They’re not going back on the range anytime soon according to the following report by KIVI News.

Now that they’re off the range, your faithful public servants are taking the opportunity to treat the mares with GonaCon Equine.

Some horses will be held back for adoption.

You wouldn’t want the poor ranchers to suffer, right?

The reporter did not indicate if two doses would be given 30 days apart, typical for the BLM, which would constitute unlawful use of the pesticide.

RELATED: Open House for Sands Basin, Four Mile Horses This Saturday.

The incident started on October 28.  Results through November 1:

• Location: Devil’s Garden Plateau WHT
• AML: 402
• Pre-gather population: Between 651 and 998
• Target: Horses
• Type: Planned
• Method: Helicopter and bait
• Goals: Capture 500, remove 500
• Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
• Better way: Sterilize mares with PZP (according to advocates)
• Captured: 73
• Shipped: Unknown
• Released: Unknown
• Deaths: None
• Average daily take: 14.6
• Unaccounted-for animals: Unknown

There is no breakdown of capture total.

The percentage of foals cannot be determined.

The ratio of males to females is unknown.

The location of the trap site was not disclosed.

Body conditions scores have been averaging 5, an indication that the horses are not starving and the herd has not exceeded the ability of the land to sustain it.

The roundup will achieve a thriving ecological balance and multiple-use relationship on public lands, codewords for ranching superiority in the lawful home of wild horses.

RELATED: Devil’s Garden Roundup, Day 3.

Situated in southern Oregon along the Nevada border, Cottonwood Ranch lies in the western foothills of the Trout Creek Mountains.

The property covers 1,027 deeded acres with grazing preference on the Sandhills Allotment.

The listing refers to the East and West Sandhills Allotments but RAS and the National Data Viewer refer only to the Sandhills Allotment.

The Allotment Master Report puts it in the Maintain category with 2,294 active AUMs on 12,462 public acres.

The NDV shows two parcels with a combined acreage of 18,146.

Western Horse Watchers asked the Burns office about the discrepancy on October 28 but as of today has received no reply.

The Authorization Use Report shows a small allowance for horse grazing.

A buyer could ask the BLM to flip the remaining AUMs to horses and extend the grazing season to 12 months as Wild Horse Refuge did in Colorado.

That resource would support 2,294 ÷ 12 = 191 wild horses.

The land ratio is good, roughly 1,000 deeded acres give access to somewhere between 12,000 and 18,000 public acres.

At Mustang Monument in Nevada, 14,000 deeded acres secured access to over 500,000 public acres but the BLM did not flip the preference to horses as originally planned.

The incident started on October 28.  Results through October 30:

• Location: Devil’s Garden Plateau WHT
• AML: 402
• Pre-gather population: Between 651 and 998
• Target: Horses
• Type: Planned
• Method: Helicopter
• Goals: Capture 500, remove 500
• Category: Cruel and costly (according to advocates)
• Better way: Sterilize mares with PZP (according to advocates)
• Captured: 49
• Shipped: Unknown
• Released: Unknown
• Deaths: None
• Average daily take: 16.3
• Unaccounted-for animals: Unknown

Figures for Day 2 were not provided.

The percentage of foals cannot be determined.

The ratio of males to females is unknown.

The roundup supports three tenets of rangeland management.

RELATED: Devil’s Garden Roundup Begins.

Like the Antelope-Triple B HMAP, the project provides more evidence that the advocates are ill-informed about wild horses.

The overriding objective of the new plan is to maintain a thriving ecological balance and multiple-use relationship in the Complex, codewords for ranching superiority in the lawful homes of wild horses.  Refer to Appendix XIII of the Draft EA.

Alternative A, the Proposed Action, would implement the plan, putting these techniques into practice:

• Forcible removal to low AML
• Application of fertility control (PZP, Gonacon, IUDs)
• Skewing of sex ratios (60% males / 40% females)

Comments, due by November 29, can be emailed to the address in the news release.

RELATED: Scoping Begins for Pancake HMAP.

The project folder now contains a draft DNA which asserts that existing planning documents fully cover bait-trap removal of 350 to 400 wild horses from a herd of 659 in and around the JMA.

Livestock grazing will be deferred for two years in pastures with a high percentage of burned area to allow vegetation to recover.

The map suggests that about 40% of the JMA was affected.

Comments will be accepted through November 5.

RELATED: Murderer’s Creek Emergency Roundup Pending?

The incident started yesterday as planned with 15 horses captured and no deaths.

The number of animals shipped was not reported.

RELATED: Seventh Annual Devil’s Garden Roundup Announced.

The following video takes you to the gate but no farther.

For a peek inside, read this 2019 article by The Arizona Republic.

Animals removed from the two HMAs in August can be viewed at the Boise off-range corrals on November 2 according to a BLM news release.

They will be transferred to the Bruneau off-range corrals where they will be held until the burned areas have recovered.

RELATED: Sands Basin Roundup Ends, Four Mile Roundup Ends.

At the southwest corner of the Virginia Range with easterfilmsdotcom.

The project would convert all but the portion of the Spruce Allotment west of Highway 93 to a nonreproducing wild horse ecosanctuary, including 93% of the Spruce-Pequop HMA, 27% of the Goshute HMA and 14% of the Antelope Valley HMA, according to an undated scoping brief.

Portions of the HMAs not in the sanctuary would be evaluated to determine their ability to sustain wild horse populations with reduced acreage and water resources.

When the carrying capacity of the Spruce Allotment was determined in the early 1990s, AUMs were set aside for wild horse and wildlife.  The analysis assumed that the majority of AUMs in the allotment would be utilized by cattle, whereas in the proposed sanctuary there would be no AUM consumption by livestock.

Western Horse Watchers refers to such changes as flipping the grazing preference to horses, the second step after acquiring the base property tied to said allotment.

Forage in the Spruce Allotment was split between the previous permittee, who retained 57 AUMs in the portion on the west side of the highway and Mustang Monument received 10,908 active AUMs and 2,458 suspended AUMs on the east side.

This is apparent today in the allotment master report.

The suspended AUMs require a carrying capacity analysis to determine if they are available before they can be made active.

When Elko County ranchers heard about the plan the battle lines were drawn.

The sanctuary would function like an ORP, except most of the acreage would be public, and up to three breeding populations would be lost.

Western Horse Watchers has been unable to find the project ePlanning.

The status of the NEPA review is unknown.

RELATED: Purpose of Mustang Monument?

The proposal for a wild horse ecosanctuary was submitted by Saving America’s Mustangs in response to a 2011 BLM solicitation, according to a 2012 news release.

The facility would include 14,000 deeded acres that serve as the base property for the 534,000-acre Spruce Allotment.

Up to 900 federally owned wild horses would graze thereon, for a stocking rate of 1.7 animals per thousand public acres.

A 2012 notice in the Federal Register indicated that the agency intended to prepare an EIS and RMP amendment for the project which would “reduce and potentially eliminate livestock grazing within the portion of the Spruce Allotment east of Highway 93.”

RELATED: Where Is Mustang Monument?

It’s about 30 miles south of Wells, NV on the east side of Highway 93.

The National Data Viewer puts it in the Snow Water Lake Allotment.

The Elko County Assessor indicates it’s APN 008-080-001, owned by Tommy LLC, a legal entity controlled by Madeleine Pickens and probably named after one of her dogs.

The Operator Information Report at RAS ties Mustang Monument to these allotments:

• 2704016 – SPRUCE GRAZING ASSOCIATION LLC – SPRUCE
• 2703859 – SAVING AMERICA’S MUSTANGS – SNOW WATER LAKE, WARM CREEK

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

The Authorization Use Report gives livestock types and season of use.

Pickens acquired base properties tied to these allotments and offered to take wild horses out of BLM pens and put them back on public lands previously designated for livestock.

Initially the BLM agreed but later reneged.

RELATED: Yes to American Prairie, No to Mustang Monument.

The BLM opened a new project in ePlanning today to assess NEPA adequacy.

No documents have been posted.

The description says the Rail Ridge Fire burned almost 70% of the BLM-managed lands in the HMA, which correspond to about 32% of the total (Forest Service has 68%).

The fire is 92% contained as of today.

The National Data Viewer indicates the BLM lands are subject to permitted grazing.

The Western Watersheds map gives the status of Forest Service lands.

He had been removed from the beach and given his condition, they decided the best thing to do was to let him pass slowly and peacefully according to an October 23 report by WITN News.

The size of the herd is unknown.

Wild horse advocates are known for their opposition to nature’s way.

RELATED: Advocates Monitor Currituck Stallion, Kill Currituck Mare.

UPDATE: A story by the Augusta Free Press says they euthanized him.

A new project was opened in ePlanning yesterday and a preliminary environmental assessment was copied to the folder with other supporting documents.

The scoping phase was apparently skipped.

The project covers the Carter Reservoir HMA, Coppersmith HMA and Buckhorn HMA on the northern CA-NV border.

Alternative 1, the Proposed Action, features forcible removal, fertility control and sex ratio skewing.  Refer to Section 2.2.3 in the EA.

As in the Kiger-Riddle EA, the discussion of GonaCon Equine on page 49 (50 in pdf) refers to outdated registrations: “GonaCon-Equine is approved for use by authorized federal, state, tribal, public, and private personnel, for application to wild and feral equids in the United States (EPA, 2013; 2015).”

The 2017 amendment, which increased the interval between treatments from 30 days to 90 days, is ignored.

The BLM news release said the current population is at least 700 wild horses, compared to a combined AML of 195.

The HMAs do not appear on the FY25 roundup schedule.

They are subject to permitted grazing.

The new plan supports three tenets of rangeland management.

Story by FOX5 News of Las Vegas.

RELATED: Kicking Incident Puts Spotlight on Mount Charleston Horses.

Table 12 in the Antelope-Triple B Management Evaluation identifies the allotments that overlap the Complex.

The Allotment Master Report at RAS gives management status, public acres and active AUMs by field office (Bristlecone | Wells).

Approximately 90% of the allotment acreage is in the Improve category.

The allotments, which include territory outside the Complex, support livestock equivalent to 6,533 wild horses.

The forage assigned to livestock inside the Complex is estimated to be 44,758 AUMs per year, assuming it’s evenly distributed across the allotments.

That resource would support 3,730 wild horses, on top of the 821 allowed by plan, for a True AML of 4,551.

The pre-gather population is well within this range.

The BLM spends around $6.8 million per year to care for 3,730 wild horses in off-range holding so it can collect about $60,000 per year from the Triple B permittees.

Nobody in the private sector would do that.

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

RELATED: Triple B Roundup Announced.

So says a report by KFYR News.

She was cleared to return to the park (after the roundup) but her condition got worse according to park officials.

RELATED: Park Service Microchips TRNP Wild Horses.

The incident will begin on or about November 1 according to a BLM news release.

The capture and removal goals are 2,255 and 2,155, respectively.

The pre-gather population is thought to be 3,319.

The number of horses allowed by plan is 821.

The Complex includes the Maverick-Medicine HMA, Triple B HMA and a portion of the Antelope Valley HMA west of Highway 93.

A helicopter will push the horses into the trap and operations will be open to public observation.

Animals identified for removal will be taken to the off-range corrals at Palomino Valley and Indian Lakes in Fallon.

Up to 50 mares will be treated with GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide, and returned with 50 stallions to the range.

The Complex is subject to permitted grazing.

Allotments are now indicated with brown borders in the National Data Viewer.

RELATED: Scoping Begins for Antelope-Triple B HMAP.