The proposed management actions announced earlier this week were prompted by resource impacts related to excessive horse population and a desire to achieve rangeland health standards in the area impacted by the overpopulated horses.

Does that mean the number of wild horses is too high or the AML is too low?  What is the impact of other authorized users of those lands, not mentioned in the news release?

The forage requirement for the 721 wild horses currently on the HMA is 8,652 AUMs per year and their population density (stocking rate) is 5.3 animals per thousand acres.

The forage requirement for the 100 wild horses allowed by plan is 1.200 AUMs per year and their aimed-at stocking rate is 0.7 animals per thousand acres.

The HMA intersects four grazing allotments.  The forage allocations and stocking rates for livestock inside the HMA must be computed from data in Table 2 of the draft EA.

Although cattle and sheep are authorized on the allotments, the calculations are based on cow/calf pairs only, for a direct comparison to the horses (the resource requirements of cow/calf pairs and wild horses are said to be equivalent).

Note that the cow/calf densities allowed by plan are in the same range as the pre-gather horse density.  The Tatow density (5.7) is nearly identical to the current horse density.

The allotment acreage inside the HMA, computed from the portions inside the HMA (133,731), agrees fairly well with the acreage stated at the BLM page for the HMA (134,965) but differs from the acreage stated in Section 1.2 the EA (120,113).  If you wanted to submit a substantive comment on the EA, that would be one.

The acreage from the BLM page was used in the density calculations.  Accordingly, little if any of the land inside the HMA is not subject to permitted livestock grazing.

The forage contributed to livestock inside the HMA by the Antelope allotment would be .43 × 3,277 = 1,409 AUMs per year, assuming the resource is uniformly distributed across the parcel.

Likewise for the other three allotments.  The total estimated forage available to livestock inside the HMA is the sum of the forage fractions (7,793 AUMs per year).

The number of cow/calf pairs that could be supported inside the HMA by the Antelope allotment is 1,409 ÷ 11 = 128.  Ditto for the other allotments.

The total estimated number of cow/calf pairs inside the HMA is 887.  The weighted average grazing season is 8.8 months (7,793 ÷ 887).

The estimated livestock density allowed by plan inside the HMA is 6.6 cow/calf pairs per thousand acres (887 ÷ 134,965 × 1,000).

These figures are compared in the following charts.

The forage allocated to horses and livestock inside the HMA would support the current wild horse population (1,200 + 7,793 > 8,652).

The forage available to livestock inside the HMA would support an additional 649 wild horses (7,793 ÷ 12) for an AML of 749 (100 + 649).

But the management plan assigns 13% of that resource to horses and 87% to livestock, on land set aside for the horses.

The wild horse management paradigm has been inverted.  Privately owned livestock get the lion’s share of the resources and the horses are just a curiosity, if you can find them.

If your goal is to nullify the WHB Act without arousing suspicion, this is how you would do it—slowly, one HMA at a time.

The cattle allowed on the HMA are probably worth close to $1 million, assuming half of them ship to slaughter.

Another substantive comment on the EA involves the management paradigm: Why isn’t the HMA managed principally for the horses, in accordance with paragraph 1332(c) of the statute?

You don’t have a horse problem on western rangelands, you have a ranching problem, so why are roundups and contraceptives always tossed around as ‘solutions?’

RELATED: Comments Invited on Draft EA for Swasey Roundup.

The Post Regster of Idaho Falls said today that the BLM will try to find good homes for 70 of the Challis wild horses when it hosts an adoption event at the Challis off-range corrals January 31 and February 1.

Gentling techniques will be demonstrated on both days, according to the story, and the adoption incentive applies.

The HMA was gathered in November, 2019.  A few weeks later, some of the captured horses were returned, in an effort to skew the sex ratio of the herd.

Like other HMAs, privately owned livestock receive four times as much forage as the horses (80/20 split).

They were forced off their home range because they were robbing too much food from the public-lands ranchers.  Sorry, but you’re not doing them any favors by adopting.

Members of local ranching families attended the meeting Wednesday evening to protest what they say are unfair accusations by the public, according to a report posted today by the White Mountain Independent.

One woman said “We have people from across the globe thinking the ranchers in this community are killing horses.”

RELATED: Meeting Yields No New Details on Heber Wild Horse Shootings.

The Eagle Complex has lost 520 wild horses, as of January 22, according to the gather stats, with eight deaths reported (1.5%) and no foals.

Does the sex ratio of the captured animals (226 studs and 294 mares) look like it came from a process that produces 50% males and 50% females?

RELATED: BLM Redefines ‘Foal.’

The Navajo County Sheriff’s Office won’t say if it has any suspects and the Forest Service doesn’t know if the same person killed all the horses, according to a report posted last night by AZFamily of Phoenix, AZ.

The Forest Service said 36 horses have been found dead in and around the WHT since October 2018, with 24 of them confirmed shot.

RELATED: Latest on Heber Shootings.

Yesterday, BLM announced the opening of a 30-day comment period for a preliminary environmental assessment of proposed management actions on the Swasey Mountains HMA in western Utah that include roundups and population growth suppression.

An EA looks at the consequences of a proposed action along with those of one or more alternatives.

The HMA covers approximately 135,000 acres and has an AML of 100, for an aimed-at population density (stocking rate) of 0.7 horses per thousand acres.

The HMA intersects four grazing allotments, according to Section 3.2.1 of the EA.

The forage allocated to livestock inside the HMA is estimated to be 7,800 AUMs per year, compared to 1,200 AUMs per year for the horses.

Comments—substantive only, please—can be submitted at this page.

A report posted this morning by Delmarva Now says results from the program are encouraging but boosters will be needed for another two or three years before the vaccine can be considered effective.

Eight ponies on the Virginia side of Assateague Island have died from the disease, formally known as Pythiosis, since 2018.

RELATED: Vaccine for ‘Swamp Cancer’ in Development.

A judge ruled today that the FWS erred in rejecting a petition by Friends of Animals to classify the wild horses of the Pryor Mountains as an endangered species.

The group claimed that the AML is too low, putting the Old Spanish genetic lineage at risk of extinction, according to a report posted today by Courthouse News Service.

The judge recommended that the decision be vacated and the FWS ordered to reconsider the petition.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as the National Marine Fisheries Service, are responsible for classifying and protecting endangered species in the U.S.

BLM announced today the signing of a FONSI (Finding of No Significant Impact) on January 17, clearing the way for a roundup on February 3.

Approximately 200 excess horses will be gathered, with 150 permanently removed from their home range.  Fifty animals will be returned to the HMA, including 25 mares that have been treated with contraceptives.

The operation, to be carried out with helicopters, will be open to public observation and captured animals will be taken to the Indian Lakes off-range corrals in Fallon, NV.

A link to the gather stats and daily reports was not provided.

RELATED: Comments Invited on Reveille Gather Plan.

The event ends January 28.  More information at the Wild Horse & Burro Online Corral.

You’ll need to create an ID and password to access the listings.  Refer to the User Guide.

RELATED: BLM Nabs Fish Springs Mustangs.

The roundup page for the Eagle Complex says “For the reporting purposes of this gather, all of last year’s weanable foals will be counted as adults,” but it does not supply a definition of ‘weanable.’

Barn witches and other knowitalls would probably put the age at four months but if you followed the development of a mom/baby pair—without interfering—you’d know it’s at least six to eight months before the foal can survive mostly on solid food, or as much as a year, when the next one is born.  Nursing can go on for two or three years if there are no more births.

Anyway, if they don’t disclose the number of youngsters found in the traps, you can’t test their assertion that the herd is growing at a rate of 20% per year.

RELATED: Eagle Roundup Day 4.

In front of the Gila River Sand & Gravel plant on Highway 347 by James Joseph.

The daily reports indicate 351 horses gathered through 01-19-20, with five deaths (1.4%) and no foals.  Roughly 44% percent of the captured animals were male and 56% were female.  The thriving ecological balance is only 1,250 horses away.

RELATED: Eagle Roundup Day 2, Eagle Wild Horses Get Short End of Stick.

Report from Sand Wash Basin HMA by Denver7 – The Denver Channel.

On the Pryor Mountains WHR with A. Renee Faber.

Refer to the Grazing Program Fact Sheet provided last week when proposed changes to livestock grazing regulations were announced.

Data from 2018, provided in the fact sheet, along with other relevant statistics, were copied into a spreadsheet to compare the treatment of livestock on public lands with that of wild horses.

Although privately owned cattle and sheep were allowed on those lands in addition to wild horses and burros, the calculations pertain to cow/calf pairs and horses only, for purposes of simplicity.  Horses and cow/calf pairs are said to be equivalent in terms of their resource requirements.

These figures are compared in the following charts.  An AUM corresponds to about 600 pounds of dry forage, depending on quality and type.

Wild horses had a much smaller footprint and environmental impact in 2018, compared to livestock, yet they were blamed for most of the problems.  That is the deceit.

The AUMs consumed by the horses would support an additional 152,000 cow/calf pairs, with a value of $150 million or more, which explains why the ranchers and their allies in government want to get rid of them.  That is the greed.

If the horses are denuding the landscape at a stocking rate of 2.8 per thousand acres, what do you suppose is happening when cow/calf pairs are turned out at a rate that’s almost five times higher?

RELATED: BLM to Modernize Grazing Regulations on Public Lands.

The daily reports indicate 183 horses captured through January 17, with no foals.

Is that what you’d expect for a herd that’s growing at a rate of 20% per year?

No, you’d expect to find 153 adults and 30 foals, although it is a bit early in the season.

A simple model for population growth would be 100 adults last year plus 20 foals this year, so the youngsters would represent 16.7% of the herd (20 out of 120).

RELATED: Eagle Roundup Begins.

News releases from the Forest Service, updated yesterday.

Article by AZ Central, posted today.  Includes history of herd.

Story by the White Mountain Independent, posted today.

Report by AP News, posted today.

Curiously, nobody wants to talk about the livestock grazing allotments that intersect the Heber WHT.  See map on page 7 of the management plan drafted in November, 2018.

RELATED: Heber Wild Horses Use Water That ‘Other Animals’ Need?

Changes to regulations announced yesterday that affect domestic livestock on public lands in the western U.S. include targeted grazing, a technique that falls under the broader heading of outcome-based grazing.

The idea is to reduce [edible] fuels that might lie in the path of a wildfire.

The fact sheet includes a photo of an infamous fence experiment, where domestic cattle graze vegetation down to stubble.  Normally, when you see imagery like this, wild horses and burros are on the other side of the fence.

If the goal is to selectively denude the landscape—the supposed domain of wild horses and burros—why aren’t those animals doing the job?

Because the preferred outcome is to enrich the public-lands ranchers.

RELATED: BLM to Modernize Grazing Regulations on Public Lands, Comments Invited on Targeted Grazing Project in Nevada.