The Bureau of Land Management completed a bait-and-trap roundup of 85 wild horses on Wednesday on the Jackson Mountains Herd Management Area, located about 40 miles west of Winnemucca, Nev. No deaths were reported.
Citing a lack of water and declining health of the herd, the BLM started a planned emergency bait-and-water roundup of 300 wild horses on July 4. The agency finished having captured 48 studs, 28 mares, and nine foals. The horses were gathered using traps made from corral panels stocked with water and hay, not helicopters.
The agency removed horses. It did not treat and release any mares with safe, proven
The Jackson Mountains HMA covers 283,775 acres of public and private land. The BLM estimates the current population at 906 wild horses, not counting foals. The agency-set Appropriate Management Level for the HMA is 130-217 horses or as low as one horse for every 2,183 acres.
By comparison, nine livestock permittees are authorized to graze on allotments that average a 31 percent overlap with the HMA, according to a 2012 Environmental Assessment. Total permitted seasonal livestock use is 32,744 Animal Unit Months (One AUM = forage to sustain one cow for one month).
The captured wild horses were transported to the Indian Lakes Off-Range Wild Horse and Burro Corrals, located in Fallon, Nev., where they will be readied for the BLM’s adoption and sale program.