BLM Seeks Comment on Humboldt Herd Area Wild Horse Gather

The BLM is seeking comment on the environmental assessment for the Humboldt herd area wild horse gather plan.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Winnemucca, Nev., District Humboldt River Field Office is seeking public review and comment on the preliminary environmental assessment (EA) for the Humboldt herd area (HA) wild horse gather plan until July 25. The proposed gather would remove the estimated 161 wild horses from within the Humboldt HA and surrounding areas to achieve and maintain a population of zero wild horses.

The Humboldt HA is located about 30 miles south of Winnemucca, Nev., and extends along the east side of Interstate 80 to Lovelock, Nev. The Humboldt HA was not designated for the long-term management of wild horses through the Sonoma-Gerlach Management Framework Plan due to the checkerboard land pattern found within the HA and, therefore, is not currently managed for wild horses or burros. Removing the excess wild horses will help prevent further deterioration of the range and water resources, as well as address safety issues on roads and private land issues.

The proposed gather area is comprised of 431,544 acres of both private and public lands. The exact origin of these wild horses has not been determined; however, some of them could have been missed in the initial gather to remove them from the area in 1985. Other wild horses could have migrated into the Humboldt HA from adjacent herd management areas (HMAs). Since this area is not an HMA managed for wild horses, these wild horses have been identified as excess wild horses.

Following passage of the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act in 1971, the BLM was directed to identify areas where wild horses and burros were located. In the first few years following passage of the act, the BLM inventoried and mapped wild horses and burros on millions of acres of public land. These areas were designated as herd areas (areas where horses and burros were found in 1971). Through land use planning, the BLM then evaluated each HA to determine whether or not there was enough food, water, cover, and space to support healthy and diverse populations of wild horses and burros over the long term. Areas which met these criteria were then designated as herd management areas, and the BLM only manages wild horses and burros in these areas where all the essential elements are present

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
276 votes · 276 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!