WINNEMUCCA - The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Winnemucca 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 20.
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 and extends along the east side of Interstate 80 to Lovelock.
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 may have been missed in the initial gather to remove them from the area in 1985.
Other wild horses may 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 1971 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 Herd Area 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.
The public is encouraged to review the EA, located at: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_information/nepa0.html under Wild Horses and Burros, and provide comments or concerns about the preliminary environmental assessment in writing, prior to 4:30 p.m. (PST) on July 25, to the BLM Winnemucca District Office, Attention: Samantha Gooch, Project Coordinator, 5100 E. Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca, NV 89445, or faxed to (775) 623-1503 (Winnemucca) or emailed to: HumboldtWildHorseEA@blm.gov.
Before including your address, phone number, email address or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment, including your personal identifying information, may be publicly available at any time.
While you can ask that your personal identifying information be withheld from public review, we cannot guarantee that we 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.
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