BLM announced today the start of a 30-day comment period on a draft environmental assessment for changes to wild horse management on the Spring Creek Basin HMA in southwestern Colorado.

Resources in the area can support up to 80 wild horses, according to Section 3.1.2 of the EA.  The current AML is 65.  The proposed action would increase the AML but limit herd growth rates to no more than ten percent per year.

Other management objectives involve age distribution, body condition, dispersion and genetic diversity, similar to the goals of the Pryor Mountains revamp.

Livestock grazing has been greatly reduced inside the HMA, a factor contributing to the AML increase.  Forage utilization outside the HMA was not discussed, probably because it’s outside the scope of the management plan.

The HMA is only slightly larger than the tiny Heber WHT and the new AML is only half the size recommended in Section 4.4.6.3 of the WHB Management Handbook.

The population target could be achieved by doubling the size of the HMA, which means taking back the land now designated as a Herd Area (see map in linked post below).

Comments can be submitted at this page.  Substantive only, please.

RELATED: Spring Creek Basin Management Plan to Be Updated.

Baby fur receding from eyes and nose, revealing true coat color.  Day 29 for this guy.

Wild horses on the Virginia Range compete mostly with wildlife for food and water, not privately owned livestock.  It’s an example of what Congress intended for federal lands in the original WHB Act.

The closure of three HMAs in the Wyoming checkerboard, and downsizing of a fourth, will be accompanied by other changes, as BLM updates the resource management plan for the area.  The revamped plan will be released for public comments this spring, according to a report posted yesterday by the Casper Star Tribune.

This week marks the end of the comment period on an Environmental Impact Statement for changes to wild horse management in the Rock Springs area.

The existing management plan was only slightly biased against the horses.

RELATED: Elk Will Be Next After Rock Springs Horses Are Gone?

Another story about the Virginia Range darting program, sponsored by the No American Wild Horse Campaign, with concurrence of the Nevada Department of Agriculture.

There’s no justification for it.  These people are as wicked as the day is long.

RELATED: Virginia Range Darting Program in the News.

A disadvantage of living in the mountains is you get the full blast as weather systems move through.  Valleys are more protected but you don’t get the views.

These trailcam photos show some Virginia Range mustangs on a windy day.  Note the movement of the tank on the left.

System was off and hoses were disconnected.  Tank was found about 50 feet away.

On the Onaqui Mountain HMA with The RVing Artist.

It’s a filly according to a report posted today by WVEC News of Norfolk, VA.  Baby takes after mom in the color department (both are bays).

RELATED: Corolla Herd Adds Another Foal.

Wild horses have been visiting the water tanks throughout the winter but the system has been shut off.  Tanks were bleached and filled on 04-17-20 but the water supply had to be turned off again due to a crack in the yard hydrant.  Manual refill only, for now.

The mustangs captured last November have found new homes, according to a story in the February 10 edition of Horse Tales, a trade publication based in Gardnerville, NV.

One was adopted by an individual, some went to Skydog Sanctuary in Oregon and others went to the Freedom Reigns sanctuary in California.

A few will stay at the Bently Ranch in Gardnerville, not far from their home range.

Subscriptions to HT (print edition) are available for $25 per year.  Contact Sharon DeCarlo, editor and publisher, at 775-265-7137.

RELATED: Fish Springs Auction Ends Today.

The next step in the process is to prepare an environmental assessment for the new management plan and release it for public comments, according to a report posted this morning by the White Mountain Independent of Show Low, AZ.

The EA should provide enough information to compute key management indicators for the tiny WHT, namely, stocking rates and resource allocations.

The Forest Service has not posted any news releases about the Heber wild horse shootings since January 17.

RELATED: Heber Comment Period Drawing to a Close.

She thinks she’s helping wild horses, according to a story posted yesterday by Oil City News of Casper, WY.

The management plan for the HMA assigns 5,772 AUMs per year to privately owned livestock (77%), compared to 1,680 AUMs per year for wild horses (23%), according to an environmental assessment from 2012.  Refer to Figure 2.  The AML is 140.

This is how you show your love for wild horses: Reduce their numbers with pesticides so they’ll fit into the tiny boxes the government has created for them, allowing most of their food to be sold to public-lands ranchers.

It’s not management at the minimum feasible level, per the statute, and it’s certainly not management principally for wild horses.

But it’s all the rage in many ‘advocacy’ groups nowadays.

RELATED: Partnership Benefits McCullough Peaks Ranchers.

He thinks mom isn’t watching but she is.  Video pending (on YouTube).

UPDATE: Video posted.

So says the writer of a letter to the editor posted this evening by the Rocket Miner of Rock Springs, WY.

Sounds about right.  Anything that robs forage from the public-lands ranchers or crowds it out.

RELATED: Time Running Out for Comments on Rock Springs Amendments.

As noted earlier this month, the stocking rate allowed by plan for the Spruce-Pequop HMA is a miniscule 0.3 wild horses per thousand acres, which is what you’d expect for an area where livestock receive almost nine times as much forage as the horses.

Does that pattern hold for other areas?  Would it be a reliable indicator of management priorities on lands set aside for wild horses?

Let’s add another column to the dataset used last month to test an assertion about the number of wild horses in long-term holding.  The new column is on the far right, wild horses per thousand acres.

Now, let’s plot the forage allocated to livestock as a function of the stocking rate.

All of the data points are in the upper third of the chart, meaning that none of the areas are managed primarily for horses.  Most of the data fall below the target stocking rate of one wild horse per thousand acres (across all HMAs).

The highest forage allocations to livestock occur at the lowest stocking rates for horses, the same pattern observed at Spruce-Pequop.  This is called an inverse relationship, denoted by a line with negative slope.

The line, known as the ‘least-squares fit,’ is of the form y = mx + b.

There are no outliers in the data (remote values in the y-space) and no influential observations (remote values in the x-space), but there could be an issue involving the scatter of the data around the line.

That problem might go away with more data.  But how many areas would you have to review to find larger numbers of horses (higher stocking rates) and permitted livestock grazing?

A few of the lower forage allocations to livestock appear at lower stocking rates, so the relationship is not ironclad.  But coming across stocking rates below 1.0 should prompt you to dig a little deeper to find out how bad things are for the horses.

On the Pine Nut Mountains HA (Fish Springs) with Synergistic Horsemanship.

Same band as this morning’s post, different camera.  These guys don’t fit the narrative pushed by the PZP zealots and their ranching allies.

Trailcam photos of some Virginia Range mustangs, at a time of year when they tend to be thin.  Is this what you’d expect to see for a herd that’s overpopulated?

At a stocking rate of approximately ten wild horses per thousand acres, you’d have to search one square mile to see six or seven of them.  Maybe.

And that’s ten times higher than your typical HMA.

Some ‘advocacy’ groups push contraceptives not because they care about the horses, but because they’re frauds.

RELATED: Virginia Range Darting Program in the News.

A new filly joined the herd about a week ago, according to a report posted today by WVEC News of Norfolk, VA.  Color is black with no dilution factors and no markings.

RELATED: Corolla Herd Adds New Foal.

Earlier this week the Forest Service announced a proposed update of the management plan for wild horses at the Big Summit WHT, according to a report by KTVZ News of Bend, OR.  The preferred option will reduce the AML from 55 – 65 to 12 – 57.

The WHT covers 25,434 acres in central Oregon.  The current AML yields a stocking rate of 2.6 wild horses per thousand acres.  The target rate across all areas managed for wild horses is one per thousand acres.

Management actions for controlling the herd size include gathers and contraceptives.

The management plan allocates 2,322 AUMs per year to livestock, compared to 780 AUMs per year for horses under the current AML.  Refer to Table 21 in the draft EA.

The disparity will be greater under the preferred option, with 77% of the forage going to livestock and 23% to the horses.  On land to be managed principally for the horses.

Project documents are posted here.  A link to the online comments form can be found on this page.  Comments can be submitted through May 18.