WINNEMUCCA - The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Winnemucca District, Black Rock Field Office initiated the Tri-State Calico Complex Wild Horse and Burro Gather on Saturday, Nov. 19, to gather approximately 1,300 wild horses and remove 850 to 950 wild horses and 140 wild burros.
As many as 350 wild horses will be released back to the range following the gather.
The gather area is located northeast of Gerlach and northwest of Winnemucca, within Humboldt and Washoe counties. The gather area is part of the Tri-State Complex, which includes Nevada, Oregon and California. The gather is expected to last approximately 40 - 50 days.
"Since August, the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge and the BLM Surprise Field Office have successfully and humanely removed a significant number of excess feral and wild horses from the tri-state area landscape," said District Manager Gene Seidlitz. "The Winnemucca District is poised to remove additional excess wild horses and burros from this geographical area by implementing the Tri-State Calico Complex Wild Horse and Burro gather. With the successful and humane removal of excess animals, significant steps will have been made towards a thriving ecological balance on the public rangelands and toward reaching our goal to achieve healthy populations of horses and burros and healthy rangelands."
If more than 950 wild horses are gathered, selective removal criteria will be used to return wild horses to the range. Of the wild horses released back to the range, approximately 85 to 115 mares would receive a 22-month fertility control vaccine treatment and 235 to 265 stallions will be released back to the HMAs to strive for a sex ratio adjustment of 60 percent male and 40 percent female. The goal is to slow population growth to maintain population size within the Appropriate Management Level (AML), and extend the time before another wild horse and burro gather would be needed to remove excess wild horses and burros.
The estimated population is approximately 1,602 wild horses and 179 wild burros within the Tri-State-Calico Complex. The estimate includes the 2011 foal crop. Wild horse and burro numbers fluctuate based on the animals' movement outside of Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in search of forage, water and space, due to the current over-population of wild horses and burros in these areas. The AML for the Tri-State Calico Complex is 572 - 952 wild horses and 39 - 65 wild burros.
The public is welcome to attend the gather, and is encouraged to attend on Saturdays, when there will be additional interpretive opportunities to interact with staff. Viewing opportunities can be affected by weather and gather operation, and the public is encouraged to check the gather hotline nightly at (775) 623-1728 for changes in the schedule.
The BLM will also regularly post gather information on its website at: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo.html.
Removing the excess wild horses and burros will help to achieve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance and multiple-use relationship as required under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, and Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as well as help to achieve and maintain healthy wild horse and burro populations.
The BLM will finish the proposed action and decision made in the Calico Mountains Complex Wild Horse Gather Plan from 2010. Although the Calico Mountains Complex was gathered in January and February 2010, the overall proposed action was not achieved due to winter conditions and wild horse movement within the tri-state area of Nevada, Oregon and California, which necessitates the need for this follow-up gather.
Wild horses and burros from the Tri-State-Calico Complex will be gathered as a complex or unit as herds move and interact throughout. The gather will be conducted in conjunction with BLM California's High Rock Wild Horse Gather, which took place immediately prior to this gather. This is conducive to population management because both gathers are located within the tri-state area where wild horse movement between these areas exists. The complex gather involves areas beyond the HMA boundaries as wild horses and burros have moved outside of the HMAs in search of forage, water and space, due to the current over-population of wild horses and burros in these areas.
The Tri-State-Calico Complex consists of approximately 584,000 acres (public and private) but the gather area consists of approximately 1,041,000 acres to encompass wild horses and burros residing outside of the HMAs. The complex includes the following HMAs: Black Rock Range East, Black Rock Range West, Calico Mountains, Granite Range, Warm Springs Canyon and McGee Mountain.
The gather will be conducted in close coordination with the Nevada Department of Agriculture's (NDOA) Brands Division. The NDOA brand inspectors will verify that all gathered animals are wild horses and burros as defined by the Wild Free-Roaming horses and Burros Act of 1971. Once verified, the brand inspector will provided the BLM a certificate to transport the animals. The gathered wild horses will be transported to the Palomino Valley Center near Reno, and the burros will be transported to the Broken Arrow/Indian Lakes Facility at Fallon, where they will be prepared for the BLM adoption program. Un-adopted horses will be placed in long-term pastures where they will be humanely cared for and retain their "wild" status and protection under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The BLM does not sell or send any horses to slaughter.
For more information, contact Lisa Ross, BLM Winnemucca District public affairs specialist, at (775) 623-1541 or lross@blm.gov.
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