WINNEMUCCA - The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Winnemucca District Office, Black Rock Field Office will continue to accept public comments on the Jackson Mountains Herd Management Area (HMA) Wild Horse Gather Preliminary Environmental Assessment (EA) until May 18.
The BLM released the Preliminary EA on April 18, with a public comment period that was to end May 1. The BLM has extended this period to allow for a full 30-day comment period. All comments must be received on or before the new comment deadline of May 18.
The Proposed Action calls for a phased-in approach to reach the appropriate management level over a six- to 10-year period. This would be accomplished by conducting an initial wild horse removal in July 2012, implementing fertility control, adjusting sex ratios and managing a non-breeding population of geldings in subsequent gathers.
The proposed gather is needed to remove excess wild horses to help prevent further deterioration of natural vegetation and riparian areas and springs, reduce population growth rates, achieve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance and maintain healthy wild horse populations. High wild horse numbers combined with low precipitation have resulted in poor forage and water conditions in the HMA.
The Proposed Action, action alternatives and associated impacts are described and analyzed in the preliminary Jackson Mountains Herd Management Area Wild Horse Gather Environmental Assessment and can be viewed online by following the links at http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_information/nepa0.html. Hardcopies of the preliminary EA are available upon request from the Winnemucca District Office.
All comments on the Preliminary EA must be received on or before May 18. Mailed comments should be sent to ensure delivery by May 18 and directed to Melanie Mirati, BLM Winnemucca Field Office, 5100 E. Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca NV 89445-2921. Comments can also be submitted by e-mail to BLM_NV_WDOJacksonMtnsWildHorseEA@blm.gov. E-mail messages should include "Jackson Gather" in the subject line.
Commenters should be aware before including their address, phone number, e-mail address or other personal identifying information in their comment, that their entire comment - including personal identifying information - may be made publicly available at any time. While they can ask BLM in their comment to withhold personal identifying information from public review, BLM cannot guarantee that it will be able to do so. Anonymity is not allowed for submissions from organizations or businesses and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses.
For more information, contact Melanie Mirati, BLM Black Rock Field Office, at (775) 623-1500 or mmirati@blm.gov.
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