Western Horse Watchers Association
Exposing the Hypocrisy, Lies and Incompetence of the Wild Horse Advocates
On the range
The remains of four animals were found in the Black Mesa Ranger District, south of Heber-Overgaard, according to a report by KPHO News.
That might put them in the Heber Allotment.
The incident brings the total to 13 for 2026.
RELATED: Heber Shootings Resume.
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The HMA overlaps the Austin, Grass Valley and Simpson Park allotments, with 51% in Austin, 42% in Grass Valley and 7% in Simpson Park according to Table 5 of the Final EA for the Callaghan Complex.
The 237 wild horses allowed by plan require 2,844 AUMs per year.
Austin offers 14,478 active AUMs on 235,185 public acres, equivalent to 5.1 wild horses per thousand public acres.
Grass Valley offers 17,701 active AUMs on 267,201 public acres, equivalent to 5.5 wild horses per thousand public acres.
Simpson Park offers 3,406 active AUMs on 96,818 public acres, equivalent to 2.9 wild horses per thousand public acres.
These resources are present in the HMA, assuming they’re evenly distributed across the allotments, but they’ve been assigned to livestock.
To estimate the carrying capacity, shift them back to the horses. Forage assigned to wildlife stays with wildlife.
The HMA covers 152,726 public acres so the forage allocated to the Austin permittees inside the HMA should support 152,726 × .51 × 5.1 ÷ 1,000 = 397 wild horses.
The forage allocated to the Grass Valley ranchers should support 152,726 × .42 × 5.5 ÷ 1,000 = 353 wild horses.
The forage assigned to the Simpson Park ranchers should support 152,726 × .07 × 2.9 ÷ 1,000 = 31 wild horses.
The HMA should be able to sustain 237 + 397 + 353 + 31 = 1,018 wild horses (4X AML) if it was managed principally for them as specified in the original statute.
The new stocking rate would be 1,018 ÷ 152,726 × 1,000 = 6.7 wild horses 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.
The allotment master report puts all of the acreage in the Improve category.
Austin has more AUMs in the suspended column than active, while everything is active at Simpson Park.
The allotments would not make a good wild horse preserve because they overlap areas identified for wild horses and there is more than one authorization attached to each, so you’d have to acquire or control several base properties to access all of the AUMs.
Simpson Park contains Spencer Hot Springs, a water source for the Hickison burros.
RELATED: BLM Publishes Callaghan Final Planning Documents.
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Two projects have been added to ePlanning, both with the same NEPA numbers but different URLs.
The second project has an open comment period for a management evaluation report.
The scoping statement gives a due date of April 1.
Western Horse Watchers has not seen any announcements or news reports on the topic.
The HMA is subject to permitted grazing.
UPDATE: The link in the news release, issued on March 3, points to the second project.
► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.
At the Salt River with Larry Naftzger.
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They’re on the small side and not contiguous but the permits are up for renewal with comments due by March 4.
The allotment master report puts Hayes Canyon, Little Valley, Swedes Canyon and West Side in the Maintain category with equivalent stocking rates ranging from 3.6 to 12.6 wild horses per thousand public acres.
Your faithful public servants claim that rangeland health will suffer if wild horse stocking rates exceed one animal per thousand acres.
If a lying contest was held next week, who would win? The bureaucrats or advocates?
RELATED: How Many Wild Horses Can Public Lands Really Support?
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Story by KTLA News.
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A report by KRNV News about the inmate training program at Carson City says the agency is working on a new agreement with Hutchinson.
The training program at Carson City is expected to continue according to the story.
RELATED: BLM Pulling Wild Horses from Hutchinson Correctional Facility?
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The news release says it’s now authorized to operate on 8,058 total acres, including 1,601 public acres.
Table 1-3 of the Final EIS says there are no Herd Management Areas within the Plan of Operations boundary, but Figure 1-2, in combination with the ArcGIS Viewer, shows that it extends into Paymaster.
The mine, the only one producing lithium in the United States, is a few miles west of Alkali Hot Springs, a source of water for wild horses and burros.
The EIS can be found in the project folder with other planning documents.
RELATED: Wild Horses and Burros Losing Access to Alkali Hot Springs?
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The HMA layer in the Viewer was updated a week ago and gone are the polygons for Salt Wells Creek and Divide Basin.
The outline for Adobe Town was also updated.
With the exception of White Mountain, the Wyoming checkerboard has been cleansed of wild horses, at least from a planning viewpoint, despite a court order opposing it.
► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.
In this role you will work under the supervision and guidance of professional range and natural resource specialists performing a variety of duties related to monitoring rangeland conditions and managing herds of wild horses and burros.
The temporary position is based in Belle Fourche, SD, where public lands are scarce and there are no defined areas for wild horses and burros.
Another possibility if you want to be around wild horses is to work for free as a certified applicator of fertility control pesticides—not for the BLM but for the advocates.
► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.
The incident concluded on February 25 with 344 horses captured, 338 shipped, none released and six dead.
There were no unaccounted-for animals.
All but one of the deaths were intentional.
The death rate was 1.7%.
The capture total included 131 stallions, 147 mares and 66 foals.
Youngsters represented 19.2% of the animals gathered.
Of the adults, 47.1% were male and 52.9% were female.
A map of the project area was not provided.
There were no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.
The roundup supported three tenets of rangeland management.
RELATED: Antelope-Moriah Emergency Roundup Announced.
► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.
The incident started on February 22. Results through February 24:
*According to advocates.
The figures above are based on the daily reports.
Aerial operations concluded with 14.7% overreach.
A stallion was dispatched on Day 3 due to poor body condition and a filly died of a broken neck.
The death rate is 0.9%.
The capture total includes 131 stallions, 147 mares and 66 foals.
Youngsters represented 19.2% of the animals gathered.
Of the adults, 47.1% were male and 52.9% were female.
The gather page says 219 horses shipped.
Body condition scores were not given.
The location of the trap site is not known.
The name of the contractor was not disclosed.
The operation has liberated 4,128 AUMs per year.
RELATED: Antelope-Moriah Emergency Roundup in Progress.
► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.
On the northern edge of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation near Lakeside, AZ with White Mountain Urban Farms and Cottages.
► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.
The incident started today as scheduled with 161 horses captured, none shipped, none released and one dead.
RELATED: Antelope-Moriah Emergency Roundup Announced.
► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.
The HMA overlaps the Carico Lake and Austin allotments, with 11% in Austin and 89% in Carico Lake according to Table 8 of the Final EA for the Callaghan Complex.
The 100 wild horses allowed by plan require 1,200 AUMs per year.
Carico Lake offers 24,954 active AUMs per year on 562,465 public acres, equivalent to 3.7 wild horses per thousand public acres.
Austin offers 14,478 active AUMs per year on 235,185 public acres, equivalent to 5.1 wild horses per thousand public acres.
If the resource is evenly distributed across the parcels, it’s present in the HMA but your faithful public servants gave it to the ranchers.
To estimate the carrying capacity, shift it back to the horses. Forage assigned to wildlife stays with wildlife.
The HMA covers 132,401 public acres so the forage granted to the Carico Lake ranchers should support 132,401 × .89 × 3.7 ÷ 1,000 = 436 wild horses.
The forage granted to the Austin permittees inside the HMA should support 132,401 × .11 × 5.1 ÷ 1,000 = 74 wild horses.
The HMA should be able to sustain 100 + 436 + 74 = 610 wild horses (6X AML) if it was managed principally for them, as specified in the original statute.
The new stocking rate would be 610 ÷ 132,401 × 1,000 = 4.6 wild horses per thousand public acres, a bit more than the target stocking rate across all HMAs of one wild horse per thousand acres.
The allotment master report puts Austin and Carico Lake in the Improve category, which could be due to overgrazing or there may be some other environmental concern that needs monitoring.
The allotments would not make a good wild horse preserve because they overlap areas identified for wild horses and there is more than one authorization attached to each, so you’d have to acquire or control several base properties to access all of the AUMs.
RELATED: BLM Publishes Callaghan Final Planning Documents.
► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.
The HMA is 100% inside the Carico Lake Allotment according to Table 4 of the Final EA for the Callaghan Complex.
The 215 wild horses allowed by plan require 2,580 AUMs per year.
The allotment offers 24,954 active AUMs per year on 562,465 public acres, equivalent to 3.7 wild horses per thousand public acres.
If the resource is evenly distributed across the parcel, it’s present in the HMA but was allocated to livestock.
To estimate the carrying capacity, shift it back to the horses. Forage assigned to wildlife stays with wildlife.
The HMA covers 139,693 public acres so the forage assigned to livestock should support 139,693 × 3.7 ÷ 1,000 = 517 wild horses.
The HMA should be able to sustain 215 + 517 = 732 wild horses if it was managed principally for them, as specified in the original statute.
The advocates, eager to beat the horse populations down with PZP, oppose the concept.
The allotment master report puts Carico Lake in the Improve category, which could be due to overgrazing, but there are no AUMs in the suspended column.
The allotment would not make a good wild horse preserve because it overlaps areas already identified for wild horses and there is more than one authorization attached to it, so you’d have to acquire or control several base properties to access all of the AUMs.
RELATED: BLM Publishes Callaghan Final Planning Documents.
► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.
The incident will begin on or about February 22 according to the news release.
The driver is limited forage.
The capture and removal goals are 300 each.
The target is wild horses outside the Antelope HMA and Moriah HA in eastern Nevada.
A map of the project area was not provided.
A helicopter will push the horses into the trap.
Operations will be open to public observation.
Animals identified for removal will be taken to the off-range corrals at Palomino Valley.
There are no plans to treat any of the mares with fertility control pesticides and return them to the range.
► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.
The mass sterilization program will continue but the advocates will add motorized removal to their repertoire.
The current population is 274 according to a story by Phoenix New Times and the new target is 120.
To reach that number they will relocate 25 horses a year to sanctuaries.
The article said the group is actively seeking land or leases near the Salt River but did not indicate if they planned to attach them to vacant allotments in the forest—which would give their supporters more value for their investment.
As of today, AZDA has not announced the agreement at its news site.
RELATED: Salt River Management Contract Extended to March 31.
► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.
The bill would not significantly affect the park’s operations and staffing according to a cost estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.
RELATED: S1377 Passes Out of Committee on Voice Vote.
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The Decision Record authorizes Alternative A, the Proposed Action, minus the IUDs and surgical sterilization.
The selected alternative, discussed in section 2.3 of the Final EA, also includes forcible removal to low AML, fertility control treatments and sex ratio skewing.
The new HMAP is presented in Appendix XIII.
All documents can be found in the project folder.
The news release did not indicate if the plan was subject to a 30-day appeal period but the DR suggests it is.
RELATED: Callaghan EA Out for Review.
► Get the truth about wild horses and the wild horse advocates at westernhorsewatchers.com.
Western Horse Watchers Association 