Mustang Monday

On the Salt River, site of the nation’s second largest wild horse sterilization program, with Mark Storto.

Velma’s Life Changed Forever 75 Years Ago

In chapter four of Wild Horse Annie and the Last of the Mustangs, authors David Cruise and Alison Griffiths date her first encounter with the horse runners to a spring morning in 1950, meaning the event which launched modern-day advocacy is now 75 years old.

“What she saw on that truck was beyond anything she’d ever experienced.”

Butcher Jones and Sunflower

Key moments in this video from late 2022:

0:33 – 0:51, Butcher Jones beach with Sunflower allotment in background
1:28 – 1:49, Sunflower allotment and Butcher Jones beach
2:08 – 2:26, Sunflower allotment
- West end of Saguaro WBT
- Four Peaks in the distance (eastern side of allotment)
2:27 – 2:52, Looking across the allotment to Four Peaks
4:25 – 4:35, Looking across Saguaro Lake to the Goldfield allotment

Missing from the video are wild horses, who may not be able to access the area anymore.

RELATED: Wild Horses at Butcher Jones.

Practice with the PLSS (ArcGIS Viewer Update)

A listing on Zillow gives the address of a 40-acre parcel in Storey County as 40 SW 4nw4 S 16/18n/21e LOT 12S, Reno, NV 89521.

Listing on Zillow 40 Acre Lot 03-15-25

The map puts it on Sazarac Rd which is wrong.

The callouts for these properties should be read from right to left.

The first part tells you it’s in Section 16 of Township 18 North, Range 21 East.

The township-range blocks typically consist of 36 sections covering one square mile each. The sections usually contain sixteen 40-acre parcels.

Zoom the viewer to the Reno area, turn on the Public Land Survey System layer and look for 18N 21E.

Zoom in on that block and look for Section 16.

Zoom in on Section 16.

The section can be divided into four quarters, each one containing four lots.

Lousetown Creek flows through it, probably from the southwest to northeast.

The listing tells you it’s the southwest lot in the northwest quarter.

The photo tells you it’s on the Virginia Range.

These parcels, although very remote, are zoned as single-family residences.

Scoping Begins for Callaghan HMAP

A management evaluation has been copied to the project folder for public review.

The Complex consists of the Bald Mountain, Callaghan, South Shoshone and northern end of the Hickison HMAs, as well as the North Shoshone HA.

The HA has been zeroed out and will be omitted from the analysis.

The HMAs are subject to permitted grazing.

Comments will be accepted through April 14.

The HMAP will ratify and reinforce resource allocations already on the books.

If the Complex was managed primarily for livestock before the project, it will be managed primarily for livestock after the project.

SCR 4006 Hearing Next Week

The House Agriculture Committee will consider the resolution on March 20.

The deadline to submit testimony is 7:00 AM.

RELATED: SCR 4006 Introduced in House.

Foal-Free Friday, Minimally Invasive Edition

Why would you go through the trouble and expense of ovariectomies when you can sterilize the mares with pesticides?

Minimally Invasive Management Solutions 03-10-25

The advocates are the good guys and have all the answers—if you’re a rancher.

Adjectives for Pests 12-01-23

Agriculture Committee Amends, Approves HB25-1283

The bill passed as amended 13-0 in today’s hearing.

Amendments approved by a committee are not incorporated into the bill until they are adopted by the full chamber.

BLM Issues CX for Red Rock Lakes Wild Horse Removal

NEPA analysis is not necessary according to the Decision Record.

In the latest incident, wild horses moved onto private lands, breaking through fences and eating hay stored in pole barns.

The project description says they’re leaving the HMA due to insufficient food and water.

The ArcGIS Viewer indicates it’s subject to permitted grazing.

The agency did not indicate if California is a fence-out state.

A roundup does not appear on the latest schedule but may fall into the “Unassigned” category of the Emergency/Nuisance section.

HB25-1283 Financial Impact Statement Released

The bill requires an appropriation of $555,000 in FY 2025-26 to help manage the state’s wild horse population according to the statement.

It allows the Department of Agriculture to start an immunocontraception program and creates a wild horse advisory committee.

Funding for a wild horse preserve was not discussed.

Mares Run the Show at Wild Horse Refuge?

It’s a nonreproducing herd, and the males are actually geldings, but an article by the Craig Press refers to them as stallions.

“While the stallions are the big flashy ones that do all the big bites and everything, it’s those older mares that are really the bosses, and nobody crosses the boss mare.”

That might be true at the refuge but it’s not true in the wild, despite all the fairy tales you’ve heard from the advocates.

Problem is, it’s getting harder and harder to find herds that are truly wild.

Many in the public eye, especially those chronicled on socialist media, have been decimated by the government or ruined by the advocates.

To its credit, the refuge is based on the right concept—purchasing a base property and flipping the preference to horses—but the numbers fall short of the ideals.

Wild Horses at Butcher Jones

This undated video begins with a view to the south, looking across Saguaro Lake into the Goldfield Allotment.

The horses come off the beach and run north into the Sunflower Allotment.

We know the Salt River advocates would never throw in with the ranchers so there must be some other reason they’re sterilizing the mares with PZP.

Colorado Wild Horse Working Group Supports HB25-1283?

Minutes from yesterday’s meeting have not been posted to their website but a story by Colorado Politics suggests they would, based on their Year One Report.

The bill would transfer the program from the state-owned non-profit to the Department of Agriculture while protecting the funding according to the article.

RELATED: HB25-1283 Hearing This Week?

Pancake HMAP Proves Advocates Ill-Informed About Wild Horses

Remember last April, at the Save Our Wild Horses Conference in Reno, when they were higher than a kite on HMAPs?

Now that the plans are rolling out, they’ve developed a bad case of amnesia.

Consider the Pancake HMAP, just released. It’s discussed in Appendix XIII of the Final EA for management actions in the Complex.

Area will be managed for 336-638 wild horses
Gather and remove excess animals to reach low AML as soon as possible
Apply fertility control pesticides and/or IUDs to released mares
Maintain a sex ratio of 60% males and 40% females
Bring in mares from another HMA if genetic diversity declines

This must be good for the herd because it doesn’t include aerial shooting.

HB25-1283 Hearing This Week?

There are no instructions for submitting testimony at the bill’s website but it’s on the committee’s schedule for March 13.

Surface Management Agencies Along the Salt River

The river flows westward through a mountainous area in the Tonto National Forest until it reaches Saguaro Lake.

Along the way, it passes the Sunflower Allotment to the north and the Reavis, Tortilla, Superstition and Goldfield Allotments to the south.

Then it flows west southwest through Goldfield before crossing into BIA land.

The Saguaro WBT overlaps the southern portion of Sunflower but it is inactive, the equivalent of an HA on BLM land.

Sunflower is permitted for cattle according to the ArcGIS viewer.

Reavis, Tortilla and Superstition are vacant and Goldfield has been closed.

In years past, wild horses were spotted around the lake, including the Butcher Jones Recreation Area at the southern edge of Sunflower.

They can also be found at Coon Bluff and the Phon D Sutton Recreation Area, both of which are at the western end of Goldfield.

Robbing forage from Sunflower livestock would be unacceptable but there are probably fences keeping them out of that area so there must be some other reason the advocates are sterilizing the mares with PZP.