Clover Mountain and Pine Nut Mountains were added to the June 3 update.

Chloride, Four Mile and Bible Spring were added in May.

No change to the bottom-line totals.

RELATED: Nuisance Roundups Increase in Latest Schedule.

Horses have the day off.  In the Hickison HMA with DebraElaine McDonald.

From the project description in ePlanning:

The Wolf Creek allotment would contain 8,253 acres of BLM administered land, 2,712 deeded acres and 640 acres of state lands.  The BLM administered acreage would have 1,242 AUMs of active use, equivalent to 103 wild horses or 12.5 wild horses per thousand public acres.

Your faithful public servants insist the public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (25,500 animals on 25.6 million acres).

The Square Butte allotment would contain 5,039 acres of BLM administered land, 2,280 deeded acres and 663 acres of state lands.  The BLM administered acreage would have 754 AUMs of active use, equivalent to 63 wild horses or 12.5 wild horses per thousand public acres.

The Ely allotment would contain 1,563 acres of BLM administered land and 480 deeded acres.  The BLM administered acreage would have 326 AUMs of active use equivalent to 27 wild horses or 17.4 wild horses per thousand public acres.

The 7-W allotment would contain 6,201 acres of BLM administered land, 6,729 deeded acres and 640 acres of state lands.  The BLM administered acreage would have 1,430 AUMs of active use, equivalent to 119 wild horses or 19.2 wild horses per thousand public acres.

The Six-X allotment would contain 10,327 acres of BLM administered land, 8,978 deeded acres and 1,920 acres of state lands.  The BLM administered acreage would have 2,125 AUMs of active use, equivalent to 177 wild horses or 17.1 wild horses per thousand public acres.

The D.K. North Pasture allotment would contain 4,470 acres of BLM administered land, 13,686 deeded acres, and 640 acres of state lands.  The BLM administered acreage would have 758 AUMS of authorized active use, equivalent to 63 wild horses or 14.1 wild horses per thousand public acres.

The advocates don’t want you looking at the numbers because they contradict their allies, expose the gravy train and destroy the rationale for their darting programs.

RELATED: Montana Allotment Split Reveals Abundant Forage.

They want the herds eliminated with pesticides while the bureaucrats prefer helicopters.

Walker is a PZP adherent and close supporter of the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses.

The Preliminary EA for the Antelope-Triple B pest control plan states at the top of page 169 that “The WFRHBA of 1971 specifically provides for contraception and sterilization (16 U.S.C. 1333 section 3.b.1).”  [It’s actually 16 USC 1333(b)(1), a comment you can submit on the EA.]

A keyword search of the statute yielded these results:

• Contraception – Not found
• Fertility – Not found
• Vaccine – Not found
• Pesticide – Not found
• Growth – Not found

There is no warrant for the application of PZP and GonaCon Equine unless those products are used for sterilization.

Application to slow population growth, the oft-cited reason for their use, is not covered.

In the discussion of the effects of PZP on ovaries, the EA states at the bottom of page 177 that “…if some number of mares become sterile as a result of PZP treatment, that potential result would be consistent with the contraceptive purpose that motivates BLM’s potential use of the vaccine, and with Congressional guidance that condones such treatment in the management of wild horses and burros, in WFRHBA section 1333(b),” suggesting that sterility is a goal, not an unintended consequence of its use, as stated previously.

RELATED: Antelope-Triple B Preliminary EA Out for Review.

The Proposed Action, discussed in Section 2.4 of the EA, features motorized removal, application of fertility control pesticides and sex ratio skewing.

Creation of a new HMAP is still in the project scope.  Refer to Appendix XIII.

The comment period ends on June 29 according to the news release.

The project supports three tenets of rangeland management.

RELATED: Scoping Begins for Antelope-Triple B HMAP.

The Decision Record authorizes Alternative II, the Proposed Action, discussed in Section 2.2 of the Final EA.

Approximately 3,371 wild horses will be removed from Herd Areas formerly known as the Great Divide Basin, Salt Wells Creek and Adobe Town HMAs.

There are no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.  The goal is 100% removal, which may take several years to achieve.

The project folder also includes a summary of public comments.

The incident is on the latest schedule with a start date of July 15.

AMLs in the affected areas were reduced to zero as a result of legal action taken by the Rock Springs Grazing Association.

RELATED: Draft EA for Rock Springs Wild Horse Removal Out for Review.

Have you ever wanted to soak in a hot tub, hang out with wild burros and camp in a BLM grazing allotment?

You can do all three at Spencer Hot Springs near Austin, NV.

The ArcGIS Viewer puts it in the Hickison HMA, which is overlapped by the Simpson Park Allotment.

This YouTube video tells you how to get there.

The news release about a public lands closure in Oregon says that dispersed camping for up to 14 days is generally allowed on BLM lands.

The 40-acre parcel straddles Highway 97 northeast of Bend, OR and has been put off limits due to health, safety and environmental concerns arising from unauthorized long-term non-recreational camping.

The ArcGIS Viewer indicates it’s SE 1/4 NE 1/4 S34 T16S R12E.

The news release did not give the immigration status of the unauthorized campers.

The Arizona Department of Agriculture announced last week that the request for a new management contract had been canceled because of unauthorized conversations involving potential bidders according to a story by KJZZ News of Phoenix.

An email inquiry sent by Western Horse Watchers on Friday was not immediately answered.

Simone Netherlands, ringleader of the Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group, said the population control measures sought by the state threaten the viability of the herd, which may be true but the point is moot because her group has already done that with PZP, an ovary-killing pesticide.

The wild horse population has decreased about 9% per year under her leadership, 50% higher than normal!

“It’s like they don’t understand how amazing that is, that the population has been going down.”

If her group loses the contract, and hopefully they will, that statement could earn her a well-paying job with one of the legacy contractors or ranching advocacy groups.

RELATED: State Not Happy with Salt River Sterilization Program?

UPDATE: Refer to AZDA news release dated May 21.

At the high end of the AML, the horses receive about 5% of the authorized forage, neglecting wildlife.

The HMA is running neck-and-neck with Little Colorado in Wyoming as one of the worst cases of resource mismanagement in the wild horse world.

RELATED: Silver King HMAP Q&A.

At Grayson Highlands State Park with Grand Day Outside.

Gravity, not the advocates, rescued a mare who had put her head through a stepladder and was carrying it around, according to a story by The Outer Banks Voice.

In keeping with a policy established earlier this month, her name was not given, as if that will lift the birth rate above the death rate and save the herd from extinction.

RELATED: Currituck Foal Rescued from Canal.

Q. The AML is 128, which is small relative to the available resources.  What will it be after the new HMAP goes public?

A. 128.

Q. The Silver King horses receive 1,536 AUMs per year.  How much will they receive when the HMAP is published?

A. 1,536 AUMs per year.

Q. Livestock in the HMA receive an estimated 30,356 AUMs per year, 20 times more than the horses.  How will that change when the HMAP is published?

A. It won’t.

Q. The HMA is managed principally for livestock.  What is the aim of the new HMAP?

A. To manage the HMA principally for livestock.

Q. How will the resource allocations be enforced?

A. The way they are now, by forcible removal, fertility control pesticides and sex ratio skewing.

Q. The bureaucrats, ranchers and advocates view the animals as pests.  Will that change when the HMAP is published?

A. No.

Q. Seems like HMAPs don’t change anything—they ratify and reinforce management practices that favor the ranchers.  Why were the advocates so enthusiastic about them last year at the Save Our Wild Horses Conference in Reno?

A. They want the ranchers to win.

Q. Why does the BLM give so much forage to livestock?  I can’t find a statutory warrant for that.

A. They want the ranchers to win.

Q. What is the economic impact of this arrangement?

A. For every AUM taken from the horses and given to the ranchers, the BLM receives $1.35 in grazing fees while it spends at least $150 to care for the horse displaced thereby.  Nobody in the private sector would do that.

RELATED: Scoping Begins for Silver King HMAP.

Table 3 in the Management Evaluation Report gives the allotments that overlap the HMA, including the percentages therein.

The 128 horses allowed by plan receive 1,536 AUMs per year on 574,962 public acres according to the 2025 population dataset, or 0.2 animals per thousand public acres.

The Allotment Master Report provides management status, acreage and active AUMs.

In this case, three field offices are involved so three reports were run.

Caliente

• Wilson Creek
• Geyser Ranch
• Pioche
• Rattlesnake
• Ely Springs
• Highland Peak

Bristlecone

• Fox Mountain
• Sunnyside

Basin & Range

• Narrows

The figures were copied into an Excel spreadsheet as follows:

Silver King livestock receive an estimated 30,356 AUMs per year, assuming the resource is evenly distributed across the allotments, twenty times more than the horses.

The HMA can only support 128 wild horses but it can support livestock equivalent to 2,530 wild horses, for a True AML of 2,658 or 4.6 animals 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 (25,500 animals on 25.6 million acres).

The advocates prop up the fairy tale with their darting programs.

RELATED: Scoping Begins for Silver King HMAP.

A management evaluation report has been copied to the project folder with comments due by June 23.

The BLM intends to complete the planning process in about a year according to the news release.

Mining does not occur in the HMA but forage is shared with eight allotments.

RELATED: New Silver King HMAP?

A new project containing one document was opened today in ePlanning and public comments were not requested.

The DNA asserts that a 2024 Environmental Assessment fully analyzes and discloses the effects of the Proposed Action, which isn’t in the EA and was not analyzed.

Instead, the agency concurs with the Forest Service in adopting a modified Alternative 4 that updates the AML, approves an HMAP and authorizes the removal of excess animals from the JMA.

RELATED: Forest Service Issues Murderer’s Creek Final Planning Documents.

The bill was signed today according to a news release by the House Democrats.

RELATED: HB25-1283 Sent to Governor.

The project description, posted today in ePlanning, suggests that scoping will begin shortly.

The document folder is empty but a management evaluation will probably be placed there for public review.

The HMA lies mostly within the massive Wilson Creek Allotment.

The event runs from May 23 to 26 in Craig according to a news release on PRN.

A link to the agenda was not provided but some information is available at Save Our Wild Horses and Wildlife.

Last year’s conference in Reno produced a manifesto for HMAPs but now that the plans are rolling out the advocates have opted for another brand of snake oil.

Day 2 includes a tour of Wild Horse Refuge, an example–but not a shining example–of a wild horse preserve.

Day 3 includes a trip to Sand Wash Basin, perhaps to rub shoulders with the pesticide pushers and pay homage to the ranchers.

The last day features a trip to Salt Wells Creek, to be zeroed out this summer in the year’s largest roundup.

Not because of drilling and mining as the advocates would have you believe, but because of permitted grazing.