Wild horses being captured in a helicopter roundup on an Oregon Herd Management Area in 2021. BLM photo.

The Bureau of Land Management announced plans on Friday to remove an entire wild horse herd from Southeast Oregon as soon as next week. It was also to begin capturing and removing up to 499 wild horses in the same region on Thursday.

Starting yesterday, the BLM was to conduct a helicopter roundup as an emergency gather on the 200,000-acre Sheepshead/Heath Creek Herd Management Area due to what it says is a lack of forage and water:

“The animals’ survival is compromised by a lack of resources due to an especially dry winter and recent wildfires,” the agency said in a press release.

Ongoing drought has left the herd with only two of 63 of its normal water sources, according to the BLM. The Bald Mountain fire burned about 76,000 acres in the area in 2023.

There are an estimated 1,200 wild horses on the Herd Management Area, which the agency says can “sustainably support 500 to 900” horses. The agency-set Appropriate Management Level, or population target, for the HMA is 161-302 horses.

Almost all water being consumed by the horses is provided by livestock grazing permittees as they water livestock during twice-daily water hauls. That was to end after July 30 when livestock were to be removed from the area.

On Friday, the BLM also announced it would go ahead next week with a complete removal of the Riddle Mountain Herd Management Area herd — some 418 wild horses — for “approximately” two growing seasons, in order to allow the range to recover from the impact of the Bald Mountain Fire. The roundup is set to start on or about Sept. 9.

“Once the range has sufficiently recovered … BLM will release a sufficient number of wild horses from those retained at the off-range holding facility” to put the 28,000-acres Herd Management Area at the low end of its Appropriate Management Level, or 33-56 horses.