Colorado Wild Horse Working Group Meets This Week

The agenda indicates the group is drafting recommendations for a wild horse preserve.

HB25-1283 was passed by the legislature but has not been signed by the governor.

If Wild Horses Had Principal Use of Marton Ranch

The BLM purchased the ranch in 2022 with support from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, taking much of the deeded acreage public.

A 2023 article by Cowboy State Daily said the Marton family retained some grazing privileges and will continue to graze cattle there.

A meeting to receive public input on the future of the property, scheduled for May 14, has been postponed according to a BLM news release.

The project boundary in Figure 1 of the Final EA coincides roughly with that of the Marton CGD and RGD allotments, east of the Alcova Reservoir.

Together they offer 10,636 active AUMs on 61,519 public acres.

The Allotment Master Report puts both in the Improve category, suggesting that your stewards of the public lands have not been taking their responsibilities seriously.

If the area was designated for wild horses, how many could live there?

The forage assigned to livestock is equivalent to 886 wild horses, or 14.4 per thousand public acres.

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

The advocates, defeated a long time ago, reinforce the narrative with their darting programs.

If the allotments were an HMA, the AML would be 62 and 824 wild horses would be consigned to off-range holding because of permitted grazing.

BLM allotments in Wyoming support livestock equivalent to 158,425 wild horses on 17.312,214 public acres, or 9.2 wild horses per thousand public acres.

Wild horses can be placed on public lands not identified for their use by acquiring base properties associated with grazing allotments and flipping the preference to horses.

Mustang Monday

At the southwest corner of the Virginia Range with easterfilmsdotcom.

Sterility Is a Goal, Not a Defect of Fertility Control Programs

The Preliminary Environmental Assessment for the Blue Wing HMAP says on page 163 of the pdf that if some number of mares become sterile as a result of PZP treatment, that result would be consistent with the contraceptive purpose that motivates BLM’s use of the vaccine, and with Congressional guidance that condones such treatment in the management of wild horses and burros.

That statement makes the advocacy groups partners, not adversaries, of the bureaucrats and ranchers.

North Lander Aftermath

The gather page says 110 horses were returned to the Complex in November, bringing the number of animals removed to 2,467.

All mares received two doses of GonaCon Equine.

The interval between treatments was not given.

At the time, the label called for 90 days, a requirement the BLM routinely ignored.

In January the interval was reduced to seven days.

RELATED: North Lander Roundup Ends.

Happy “Stay Barren” Day

Mothers are almost as hard to find at the Salt River and Virginia Range as foals.

Referring to the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses as the nation’s leading wild horse protection organization is like claiming that Planned Parenthood is the nation’s premier right-to-life organization.

Neither serves a charitable purpose.

Lake Pleasant Roundup Comes and Goes, No Announcement

The incident concluded on May 2 with 460 burros captured, 457 shipped, none returned and three dead.

There were no unaccounted-for animals.

The start date was April 15, one week later than scheduled.

The capture and removal goals were 400 each but a 15% increase was authorized.

The capture total included 187 jacks, 240 jennies and 33 foals.

Foals represented 7.2% of the animals gathered.

Of the adults, 43.8% were male and 56.2% were female.

The death rate was 0.7%.

There were no plans to treat any of the jennies with fertility control pesticides and return them to the HMA.

Animals identified for removal were taken to the Florence off-range corrals.

Forest Service Issues Murderer’s Creek Final Planning Documents

The news release says the AML will range from 100 to 140, compared to 50 to 140 at the WHT page, implying heavy use of fertility control pesticides.

The closer the range the lower the expected growth rate.

The project folder contains numerous documents, including the Final Environmental Assessment and Draft Decision.

The Decision Record would authorize a modified version of Alternative 4, presented in Chapter 2 of the EA.

The proposed HMAP and its variants are discussed in Appendix A.

The Alternative 4 HMAP (page 234 in the pdf) calls for an AML of 50 to 140.

The DR corroborates that range.

Western Horse Watchers cannot account for the range given in the news release.

Other features of the modified plan include

Bait trap removal, no helicopters
Use of PZP and GonaCon Equine
Monitoring for genetic diversity
Prohibition of IUDs
No skewing of sex ratios

Table 5 in the EA indicates that livestock in the JMA (HMA + WHT) receive 7,770 AUMs per year, while horses receive 1,680 AUMs per year at the high end of AML.

This yields a True AML of 140 + 7,770 ÷ 12 = 787, the number of horses the land could support if it was managed principally for them as specified in the original statute.

The problem is not inadequate fertility control, as the advocates would have you believe, but too many cow/calf pairs.

Murderer’s Creek Detainees Not Going Back on the Range

The gather page said “No decisions are being made at this time regarding the long-term disposition of horses gathered as part of this emergency action” but the Forest Service has apparently decided they will be put up for adoption according to a May 9 news release about a new HMAP for the WHT.

The roundup, prompted by the 2024 Rail Ridge Fire, cut the herd by 410.

The status of livestock grazing in the burned area is not known.

RELATED: Murderer’s Creek Roundup Ends.

Foal-Free Friday, Dumb and Dumber Edition

How stupid do you have to be to accept mass sterilization as wild horse conservation?

Synonyms for Wiping Out Herds with Ovary-Killing Pesticides

Here are the top three, in common use by the wild horse advocates:

Protection
Preservation
Conservation

How stupid do you have to be to believe these frauds?

Nuisance Roundups Increase in Latest Schedule

Outside Chloride HMA, Four Mile and Bible Spring were added to the May 1 update.

The bottom-line totals are the same as in the April 1 edition.

EPA Cuts GonaCon Treatment Interval by 92%

The change was mentioned in a response to comments in the Buffalo Hills DNA.

The January 21 labeling amendment allows the second dose to be given in as little as seven days after the first.

The effect of the change on treated animals is not known.

Although the 2017 labeling amendment changed the interval to 90 days, the BLM continued to refer to the 2013 and 2015 registrations in planning documents issued after that date and gave two doses 30 days apart to mares captured in roundups, which constitutes unlawful use of the pesticide.

If that sounds like an allegation of wrongdoing, it is.

Blue Wing Preliminary Planning Documents Out for Review

The Preliminary Environmental Assessment has been copied to the project folder along with a cover letter.

Comments are due by June 4 according to the news release.

Alternative A, the Proposed Action, features

Implementation of a new HMAP
Removal of excess animals to low AML
Application of fertility control pesticides
Sterilizing up to one fourth of the herd
Skewing the sex ratio in favor of males
Development of a new water source

The proposed HMAP is discussed in Appendix XIII of the EA.

Section 2.4.2.2 refers to a 2025 labeling amendment for GonaCon Equine, which may have changed the interval between treatments from 90 days to seven, but Western Horse Watchers has not been able to find it at the EPA website.

UPDATE: The amendment changed the interval from 90 days to 7 days.

Mustang Monday

At the southwest corner of the Virginia Range with Western Horse Watchers.

Washoe Lake Allotments

This photo, taken on May 2, helps you understand why the Virginia Range advocates are eager to beat the horse numbers down with ovary-killing pesticides.

The view is from the west side of the lake, looking east across the marsh to the Virginia Range.

The Jumbo Allotment is on the far side and Duck Hill borders it on the south.

The advocates want the ranchers to win but motorized removal is cruel and costly and somebody has to take care of the captured animals.

A better approach is to not have any horses at all, and mass sterilization is an effective way to achieve that.

The advocates can sterilize a mare for about $200 (six to seven doses of PZP).

The Allotment Master Report puts Duck Hill in the Improve category, does not meet one or more standards for rangeland heath, and Jumbo in Custodial, condition unknown.

If Wild Horses Had Principal Use of Horse Creek

The allotment, site of a spring exclosure project north of Winnemucca, NV, offers 3,600 active AUMs on 38,859 public acres according to the Allotment Master Report.

It’s in the Improve category, one or more standards for rangeland health not met.

The management plan assigns no forage to wild horses.

How many could live there?

The forage assigned to livestock is equivalent to 300 wild horses, or 7.7 per thousand public acres.

Why is this important?

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

The advocates, defeated a long time ago, prop up the fairy tale with their darting programs.

If the allotment was an HMA, the AML would be 39 and 261 wild horses would be consigned to off-range holding because of permitted grazing.

BLM allotments in Nevada support livestock equivalent to 173,144 wild horses on 40,194,360 public acres, or 4.3 wild horses per thousand public acres.

Wild horses can be placed on public lands not identified for their use by acquiring base properties associated with grazing allotments and flipping the preference to horses.