The Bureau of Land Management recently completed rounding up excess wild horses from the High Rock Complex of herd management areas in northwest Nevada. In the roundup, 1,334 wild horses were gathered as part of the effort to return populations to sustainable levels.
Bureau officials will conduct an aerial population survey within the next week to confirm the numbers of wild horses remaining on the range and will release some animals back onto the range to maintain the populations of 258 to 451 wild horses in the Bitner, Nut Mountain, Fox Hog, High Rock and Wall Canyon herd management areas. Members of the public will be invited to observe these releases.
Some post-gather population management, including bait trapping and removal of horses living outside of herd management areas, may be undertaken this winter. If the post-gather aerial population survey shows herd management areas to be over their appropriate management levels, the BLM could capture and remove some additional animals. The public will be notified of any additional actions.
Mares returned to the range will be treated with a fertility control drug to slow growth of the wild herds.
“This was a large and challenging project, and we are pleased to have completed it while accomplishing our objectives of safety, humane treatment, public access and transparency,” said Nancy Haug, BLM’s Northern California district manager. “Achieving the appropriate management levels will help ensure that the rangelands remain healthy along with wild horse herds, wildlife and permitted livestock.”
Wild horses removed from the range will be available for adoption at the BLM Litchfield Corrals via the Internet and at wild horse and burro adoption events in various locations across the nation beginning in January. Dates, locations and details will be announced.
Older wild horses will be housed in long-term pastures in the Midwest where they retain their wild status and protection.
Complete roundup statistics, including veterinary reports, are available online at www.blm.gov/ca/highrock.
The BLM protects wild horses and burros and controls their populations under provisions of the Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The law recognizes the animals as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West,” and requires that they be managed as part of a “thriving natural ecological balance on the range.”
The High Rock Complex, managed by BLM-California’s Surprise Field Office, is part of the Tri-State Coordination Area which involves the BLM’s California, Nevada and Oregon state offices and the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Sheldon-Hart Mountain wildlife refuges. The agencies are working together to improve management of wild and feral horses in northwest Nevada and southeastern Oregon.
“We recognize that many people value our nation’s wild horses and burros, and we share that appreciation,” Haug said. “With completion of this project, wild horses and burros will enjoy healthy rangeland habitat or humane care off the range.”
