Desatoya Roundup Announced

The incident will begin on or about September 25, according to a BLM news release.

The agency will gather approximately 122 wild horses, remove approximately 24 excess animals and treat up to 49 mares with GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide.

Those mares will be returned to the area with up to 49 stallions.

The event, billed as catch-treat-release in the August 28 schedule, will be open to public observation.

The current population is thought to be 152, not including this year’s foal crop.

The AML is 127-180.

The HMA covers 161,678 total acres in central Nevada, including 157,838 public acres, and is subject to permitted grazing.

The stocking rate allowed by plan is 1.1 wild horses per thousand public acres, in line with the target rate across all HMAs of one wild horse per thousand acres.

The National Data Viewer shows habitat loss on the east side.

Land managers have determined that the Mount Airy HA is not fit for wild horses but is well-suited for livestock.

The operation supports three goals of rangeland management: Pest control, resource enforcement and rancher protection.

A roundup last year removed approximately 160 will horses from the area.

Excess animals will be taken to the off-range corrals at Palomino Valley.

Gather stats and daily reports will be posted to this page.

Mustang Monday

At the Onaqui Mountain HMA with Matt Gonzalez.

BLM Announces Surprise-Calico Wild Horse Roundups

The incident starts tomorrow, according to the news release.

Seven HMAs in northwestern Nevada are affected.

Surprise Complex
- High Rock, Fox Hog, Wall Canyon
- Applegate Field Office
- Planned
- Current population 1,100
- AML 496
- Capture 494
- Remove 404
- Destination Litchfield Corrals
- Treat 45 returned mares with GonaCon Equine
- Gather stats and daily reports
- Open to public observation
Calico Complex
- Black Rock Range, Calico Mountains, Granite Range, Warm Springs Canyon
- Black Rock Field Office
- Planned
- Current population unknown
- AML unknown
- Capture 761
- Remove 380
- Destination Palomino Valley Corrals
- Treat 172 returned mares with GonaCon Equine
- Gather stats and daily reports (link not working as of today)
- Open to public observation

The National Data Viewer shows some habitat loss on the west side of the High Rock HA.

Resource confiscation and reapportionment is a much larger problem, indicated by the green borders in the map. Click on image to open in new tab.

The actions align with three goals of rangeland management: Pest control, resource enforcement and rancher protection.

Wild Horses and Burros on the Edge of Crisis?

Would an article published by Utah State University, home of the FREES Network, be kind to the horses or the ranchers?

Students under the tutelage of Eric Thacker can recite the overpopulation narrative in their sleep, portraying the public-lands ranchers as victims, but, like the wild horse advocates, couldn’t convert an AML to AUMs if their lives depended on it, much less compute a forage allocation for livestock in an area set aside for wild horses.

NBC Turns to Love Triangle for Answers about Wild Horses

What is an HMA? It’s an allotment with horses on it according to Ty Berg, husband of Anna Fallini Berg, operators of Twin Springs Ranch in southern Nevada and the only permittees on the massive Reveille Allotment.

And, yes, they are legally obligated to let the horses run wild on land their family has worked for over 150 years because the Reveille Allotment contains the Reveille HA, an area identified in 1971 for wild horses, which contains the Reveille HMA, the remnant where horses are still allowed. Refer to this post for a discussion of the arrangement, including a map.

The image at 1:21 in the following video tells you why there are few natural predators in the area.

Regarding the current wild horse population across the American west, discussed at 2:34, there are three times more horses than allowed by plan, not three times more than the land can support. The image at 1:36 explains why this is true.

AMLs are small relative to the available resources because the bureaucrats have assigned most of the forage to the ranchers.

The BLM took 77 horses off the range in July, a detail overlooked by the reporter, making life a little bit easier for the family. Mares returned to the area were treated with two doses of GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide.

Who paid for that? You, not the Fallinis!

How to resolve the conflict?

The consensus of the Love Triangle, an informal coalition united not by methodology but by contempt for wild horses, described as “all sides” by the reporter at 5:34, is fertility control.

The video shows unlawful use of PZP by volunteers with the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, a leader in nonmotorized removal, at 5:44.

The Fallinis run 1,800 to 2,400 cattle in the allotment on a 12-month grazing season.

BLM Updates Gathers and Removals Page

The old page is 404. It’s now Gathers and Fertility Control Operations.

Same image, new tagline.

As of today, the link still points to the August 28 schedule, which aligns with three goals of rangeland management:

Pest control
Resource enforcement
Rancher protection

The upper section corresponds to nonmotorized removals, dominated by the wild horse advocates and their bogus nonprofits, some made to order.

The lower sections correspond to motorized removals, the domain of BLM staff and their contractors. (Animals captured with baited traps are hauled off with trucks.)

Gathers and Removals Image 09-15-23

Foal-Free Friday, Permittees for Pesticides Edition

The revelation last week that High Desert Strategies is a collaboration between the BLM and ranchers indicates the Love Triangle is not only alive and well but gaining strength.

The agency just gave the group $468,033 to poison wild mares in eastern Oregon with GonaCon Equine, an EPA-registered pesticide.

Like the advocates, HDS refers to the product as an immunocontraceptive vaccine.

They describe their work as protecting, preserving and nurturing wild horses, which is nonsense.

They’re protecting their own financial interests with money confiscated from American wage earners!

The closest they come to acknowledging their professions is to say “Healthy rangelands are not only important to wild horse survival but also a wide variety of wildlife and many other resource users.”

They are the other resource users.

The September 8 article by the Malheur Enterprise named Rachel Amick, a rancher from Harper, as one of the volunteers.

The Operator Information Report at RAS ties the Amicks to two grazing authorizations, 3602198 and 3603120.

The Allotment Information Report ties both authorizations to Allotment #4, which contains the Hog Creek HMA, where they receive 1,757 AUMs per year.

That resource is equivalent to 146 wild horses!

Who do you suppose is stalking the Hog Creek mares when she should be looking after her own animals on her own (multi-million dollar?) base property?

Adobe Town Emergency Roundup Pending?

A new project has been opened in ePlanning with a proposed roundup of approximately 100 wild horses outside the HMA on private lands in the Wyoming checkerboard.

As of today, only a map has been copied to the documents folder.

Owyhee Horses Adjusting to Life Off the Range?

What’s the difference between a sterilant and a pesticide that produces long-term infertility?

As for the roundup, an advocate with the Idaho Wild Horse Alliance praised the BLM for a good job, according to a story dated September 13 by KIVI News, another indication that the Love Triangle is functioning normally.

RELATED: Owyhee Roundups Over.

Working Together for a Horse-Free Future 12-21-22

AWA Posts Video of Dust-Up in the Desert

Are wild horses overpopulated in Nevada? Filmed September 7.

Sand Wash Roundup on Hold?

The incident depends on results from an August census according to a report dated September 13 by the Steamboat Pilot.

It’s still on the schedule with a start date of September 25.

The capture and removal goals are 80 and 20, respectively.

Of the 60 horses to be returned to the range, 30 were to be treated with fertility control.

The pesticide of choice at Sand Wash Basin is Zonastat-H, on the same EPA list as toxic chemicals, administered outside of roundups by SWAT.

The HMA is subject to permitted grazing. Livestock receive almost four times more forage than the horses.

Use of PZP to control wild horse populations that interfere with animal agriculture is not consistent with instructions on the label and is therefore unlawful.

PZP Approved Uses 09-13-23

Photos posted by SWAT show several examples of advocates mixing and applying the product without the proper PPE, more violations of federal law.

Owyhee Roundups Over

The incident concluded today, with 229 horses captured, 228 shipped, none released and one dead.

There were no unaccounted-for animals.

Up to 38 mares will be treated with GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide, and be returned to the area with up to 40 stallions, according to today’s news release.

The capture total included 74 stallions, 93 mares and 62 foals.

Youngsters represented 27.1% of the horses gathered.

Of the adults, 44.3% were male and 55.7% were female.

The death rate was 0.4%.

Three HMAs were affected, all subject to permitted grazing.

RELATED: Owyhee Roundups Announced.

Big Sandy Planning Documents Out for Public Review

The Preliminary EA has been copied to the project folder with 17 appendices.

Three HMAs, known as the Three Rivers Complex, are affected.

Alternative A, the Proposed Action, features gathers and removals of excess burros, application of fertility control pesticides and sex ratio skewing in favor of males over a ten-year period. Refer to Section 2.1 in the EA.

The plan aligns with three goals of rangeland management:

Pest control
Resource enforcement
Rancher protection

As noted in Section 1.5, the project will not set or adjust AMLs nor adjust authorized AUMs for livestock within the HMAs.

The current population is thought to be around 2,300 animals, almost 4X AML, according to today’s news release.

Comments will be accepted through October 11.

Owyhee Roundup, Day 5

The incident began on September 6. Results through September 10:

Scope: Black Mountain, Hardtrigger, Sands Basin HMAs
Purpose: Pest control, resource enforcement, rancher protection
Target: Horses
Type: Planned
Method: Helicopter
Category: Cruel and costly*
Better way: Poison mares with ovary-killing pesticides*
Captured: 215, up from 177 on Day 3
Average daily take: 43.0
Capture goal: 220
Removal goal: 142
Returned: None
Deaths: 1, no change from Day 3
Shipped: 214, up from 176 on Day 3

The figures above are based on the daily reports, not the totals posted by the BLM.

Gather results for Day 3 were changed from 25 stallions and 40 mares to 26 stallions and 39 mares. No change to foals.

Trapping occurred at Hardtrigger on Day 4 and Sands Basin on Day 5.

The death rate is 0.5%.

The capture total includes 71 stallions, 87 mares and 57 foals.

Youngsters represented 26.5% of the animals gathered.

Of the adults, 44.9% were male and 55.1% were female.

Body condition scores were not given.

The HMAs and surrounding lands are subject to permitted grazing.

*According to advocates.

Day 5 ended with no unaccounted-for animals.

Operations will likely conclude this week.

Up to 38 mares will be treated with GonaCon Equine, a fertility control pesticide, and be returned to the area with up to 40 stallions.

Other statistics:

Forage liberated to date: 2,580 AUMs per year
Water liberated to date: 2,150 gallons per day
Forage assigned to livestock: Undetermined
Horses displaced from area by permitted grazing: Undetermined
True AML: Undetermined
Stocking rate at new AML: Undetermined
Horses removed because of drilling and mining: Ask the advocates

Overpopulation means more horses than allowed by plan, not necessarily more horses than the land can support.

RELATED: Owyhee Roundup, Day 3.

Clan Alpine Pesticide Discussion Falls Short

In Section 2.2.2 of the Final EA, the BLM acknowledges that Zonastat-H is a pesticide, but not a restricted-use pesticide, meaning it can only be used by certified applicators for purposes identified on the label. Go to page 26 in the pdf.

Controlling wild horse populations that pose safety hazards to motorists and/or interfere with animal agriculture is not an approved use.

Application of the product in those circumstances is unlawful.

Regarding GonaCon Equine, the agency cites the 2013 and 2015 registrations, while ignoring the 2017 update.

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 dropped the RUP designation and extended the interval between primer and booster to 90 days, which the BLM routinely ignores.

The Reveille HMA is a recent example.

When will law enforcement hold the bureaucrats and nonprofits to account?

Mustang Monday

At the Pryor Mountain WHR with Lori’s Travels.

Comment Period Starts for Big Sandy Pest Control Plan?

The project description says the BLM has prepared an environmental assessment for burro control at the Big Sandy, Alamo and Lake Havasu HMAs, and comments can be submitted through October 11, but it has not been copied to the documents folder.