Author: Western Horse Watchers

How to Convert AMLs to AUMs and Vice Versa

An Animal Unit Month (AUM) is the amount of forage consumed by one wild horse or one cow/calf pair in one month.  It also represents the amount of forage consumed by two wild burros or five sheep in one month.

The Appropriate Management Level (AML) corresponds to the number of wild horses or burros allowed in a given area by plan.

AMLs are usually not specified for cattle and sheep.

Wild horses and burros graze twelve months per year.  To convert horse AMLs to AUMs, multiply the AMLs by twelve.

Wild Horse AUMs = AML × 12

The Challis HMA, in the news recently, has an AML of 253.  The forage allocation for horses there would be 3,036 AUMs per year.

To convert burro AMLs to AUMs, multiply the AMLs by twelve and divide by two.

Wild Burro AUMs = AML × 12 ÷ 2

At the Twin Peaks HMA, 116 wild burros are allowed by plan.  The forage allocation for those animals would be 696 AUMs per year.

If you know the AUMs and want to determine the AMLs, just reverse the math.

Wild Horse AML = AUMs ÷ 12

Wild Burro AML = AUMs ÷ 12 × 2

The AUM budget for horses at Warm Springs HMA is 2,424 AUMs per year, therefore the AML must be 202.  It has nothing to do with the carrying capacity of the land.

RELATED: What Do the AUM Numbers Tell You About an HMA?

Grazing Fee Defies FLPMA

Paragraph 9 of Section 102 in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the statute that codified ‘multiple use’ and authorized helicopter roundups of federally protected horses and burros, requires that:

FLPMA Fair Value-1

The fee for livestock grazing on western rangelands is currently $1.35 per AUM, updated annually according to a formula in the Public Rangelands Improvement Act.

Last month, however, ranchers in New Mexico bid $35 to $43 per AUM to graze eight parcels on withdrawn lands near Alamogordo.

If that is the going rate, then the U.S. is not receiving fair market value for the use of public lands in the western U.S., in defiance of FLPMA.

If the fee was increased by $40 per AUM—in line with market rates—the U.S would receive an additional $360 million per year, a nice offset to the cost of warehousing wild horses and burros, who were forced off their home range at the behest of the ranchers.

PZP Zealots Target Black Mountain Burros

The Platero Project, a venture of HSUS aimed at reducing the number of burros on Black Mountain HMA, pledged $32,500 to the Clark Mountain reward to hasten the arrest and conviction of the person(s) who reduced the size of that herd.

You can’t make this stuff up!

HSUS was one of the signatories to the ill-conceived ‘Path Forward,’ which will remove 70% of America’s wild horses and burros from western rangelands.

These people, most of them liberals, think fertility and reproduction are among the world’s greatest problems (especially in homo sapiens).  They are on the same side of the debate as the public-lands ranchers, differing only in methodology.

RELATED: The ‘Path Forward’ is Wrong.

Challis Herd to Be Thinned Next Month

BLM said today that 365 wild horses would be gathered from the Challis HMA in central Idaho, beginning on or about November 5, with 244 permanently removed.

Mares returned to the range will be treated with contraceptives, according to the news release.  The announcement did not indicate of any of the studs would be gelded.

The roundup will be carried out with helicopters and will be open to public observation.

The HMA covers 168,720 acres and has an AML of 253, for an aimed-at population density of 1.5 wild horses per thousand acres.  The target density across all HMAs is one animal per thousand acres.

Challis HMA Map-1

The HMA intersects seven grazing allotments, according to Section 3.8 of the final Environmental Assessment for the HMA Management Plan.  Table 2 in Appendix G indicates that the entire parcel is subject to domestic livestock grazing.

Captured animals will be taken to the off-range corrals in Bruneau.

Gather stats and daily reports will be posted to this page.

The ‘Path Forward’ is Wrong

The announcement this week regarding WHB adoptions in FY 2019 stated that 46,000 wild horses and burros were currently in off-range corrals and long-term pastures.

Let’s collect some numbers that appeared on these pages over the last two weeks for wild horses displaced by domestic livestock on lands set aside for the horses.

These thirteen HMAs could support an additional 22,596 wild horses, but they can’t, because of the livestock.

That is, roughly half of the wild horses in off-range holding can be accounted for by misappropriation of forage on just 13 HMAs.

How is that possible?

Refer to CFR 4710.3-2: Your government gave itself the power to decide if lands set aside for wild horses and burros will be managed principally for wild horses and burros, in defiance of the original WHB Act.  All but four of the 177 HMAs are not.

The ‘Path Forward‘ is wrong.  It’s aimed at symptoms, not causes.  You don’t have a wild horse problem on western rangelands, you have a ranching problem.

The enterprise needs to be ripped out by the roots, along with those engaged in it.

BLM Needs $5 Billion and Fifteen Years to Fix Wild Horse Problem?

Refer to this AP report, posted today.

You don’t need that much money and that much time.  You only need an executive order, effective Monday morning, ending public-lands ranching.  The driver of the roundups, and the warehousing of captured animals, will be gone.

There is no ‘two-state solution’ on western rangelands.  There is no ‘working together,’ not when the other party wants you wiped off the map.

It’s free-roaming horses or privately owned livestock.  Take your pick.

Incentives Boost WHB Adoptions

BLM announced today that wild horse and burro adoptions in FY 2019 reached their highest level in fifteen years, attributing the jump to the $1,000 incentive and a greater number of adoption events across the country.

The number of animals placed into private care in FY 2019 was 54% larger than FY 2018, according to the news release.

The wild horse outplacement program helps other users of public lands enjoy the full benefit of their permitted AUMs.

RELATED: Adoption Incentive and the IRS.

Cattle Grazing on Hill-1

BLM Acknowledges New Clark Mountain Reward

Refer to this news release, posted today.  As reported last week, several new pledges have been received, the largest of which was for $32,000 from the Roy Dunlap Spay & Neuter Foundation.

The reward is available to anyone who provides information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the shooting deaths of 46 wild burros on the north side of I-15 in southern California, near the Nevada border.

RELATED: Clark Mountain Reward Increases to $100K.

Corolla Horse Fence Removed

A temporary barrier installed after hurricane Dorian destroyed its predecessor, was removed yesterday, according to a story by The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, VA.

The fence, installed after the storm to keep wild horses away from populated areas, also killed salt-water fish, so it was taken down.

Horses that roam into town will be escorted out by a local advocacy group.

RELATED: Dorian Lets Corolla Wild Horses Visit Town.

The ‘Path Forward’ is Actually a Path Backward

In this video, Celeste Carlisle, RTF scientist and WHBAB member, speaks about wild horse fertility control at the Pathways 2019 Wildlife Conference in Estes Park, CO.

Discussion of the ‘Path Forward,’ to which RTF is a signatory, begins at 15:20.

Yes, they are getting hammered for it, and rightly so.

Wild horse preservationists were barred from the formulation, you see, because they are fringe groups—there would be no advancement in the discussion (16:32).

That’s what happens when you try to reconcile two incompatible views.

How can anyone look at the AUM distribution on lands set aside for the horses, such as in this post, and conclude that fertility control is the answer?

As reported yesterday, the forage allocated to domestic livestock in the Antelope Complex would support over 10,000 wild horses.  The forage allocated to livestock on the Triple B Complex would support over 4,000 wild horses.

The problem is not uncontrolled reproduction, it is public-lands ranching.

RELATED: PZP Zealotry on a Global Scale.

Antelope Roundup Moves Into Second Phase

The contracted part of the operation ended on October 8, according to the daily reports, with 911 excess horses removed from their home range.  Eleven deaths were reported (1.2%) and 17 animals were returned to the HMAs.

Body condition scores were not given.

The removal of horses outside the HMAs began on October 17, using BLM’s equipment and personnel.

The forage allocated to domestic livestock in the Antelope Complex, which includes the HMAs affected by this roundup, would support over 10,000 wild horses.

The ‘Path Forward‘ is clearly wrong.  The problem is public-lands ranching.

RELATED: Roundup Starts Next Week in Lower Half of Antelope Complex.

UPDATE: The reports said 946 horses gathered, not 918, minus seven from phase two, minus 17 returned, for a total of 922 removed in phase one.

‘Horse Rich’ Forum to Push ‘Path Forward’

The panel discussion tomorrow at the Nevada Museum of Art will focus on the ‘Path Forward,’ a plan to remove 75% of the wild horses on western rangelands and slow or stop the growth of the remaining herds, according to a story posted yesterday by KOLO News of Reno.

The goal of the forum is to ‘inform’ the public about the ‘benefits’ of the proposal.

The meeting organizer said she wants those in attendance “to come away with enough information to contact our congressional leadership and let them know what they think of the measure moving through Washington.”

RELATED: Horse Rich Dirt Poor.