BLM Emergency Wild Horse Gathers Due To Drought, Overpopulation

Reno, Nev.—Ten consecutive years of drought, overpopulations of wild horses in some herd areas and poor forage conditions are setting up emergency gather situations in at least three herd areas within the next 30 to 60 days. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Nevada will receive additional funding to perform emergency gathers of nearly 1,700 horses to be removed from the Nevada Wild Horse Range north of Las Vegas on the Nevada Test and Training Range, the North Stillwater Herd Management Area (HMA) south of Winnemucca and the Fox and Lake Herd Management Area south of Gerlach.

Site visits by BLM’s program lead and a veterinarian, as well as field office monitoring of these herd areas, show competition from too many horses for dwindling water supplies and extremely poor forage conditions. Without an emergency gather, many of these horses could perish on the range.

BLM expects to start gathering the Nevada Wild Horse Range and the North Stillwater HMA within the next two weeks.

Gathered horses are taken to BLM’s holding facilities, located in Ridgecrest, Calif., Fallon or Palomino Valley, Nev. Horses that are gathered by BLM are available for public adoption.

Under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, BLM is required to manage horses and burros only in those areas where they were found in 1971. Through land use planning, BLM evaluates each herd area to determine if it has adequate food, water, cover and space to sustain healthy and diverse wild horse and burro populations over the long term.

Today, nearly half of the nation's wild horses and burros live on Nevada rangelands managed by the BLM. These Nevada horses move with the seasons within 102 HMAs comprising nearly 16 million acres of public land. Having herd populations at appropriate management levels is key to managing the rangeland resources.

For more information on BLM Nevada’s Wild Horse and Burro Program or to view a map of Nevada’s HMA’s, visit: http://www.blm.gov/nv

Source: www.blm.gov/nv