At Stewart’s Point, NV, on the Muddy Mountains HA (contains the Muddy Mountains HMA) with Michael Lescord.
Author: Western Horse Watchers
Mustang Monday
On the Pine Nut Mountains HA (Fish Springs) with Cheryl Broumley.
Velma Remembered on International Women’s Day
Refer to this news release by American Equine Awareness on EIN Presswire.
Corolla Stallion Dead at 40
He was blind, losing the sight in his second eye in a ‘dispute’ with another stallion.
He died peacefully in private care, according to a report posted today by The Virginian-Pilot, at a farm for aging and wayward wild horses.
Good for him. If he had been captured on western rangelands, he would have been put down on the spot.
Black Mountain Burros Get Short End of Stick
Refer to Section 1.1 of the EA for the Wild Burro Gather Plan. Forage in the HMA has been degraded and two grazing allotments don’t meet standards for rangeland health.
The current number of burros exceeds the limit that achieves and maintains a thriving ecological balance vis-à-vis the multiple use and sustained yield mandates for the area.
OK, but what do the numbers tell you about the HMA, the way it’s being managed?
The management plan allows 478 wild burros on the HMA, which contains one million acres. The aimed-at stocking rate is therefore 0.48 burros per thousand acres.
The forage allocation for the burros would be 2,868 AUMs per year, given that they’re on the range twelve months per year (478 × 12 ÷ 2).
The forage demand of burros is half of that for horses, so their impact on the land cannot be compared directly to livestock. The forage requirements of horses are said to be equivalent to those of cow/calf pairs, so the comparison will be done on that basis.
The AUM budget won’t change but the AML and stocking rate will. If the HMA was managed for wild horses, the AML would be 239 and the stocking rate allowed by plan would be 0.24 per thousand acres.
Table 7 in the EA provides data for livestock grazing on the HMA. A BLM rep contacted by WHW confirmed that the grazing season is 12 months per year.
Six of the sixteen allotments are designated for intermittent use, when forage and other conditions are favorable. They have been omitted from the calculations.
Note that the stocking rates for livestock (cow/calf densities) are considerably higher than the 0.24 allowed by plan for horses (who are proxy for the burros in this analysis).
The land grazed continually corresponds to about 22% of the HMA. The parcels grazed intermittently would bring the total to approximately 50%, as estimated in the original post (linked below).
The total estimated forage available to livestock inside the HMA is 7,333 AUMs per year, computed as the sum of the permitted AUMs for each allotment times the portion of each allotment inside the HMA. For example, in Big Ranch A, 5,397 × .312 = 1684.
The estimated number of cow/calf pairs inside the HMA is 611, with an average grazing season of 12 months per year (7,333 ÷ 611).
The stocking rate for cow/calf pairs is 2.77 per thousand acres (611 ÷ 220,891 × 1,000).
Horses (burros, actually) receive 28% of the forage, compared to 72% for livestock.
These figures are compared in the following charts.
These indicators tell you that the HMA is managed primarily for livestock.
The thriving ecological balance—to be achieved by the roundup and maintained by one or more population controls—is not a balance at all.
The forage assigned to livestock would support an additional 1,222 burros (7,333 ÷ 12 × 2), for a new AML of 1,700 (478 + 1,222).
If the grazing allotments are fenced and livestock are present twelve months per year, can the burros access the resources on those parcels?
Has the most productive land in the HMA been given to the ranchers?
Would the loss of 72% of their forage explain their movement off the HMA?
If livestock are confined to the allotments by the same fences that keep the burros (and other wildlife) out, why attribute the substandard conditions to them?
Next time you see management actions justified by ‘multiple use’ and ‘sustained yield,’ know that they are code words for diverting most of the resources to privately owned cattle and sheep, minimizing the number of wild horses and burros, while giving the impression that the area is managed according to paragraph 1332(c) of the statute.
The term ‘Potemkin Village‘ comes to mind.
RELATED: Comments Invited on EA for Black Mountain Gather Plan.
Note to Sportsmen
A smaller but not insignificant voice against wild horses is that of the outdoorsmen, who argue that the horses are stealing resources from game animals.
In Section 3 of the original WHB Act, Congress ordered the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to work with state wildlife agencies to balance the needs of the horses with those of wildlife, especially endangered species.
That language is now in paragraph 1333(a) of the current statute.
Lands set aside for wild horses and burros are to be managed principally for those animals, according to paragraph 1332(c), but only four of them are.
What happened? Refer to CFR 4710.3-2: The requirement was nullified by the unelected bureaucracy. Management plans for those areas put the horses in the minority. That’s why so much money is being spent on roundups, adoption incentives, training programs, fertility controls, off-range pastures, sanctuaries and preserves.
Can a federal regulation trump a duly enacted statute? If you look at current practices, the answer must be “Yes.” (If that’s true, our most cherished principles are now on very shaky ground.)
The HMAs and WHTs reviewed on these pages (sidebar on the right under ‘Short End of Stick’) intersect multiple grazing allotments, with most of the resources consigned to privately owned cattle and sheep. Would you be surprised to learn that most of them are managed that way?
Would the fences that confine the livestock to their allotments impede the movement of horses and wildlife, limiting their access to critical resources?
How many free-roaming horses and burros have to move off their designated areas to find enough food and water?
What types of diseases are transmitted to wildlife by privately owned livestock?
Perhaps the outdoorsmen should look at the data before criticizing the horses.
Assateague Horse Survey: Any Day Now
NPS still hasn’t posted the results of the February census, at least not at their news site.
Last November, there were 22 stallions and 53 mares on the island (Maryland side).
If you don’t think that’s unusual, go get a pair of dice. Set one of them aside. Roll the remaining die 75 times, counting odd (or even) results.
Try coming up with (a) 22 or less such results or (b) 53 or more such results.
Feel free to leave your answers in the comments.
RELATED: Assateague Census in 2020.
Fertility Control Study Approved
BLM issued a Decision Record and Finding of No Significant Impact today for the testing of a contraceptive thought to be effective for three years.
The research will evaluate the efficacy of the vaccine against two oocyte growth factors, and if it can produce long-term infertility from a single dose.
The experiments will be performed on excess wild horses at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City, NV.
If successful, the vaccine could help the agency achieve a thriving ecological balance on western rangelands, according to the news release.
RELATED: Comments Invited on Wild Horse Fertility Control Study.
Managed Primarily for Livestock
Refer to this guest column posted today by The Salt Lake Tribune. If AWHC understands that most of the forage on HMAs has been consigned to privately owned cattle and sheep, why do they keep pushing fertility control?
Contraceptives drive wild horse numbers down—a technique you’d apply if you wanted to manage the land primarily for livestock.
RELATED: Grazing Program Overhaul, Management of Western Rangelands in 2018.
Heber Comment Period Drawing to a Close
Comments on the draft management plan will be taken until March 16, after which it will be finalized by the Forest Service, according to a report posted this morning by the White Mountain Independent of Show Low, AZ.
A problem with the plan is the amount of land dedicated to the WHT—it’s only half the size of the tiny Pryor Mountains WHR in Montana.
If the land can support a stocking rate of five wild horses per thousand acres, and the minimum herd size is 150 per Section 4.4.6.3 the Management Handbook, then the WHT should contain at least 30,000 acres, with an AML of 150.
Public-lands ranchers, referred to by some as “stewards of the forest,” would oppose any such move. They are trying to paint themselves as victims of the process, typical for government dependents.
Groups that represent them were unwilling to go on record for the article.
Some advocates say the plan is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to eradicate the herd.
One thing is for sure: Unlike the ranchers, wild horses have no friends in government.
Heber Recap
This story by UPI, published this morning, is a rehash and update of a report posted a month ago by ABC15 News of Phoenix.
Laramie County Commissioners Discuss CAFO!
The March 3 meeting was interrupted briefly after the February 18 minutes had been approved to shuffle roles in response to the resignation of the chair.
Although the high-density horse feeding operation proposed by Equine Elite was not on the agenda, it was discussed at the conclusion of regular business. You can watch the proceedings beginning at 12:58 in this video.
Developers of the facility have asked the county for a rule change that will silence the voices of many who oppose the project.
The planning department has drafted a new rule based on an odor propagation model developed by the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.
Commissioners asked for a public hearing on March 17 to formally consider the proposal and receive stakeholder comments.
A decision will not be rendered until April 7, at the earliest.
Minutes of the meeting have not been posted as of today.
Mesa Verde Horses to Be Removed This Summer?
The operation will be carried out by the National Mustang Association of Colorado.
RELATED: Park Service Reviews Mesa Verde Gather Plan.
Devil’s Garden Cash & Carry
The Herald and News of Klamath Falls, OR is reporting that horses at the Double Devil Corrals are for sale at $1 each. Some of the ‘leftovers’ will also be offered for sale at an event hosted by the Backcountry Horsemen of California March 27 – 29.
These animals were forced off their home range during September and October, 2019.
Floyd County Shooting Survivor Finds New Home
A colt that survived the wild horse shootings last year in Floyd County, KY has been adopted, according to a report posted today by WLKY News of Louisville.
The status of two other horses rescued at the same time was not given and authorities are still looking for the person(s) responsible for the incident.
RELATED: Floyd County Horse Deaths Prompt Legislative Action.
Comments Invited on EA for Black Mountain Gather Plan
BLM announced today the opening of a 30-day comment period on an Environmental Assessment for the Black Mountain Wild Burro Gather and Population Control Plan.
The HMA covers approximately one million acres in northwestern Arizona, including the old mining town of Oatman. The AML is 478, for an aimed-at population density of 0.5 burros per thousand acres. See Table 1 in the EA.
The current population is thought to be around 2,200.
The HMA intersects fourteen grazing allotments, although some of them are not active, according to Table 7. Figure 15 in Appendix C indicates that roughly half of the HMA is subject to permitted livestock grazing, maybe a bit more.
The forage allowance for burros is half of that for horses. If horses roamed the HMA, the plan would need to allocate 5,736 AUMs per year (478 × 12). Given that the land was set aside for burros, the forage allocation would be 2,868 AUMs per year.
Comments can be submitted at the project documents page. Substantive only, please.
Mustang Monday
Near Pahrump, NV with Robert Witham.
Grass Always Greener on the Other Side?
Probably not true in every case but it sure does seem to be greener near the poop pile!
Laramie County Commissioners Meet This Week
Consideration of a rule change requested by Equine Elite for a proposed CAFO near Burns, WY is not on the agenda for the March 3 meeting.
At their meeting on February 4, commissioners asked planning department staff for a report on odor propagation models that could assess the concerns of residents near the proposed facility.
The feedlot would have a capacity of 5,000 wild horses on approximately 80 acres.
RELATED: Laramie County Commissioners Looking for Cover?
Photo of wild horses at Palomino Valley off-range corrals on 02-08-20. The facility has a capacity of 1,850 horses on approximately 100 acres.
What Can the BLM Do With an Extra $21 Million?
Back in December, Congress awarded an additional $21 million to the BLM to further address the wild horse ‘problem,’ courtesy of the ill-conceived ‘Path Forward.’
Keep in mind that most of the affected lands were set aside for the horses and that the agency involved is responsible for their protection.
Q. How many wild horses could be removed with the additional funding?
A. Given a cost of roughly $1,000 to gather and process one animal, as many as 21,000 could be removed beyond what the BLM had already anticipated in FY 2020. This does not mean the agency has the capacity in its outplacement programs to handle that many horses. Probably not. So let’s reduce the number to 10,000.
Q. Which areas would be targeted first?
A. Given the agency’s bias toward livestock grazing, which existed before FLPMA, HMAs where the poor ranchers are suffering from AUM cutbacks (because of the horses) would likely be at the top of the list.
Q. What economic benefits might accrue from the $21 million expenditure?
A. The government could receive up to $162,000 per year in incremental grazing fees from the ranchers to whom the ‘liberated’ forage is sold (10,000 horses × 12 months per year × $1.35 per AUM).
Q. Are there any other economic benefits?
A. Not to the government, only the cost of warehousing that many more horses, about $2 per day per head. The ranchers would benefit, of course, but they’re not the ones spending the $21 million. Think of it as redistribution of wealth: From your pocket to theirs, assuming you pay federal taxes.
Q. Could the expenditure be described as an investment in America’s future?
A. No. There is no payout and no rate of return. It’s negative cash flow all the way. You don’t spend $21 million up front so you can spend an additional $7.1 million annually after that ($162,000 per year – 10,000 horses × $2 per day × 365 days per year).
Q. I thought the ‘Path Forward’ would cut costs and reduce government spending?
A. It’s not about saving money. There are no plans to close departments, sell buildings and lay people off when AML is achieved. It’s about enriching the public-lands ranchers and those who operate off-range pastures, sanctuaries and preserves.
RELATED: Wild Horses: Existential Threat to Ranching Agenda.
