The Draft EA for pest control actions in the Owyhee Front states in Section 1.1 that the HMA intersects the Hardtrigger, Rabbit Creek and East Reynolds Creek allotments.
The National Data Viewer indicates a small amount of overlap on the west side with the Reynolds Creek allotment but that will be ignored.
The HMA covers 50,904 total acres in western Idaho, including 47,434 public acres, according to the 2023 HA/HMA Report.
The 60 horses allowed by plan require 720 AUMs per year.
The stocking rate allowed by plan is 1.3 wild horses per thousand public acres.
The current population is thought to be 104, according to Table 1 in the EA, plus this year’s foal crop.
There are three layers of forage demand in the HMA: Horses, livestock and wildlife.
- The carrying capacity of the HMA, referred to on these pages as the True AML, depends on the horse and livestock layers
- The True AML represents the number of horses the HMA could support if it was managed principally for them, as specified in the original statute
- Overpopulation means more horses than allowed by plan, not necessarily more horses than the land can support
- The livestock layer represents horses displaced from their lawful home by permitted grazing, now in off-range holding
- The allotments mean the HMA is used for animal agriculture, a purpose for which the fertility control pesticides were not registered
- Persons who apply the products in this manner should be investigated by law enforcement, along with those who authorize them
- The “vaccines” are on the same EPA list as toxic chemicals
The Allotment Master Report provides acreage, management status and active AUMs.
The allotments are in the Improve category.
They offer a weighted-average 62.3 AUMs per year per thousand public acres, equivalent to 5.2 wild horses per thousand public acres.
This is on top of the 1.3 wild horses allowed by plan.
Therefore, the True AML should be around (1.3 + 5.2) × 47,434 ÷ 1,000 = 308, 5.1 times higher than the current AML.
The stocking rate at the new AML would be 1.3 + 5.2 = 6.5 wild horses per thousand public acres, considerably higher than the target rate of one wild horse per thousand acres associated with a thriving ecological balance (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).
The number of horses displaced by permitted grazing is 308 – 60 = 248, about 0.4% of those in off-range holding.
If you performed this analysis for every HA/HMA/WHT—better yet, the government reported the forage assigned to livestock in every HA/HMA/WHT—you’d find that all of the off-range corrals and long-term pastures could be emptied several times over by ending permitted grazing in areas identified for wild horses.
The HMA is managed primarily for animal agriculture, with livestock receiving 80% of the authorized forage, neglecting wildlife.
In a nutshell, the land-use plan allows 60 wild horses in the HMA, plus livestock equivalent to 248 cow/calf pairs, seven days a week, twelve months per year.
The True AML can be achieved by confining the ranchers to their base properties in a year-round off season.
The Wild Horse Fire Brigade, established by a rancher for the benefit of ranchers, would move the horses to a remote wilderness area not particularly suited to livestock grazing, giving the permittees access to all of their food.
RELATED: Owyhee Resource Enforcement Plan Out for Review.
