BLM Announces Spring Mountains Bait Trap Roundup

The incident will begin on or about March 15 according to the news release.

The capture and removal goals are 425 wild horses and 425 wild burros.

The Spring Mountains Complex consists of the Johnnie, Red Rock and Wheeler HMAs.

The Nevada HMA page has vital statistics.

The current population is thought to be 749 horses and 1,048 burros, plus this year’s foal crop.

Operations will not be open to public observation.

Animals removed from the complex will be taken to the off-range corrals at Palomino Valley.

There are no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.

Foaling season, which runs from March 1 through June 30, usually corresponds to a lull in roundups.

A schedule for FY26 has not been posted to the customary location.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

BLM Announces Pancake Bait Trap Roundup

The incident will begin on or about March 15 according to the news release.

The capture and removal goals are 300 each.

The Pancake Complex consists of the Pancake and Sand Springs West HMAs, plus Jakes Wash HA—an area unfit for wild horses.

The Monte Cristo WHT was omitted.

The current population is thought to be 1,436, not including this year’s foal crop.

Operations will not be open to public observation.

Animals removed from the complex will be taken to the off-range corrals at Sutherland.

There are no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.

The complex is subject to permitted grazing.

Foaling season, which runs from March 1 through June 30, usually corresponds to a lull in wild horse roundups.

A schedule for FY26 has not been posted to the customary location.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

BLM Announces Caliente Bait Trap Roundup

The incident will begin on or about March 15 according to the news release.

The capture and removal goals are 350 each.  The gather page says 550.

The Caliente Complex consists of nine former HMAs, all unfit for wild horses.

The current population is thought to be 1,503, not counting this year’s foal crop.

Operations will not be open to public observation.

Animals removed from the complex will be taken to the off-range corrals in Fallon.

There are no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.

The HAs are subject to permitted grazing.

Foaling season, which runs from March 1 through June 30, usually corresponds to a lull in wild horse roundups.

A schedule for FY26 has not been posted to the customary location.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

BLM Announces Antelope and Triple B Bait Trap Roundups

The incidents will begin on or about March 15 according to the news release.

The capture and removal goals for Antelope are 700 each and for Triple B 300 each.

The Antelope Complex consists of the Antelope, Antelope Valley (portion east of U.S. Hwy 93), Goshute and Spruce-Pequop HMAs.

The Triple B Complex consists of the Triple B, Maverick-Medicine and Antelope Valley (portion west of U.S. Hwy 93) HMAs and the Cherry Springs WHT.

The Nevada HMA page has vital statistics.

Operations will not be open to public observation.

Animals removed from Antelope will be taken to the off-range corrals in Fallon.

Animals removed from Triple B will be taken to the off-range corrals in Sutherland.

There are no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.

The HMAs are subject to permitted grazing.

Foaling season runs from March 1 through June 30, which usually corresponds to a lull in wild horse roundups.

A roundup schedule for FY26 has not been posted to the customary location.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Burro Grazing in New Mexico?

The authorization use report for Y Ranch shows 201 AUMs for burros with a 12-month grazing season.

What production-oriented purpose, as the BLM argued in its decision to cancel the American Prairie grazing permits, do they serve?  Meat, milk or fiber?

Y Ranch is the only BLM allotment in the western U.S. where burros are authorized.

RELATED: Would Y Ranch Make a Good Wild Horse Preserve?

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

BLM Nevada Seeks Range Techs

The temporary positions are based in Tonopah and Battle Mountain.

The successful candidates will monitor grazing activities and conduct wild horse surveys according to the job posting.

The application period closes on March 18 or when 30 applications have been received, whichever occurs first.

The description did not indicate if you must be certified in the application of restricted-use pesticides or can work comfortably around high-net-worth individuals who pay almost nothing for the resources they consume and the services rendered on their behalf by the government.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

American Prairie Adds Pintail Flatt to Montana Holdings

The property consists of 1,762 deeded acres and 320 public acres according to a March 5 news release.

The announcement did not give any details about the BLM acreage but the listing says it’s an allotment known as Upper Tressler Coulee.

The allotment master report puts it in the Custodial category with 57 active AUMs, equivalent to 14.8 wild horses per thousand public acres.

Your faithful public servants claim that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres.

The authorization use report indicates the allotment is permitted for cattle with a 12-month grazing season.

It’s not clear if the nonprofit will petition the agency for a change in livestock type, given its recent about-face in such matters.

RELATED: BLM Reneges on American Prairie Grazing Permits.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

BLM Issues Lake Pleasant Final Planning Documents

The Decision Record authorizes Alternative A, the Proposed Action, with the best management practices, design features, stipulations and mitigations of Appendices D, E and G of the Final EA.

The AML would change from 166-208 to 140-250.

The new plan includes forcible removal and fertility control.

The news release put the population at 2,303 wild burros in and around the HMA.

The DR and EA were copied to the project folder with related documents.

RELATED: Lake Pleasant EA Out for Review.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Currituck Wild Horse Advisory Board to Hold Special Meeting

The Board will review the Wild Horse Management Agreement and discuss other matters of business on March 12 according to the notice.

A link to the agenda was not provided.

Three out of four regular meetings were canceled in 2025, along with the first quarter meeting in 2026.

RELATED: Turmoil at Currituck Wild Horse Advisory Board?

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Would Jackstone and Adobe Hills Be a Good Wild Horse Preserve?

The allotments have a common border but are composed of checkerboard lands.

Together they offer 2,860 active AUMs on 30,107 public acres, equivalent to 7.9 wild horses per thousand public acres.

Your faithful public servants claim that rangeland health will suffer if wild horse stocking rates exceed one animal per thousand acres, yet the allotment master report puts both in the Maintain category.

The permits are up for renewal but the news release did not include a link to the NEPA review.

The Proposed Action would convert 46 horse AUMs in Adobe Hills to cattle but the total authorized forage would not change.  Refer to section 3.4.2 in the Draft EA.

Wild horses can be placed on public lands no identified for their use by acquiring base properties associated with grazing allotments and flipping the preference to horses.

RELATED: The Allotments Tell the Story: They’re Lying, All of Them.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Purdue Researchers Invent New Fertility Control Pesticide?

They are trying to develop it into a controlled-release formulation that induces long-lasting infertility with a single injection according to a March 3 news release.

Humane World for Animals, formerly the Humane Society of the United States, provided financial support for the research.

The BLM has funded a three-year project to test it on horses.

What’s the difference between long-term infertility and sterility?

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

How Many Wild Horses Can the Callaghan HMA Support?

The HMA overlaps the Austin, Grass Valley and Simpson Park allotments, with 51% in Austin, 42% in Grass Valley and 7% in Simpson Park according to Table 5 of the Final EA for the Callaghan Complex.

The 237 wild horses allowed by plan require 2,844 AUMs per year.

Austin offers 14,478 active AUMs on 235,185 public acres, equivalent to 5.1 wild horses per thousand public acres.

Grass Valley offers 17,701 active AUMs on 267,201 public acres, equivalent to 5.5 wild horses per thousand public acres.

Simpson Park offers 3,406 active AUMs on 96,818 public acres, equivalent to 2.9 wild horses per thousand public acres.

These resources are present in the HMA, assuming they’re evenly distributed across the allotments, but they’ve been assigned to livestock.

To estimate the carrying capacity, shift them back to the horses.  Forage assigned to wildlife stays with wildlife.

The HMA covers 152,726 public acres so the forage allocated to the Austin permittees inside the HMA should support 152,726 × .51 × 5.1 ÷ 1,000 = 397 wild horses.

The forage allocated to the Grass Valley ranchers should support 152,726 × .42 × 5.5 ÷ 1,000 = 353 wild horses.

The forage assigned to the Simpson Park ranchers should support 152,726 × .07 × 2.9 ÷ 1,000 = 31 wild horses.

The HMA should be able to sustain 237 + 397 + 353 + 31 = 1,018 wild horses (4X AML) if it was managed principally for them as specified in the original statute.

The new stocking rate would be 1,018 ÷ 152,726 × 1,000 = 6.7 wild horses per thousand public acres.

Your faithful public servants claim that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres.

The allotment master report puts all of the acreage in the Improve category.

Austin has more AUMs in the suspended column than active, while everything is active at Simpson Park.

The allotments would not make a good wild horse preserve because they overlap areas identified for wild horses and there is more than one authorization attached to each, so you’d have to acquire or control several base properties to access all of the AUMs.

Simpson Park contains Spencer Hot Springs, a water source for the Hickison burros.

RELATED: BLM Publishes Callaghan Final Planning Documents.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Scoping Begins for Muddy Creek HMAP?

Two projects have been added to ePlanning, both with the same NEPA numbers but different URLs.

The second project has an open comment period for a management evaluation report.

The scoping statement gives a due date of April 1.

Western Horse Watchers has not seen any announcements or news reports on the topic.

The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.

UPDATE: The link in the news release, issued on March 3, points to the second project.

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.

Would Sanpete Allotments Make a Good Wild Horse Preserve?

They’re on the small side and not contiguous but the permits are up for renewal with comments due by March 4.

The allotment master report puts Hayes Canyon, Little Valley, Swedes Canyon and West Side in the Maintain category with equivalent stocking rates ranging from 3.6 to 12.6 wild horses per thousand public acres.

Your faithful public servants claim that rangeland health will suffer if wild horse stocking rates exceed one animal per thousand acres.

If a lying contest was held next week, who would win?  The bureaucrats or advocates?

RELATED: How Many Wild Horses Can Public Lands Really Support?

► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.