no AML although a recent report put the magic number at 700. The current stocking rate is approximately ten wild horses per thousand acres.
The current population at Saylor Creek is 131 wild horses. The AML is 50. How many excess horses are present? The herd is 2.6 times over AML.
There are 81 excess horses on the HMA, per current wisdom. It’s overpopulated.
The herd requires 13% of the authorized forage on the HMA but you’re not supposed to know that. When the roundup ends, the horses will only need about 5%.
RELATED: Comments on Saylor Creek Wild Horse Roundup.
Exhibit A
16 USC 1332, Definitions, WHB Act, a duly enacted statute.
Paragraph (c) defines “range” as “the amount of land necessary to sustain an existing herd or herds of wild free-roaming horses and burros” that’s “devoted principally but not necessarily exclusively to their welfare.” It stands as it did in 1971.
Paragraph (f), which defined “excess animals” as those “which must be removed from an area in order to preserve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance and multiple-use relationship” did not appear in the original Act. It was added by PRIA.
Exhibit B
CFR 4710.3-2, Wild horse and burro ranges, Part 4700, Subpart 4710, a federal regulation.
Accordingly, herd management areas, a term that did not appear in the original Act, “may also be designated as wild horse or burro ranges to be managed principally, but not necessarily exclusively, for wild horse or burro herds.”
Exhibit A lays down the law. Exhibit B makes it tentative.
Which one prevails? Can a regulation override a statue?
A project appears in BLM’s NEPA register (sometimes referred to as ‘ePlanning’) but no documents have been posted.
There are three levels of analysis in the NEPA process: Categorical Exclusion (CX), Environmental Assessment (EA) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Wild horse management actions often fall into the middle category but major changes, such as the Rock Springs RMP Amendments, require an EIS.
A project involving wild horses and burros may begin with a scoping request, to receive input from the public, followed by staff work to formulate an action plan and draft an environmental assessment. The EA looks at the consequences of a preferred action and one or more alternatives.
The preliminary plan and EA are posted for public review and may be revised in light of substantive comments.
If there are no major issues, a decision record and finding of no significant impact may be is issued, allowing the plan to go forward. This does not mean the roundup starts the following week! There are priorities and funding is not unlimited. The plan may face legal challenges.
The process can take several years to complete although it may be shortened or bypassed altogether in the case of emergencies.
The Sulphur HMA is in western Utah on the Nevada border.
A spokesman for the Public Lands Council said earlier this week before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that “There may be a need for access to additional forage, including vacant allotments or other available allotments that were not grazed during the summer season.”
His testimony concerned the effects of COVID-19 on public-lands ranchers, according to a news release dated July 23.
He did not indicate where those underutilized allotments would be found but almost certainly could offer a few suggestions.
Western Horse Watchers was unable to find a statement in the organization’s news releases condemning the recent PZP Amendment to H.R. 7608, a spending bill for FY 2021 now under consideration in the House.
The amendment has the full support of AWHC.
RELATED: PLC Wants to Change Image of Public-Lands Ranching.
The daily reports show 603 wild horses captured through July 24, with none returned to their home range. The goal was 800.
The operation was to be carried out in two phases, helicopters followed by bait traps, so this could be a pause between the two stages.
RELATED: Swasey Progress Report Day 8.
BLM announced today that approximately 125 wild horses will be removed from the Nevada WHR, beginning on or about July 28, due to insufficient water.
The operation will be carried out with bait traps, according to the news release, and will not be open to public observation.
The WHR was gathered two years ago and is now the subject of proposed management actions over a ten-year period.
It covers about 1.3 million acres of military land in southern Nevada. The AML is 500, for a target stocking rate of 0.4 wild horses per thousand acres.
The WHR is managed principally for wild horses. Livestock grazing is not allowed and public access is prohibited.
The current population was estimated to be 961, including 461 excess horses.
Captured animals will be taken to the off-range corrals in Ridgecrest, CA.
Gather stats and daily reports will be posted to this page.
BLM said today that approximately 50 wild horses will be removed from the Antelope Valley HMA, beginning this weekend, due to insufficient water and forage.
The western portion of the HMA belongs to the Triple B Complex, which was gathered about a year ago.
The operation will be carried out with bait traps, according to the news release, and will not be open to public observation.
The HMA covers 463,540 acres in eastern Nevada and has an AML of 259. The aimed-at stocking rate is 0.6 wild horses per thousand acres.
The fractional stocking rate may correspond to a large percentage of forage diverted to privately owned livestock.
The current population is thought to be 1,144, with 885 excess horses. The herd is 4.4 times over AML but how close is it to the carrying capacity of the HMA?
Captured animals will be taken to the off-range corrals in Bruneau, ID.
Gather stats and daily reports will be posted to this page.
RELATED: Triple B Emergency Wild Horse Roundup Begins This Week.
So says the writer of an opinion piece published this morning by the White Mountain Independent of Show Low, AZ.
You could argue that this film belongs on a travel blog, not on a horse blog, but it does include some footage of the ponies. Family fun on The Vessel Slainte.
Seriously? The Rolling Stones would be for it?
RELATED: House Passes PZP Amendment to FY 2021 Spending Bill.
Refer to this news release issued today by Animal Wellness Action. The full bill will be considered by the House tomorrow.
The amendment requires the BLM to use $11 million from the FY 2021 WHB budget to apply PZP to wild horse herds. It does nothing to stop the misappropriation of resources that’s forcing them off western rangelands.
The Senate will take up its own spending bill in the coming weeks or months.
RELATED: Swasey Wild Horse Fatality Justifies Contraceptives?
The daily reports show 567 wild horses captured through July 22, with none returned to their home range. One was put down on July 21 but no details were given. Two deaths have occurred since the operation began.
Body condition scores over the last two days ranged from one to five.
There is an error in the daily reports, probably on July 15. Sixty stallions were gathered that day along with twenty four mares and no foals, but the total is 150. The breakdown has 66 missing horses.
If you add all the stallions, mares and foals from the daily reports you get 501 horses captured through July 22.
RELATED: Swasey Progress Report Day 6.
Refer to this press release dated July 14 by Citizens Against Government Waste.
Their report on FY 2020 pork-barrel spending included a $25.8 million earmark for wild horse and burro management on page 23.
An email message was sent to blm_press@blm.gov on July 18 asking for an explanation of that item but to date no answer has been received.
