On the San Rafael Swell in central Utah with the Muddy Creek horses, courtesy of Backpacker Diaries. The HMA was gathered last September.
Category: Range
On the range
Virginia Range License Plates Now in Production
The tags, available through the Nevada DMV, support the wild horse preservation efforts of various groups within the herd’s territory, according to a report dated 01/30/19 by The Storey Teller of Virginia City, NV.
RELATED: New Plate Captures the Struggle of America’s Wild Horses.
Advocates Fight ‘Arrogant Special Interest Agency’
No, it’s not the BLM. It’s the New Mexico Livestock Board and its ‘long-term culture against wild horses.’
Wild horse enthusiasts, who won the release of the Alto horses last year, are pushing back against a bill that would put the NMLB in charge of the state’s wild horses, arguing that the agency has a ‘clear vendetta’ against the animals. See this report, posted today by Ruidoso News.
Instead, they favor a bill known as the Wild Horse Protection and Habitat Act that would, among other things, conduct a census of wild horse herds, develop educational materials, create a fencing program and work with the DOT on safety issues.
They also support a bill that would provide for a special vehicle registration plate expressing support for wild horses.
RELATED: New Plate Captures the Struggle of America’s Wild Horses.
State Legislature Approves ‘Wild Horse Highway’
A report posted today by the Big Horn Radio Network of Cody, WY, said the bill carried in the House and Senate and now awaits the governor’s signature.
Multiple Use Minute
Featuring ‘other rangeland resources.’ Horses were kept here until a few years ago, when they were displaced by livestock. A pole barn stood in the foreground and a gate opened into the valley, which was enclosed by fencing.
Land ownership unknown. Photo taken 02/03/19.

Is it Spring Yet?
Visitors to the watering station are few and far between this time of year.

Sand Wash Horses Share Range with Photographers
On Sand Wash Basin HMA with Called To Wander.
BLM Preps Pine Nut Mountains for Spring Turnout
The contractor has pushed 294 wild horses off the HMA, through 02/11/19, liberating 3,500 AUMs per year and returning them to their rightful owners.
Refer to the figures at this page, which change as the gather progresses. To date, no deaths have been reported and no animals have been returned to the range.

Captured animals have been shipped to the off-range corrals at Palomino Valley.
RELATED: Pine Nut Roundup Set for Next Week.
Nominations Sought for WHBAB
BLM requested applications today for three positions on the nine-member Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, in the areas of humane advocacy, livestock management and wildlife management.
The Board advises the BLM and USFS on matters pertaining to free-roaming horses and burros on public lands administered by those agencies.
Board members serve three-year terms without pay, meeting twice a year, but travel and per diem expenses related to their service are reimbursed.
Nominations are due 45 days after the notice appears in the Federal Register, which should happen tomorrow. Refer to this news release for application details.
The last WHBAB meeting occurred in Salt Lake City, UT, October 9 – 11, 2018.
Investigation of Heber Wild Horse Deaths Continues
A news release posted yesterday by the Forest Service said most of the dead animals were found outside the WHT, which is subject to multiple grazing allotments (see map on page seven of this document).
Ten of the horses have evidence of gunshots, which is unchanged from last week.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office at 1-800-78CRIME.
RELATED: More Wild Horses Found Dead at Heber WHT.
Yakama Ponies Wild and Free
Near White Swan, WA, on the Yakama Indian Reservation, by Milton S. Kendall.
See also this video on their history. Many of these horses have been rounded up and shipped to slaughter in recent years.
Mustang Monday
On the Salt River. Filmed by Laurel Strohmeyer with Panasonic 4K.
How Wild Horses Find Water in the Winter
Jennifer Jewel has it on film. At Hidden Valley Regional Park, on the western slope of the Virginia Range.
Paiute Lawsuit To Be Dropped
Plaintiffs who brought the claim after privately owned horses were gathered with those belonging to the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, have given up, according to a report posted yesterday by the Reno Gazette Journal.
With the horses gone and no chance of recovery (because they were turned into food products), the case will be dropped.
RELATED: Paiute Lawsuit Fizzles.
Winter Still in Control of Virginia Range
Colville Gather Underway
The helicopter-assisted process started this week, according to an announcement in the Tribal Tribune of Nespelem, WA, long on headcount but short on details.
Tribal leaders changed the rules to allow the use of motorized vehicles in wild horse capture and increased the payoff to tribal members to $383 per horse removed.
Captured animals will likely be shipped to slaughter.
Any time you see actions like these justified by a need for ‘healthy rangelands’ or ‘healthy animals,’ you’re probably being lied to.
Perhaps tribal leaders were propositioned by ranchers to allow cattle on the affected lands, or livestock were already there but were losing too much forage to the horses.
Regardless, it’s a fine example of cultural annihilation on BIA lands.
RELATED: Colville Roundup Moving Ahead.
Multiple Use Minute
In keeping with ‘other mandated uses’ of this blog.
RELATED: If This Blog Was Managed Like Western Rangelands…
Gulag at Palomino Valley
Horses removed from Pine Nut Mountains HMA will end up here. The roundup was supposed to begin today, according to a statement at this page.
RELATED: Pine Nut Roundup Set for Next Week.
Colville Roundup Moving Ahead
A report posted today by The Star of Grand Coulee, WA says the Colville Business Council has awarded a $500,000 contract to Sun J Livestock of Vernal, UT to remove 1,250 horses from tribal lands in northeastern Washington.
Charges against the horses sound like they were drafted by public-lands ranchers.
Captured animals will likely be shipped to slaughter in Canada, a practice that’s opposed by some members of the tribe.
RELATED: DVM Pushes Back Against Colville Gather.
Devil’s Garden Adoption Starts Next Week
The Forest Service will be holding an online adoption for wild horses removed from the Devil’s Garden Plateau WHT in October and November of 2018, starting 02/11/19, according to a report posted today by the Herald and News of Klamath Falls, OR.
Animals aged ten years and over will be available for sale with limitations.
RELATED: Additional Remarks About the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Sale.
