LOVELOCK - Bands of "wild" horses were a frequent sight from the road as rancher Dan Duncan and his wife Joan surveyed their grazing allotment in the drought-parched hills of Rochester Canyon last Saturday. Duncan said the horses are consuming the meager forage and water supplies needed to sustain his livestock through the winter.
A group of mares with four colts were curious but showed no fear as a visitor approached to photograph them. Over the years, the herds have increased and now there are at least 200 horses in what the Bureau of Land Management has designated a "horse-free area," Duncan said.
The BLM's Public Affairs Specialist Mark Turney in Winnemucca sent a statement that mustangs in the Rochester, Limerick and Coal Canyon areas are in a Herd Area (HA) not a horse-free area or a Herd Management Area (HMA). The statement said BLM officials recently counted about 140 mustangs in the Rochester/Limerick Canyon area.
Under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, horses on public land are federally protected to be managed by the BLM or the U.S. Forest Service in horse management areas.
According to Duncan, mustangs living outside of those areas are in violation of the law including the herds on his grazing allotment.
Duncan and fellow rancher Jim Estill, owner of the Anderson Ranch in Buena Vista Valley, said they are still waiting for the BLM to take action and "follow their own law" after agency officials promised to remove the "illegal" animals a couple of years ago.
"The horses are still protected under federal law but the same law says they should be removed immediately," Estill said. "What would solve the whole thing is if the BLM would just do what their law says they're supposed to do. Maybe it's going to take a judge to order them to do it."
The BLM stated the mustangs in question are on their list for removal as soon as possible but the gather has not been scheduled due to higher priority wild horse gathers, budget constraints, legal issues as well as short and long term horse holding capacity.
As required by the BLM, the ranchers said they foster forage growth on their grazing allotments by frequently moving their livestock. Horses tend to consume all the edible vegetation before moving on leaving barren soil behind, Duncan said. Water sources maintained for his livestock have been damaged. One natural spring remains unusable after the metal troughs were destroyed by horses two years ago, he said.
"We don't mind a few mustangs around," Estill said. "I like to see mustangs as much as anybody but I don't want to see 200 of them, the springs tore up and the feed all gone. Our business is turning grass into beef and if there's less grass and water, you can't do business."
Unless the BLM takes action, the horses will eventually drive livestock off the range and livestock producers out of business, the ranchers said. Both Duncan and Estill said they have already reduced their livestock herds.
"I decreased my herd by about 10 percent this fall because of a combination of horses and drought," Estill said. "Hopefully, we'll have a real good spring and everybody will be happy. It could go the other way- might have to reduce it by another 10 or 50 percent or who knows. Every year's a new year."
Prior to the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act, ranchers kept the numbers of wild horses at a manageable level and made a little money in the process, Duncan said. Some of the wild horses, possibly the best, escaped the round-ups but the numbers were kept low enough so they could co-exist with livestock and wildlife.
"We used to rope them and sell them before the law came in. A lot of them, the 2 and 3 year olds, we would break them and sell them for riding," he said. "The older ones, you'd get $40 or $50 for them at a (livestock) sale. If you'd break one to where to you could get on and ride it, you'd get $100 to $125."
Wild horse management now costs taxpayers substantial amounts of money to care and feed excess animals removed from the range. Estill and the Duncans blame political pressure by "Wild Horse Annie" and subsequent wild horse activists, not BLM officials, for the high numbers of excess horses and the cost to taxpayers of managing and caring for the animals.
"The money they spend to feed and water them could be going to education," Joan Duncan said. "It's the people who come out from the east that try to tell you how to do your job out here and they haven't a clue. We don't go back east and try to tell them how to run their business."
Duncan believes that ranchers could do the job of balancing livestock with horses and wildlife while maintaining adequate forage and water on the range.
"Ninety percent of ranchers are good stewards of the land. We have to be - that's how we make our living" she said. "It wouldn't be good business sense to not be good stewards. We spread our cattle out to not overgraze the land and we keep the water flowing. We're called to be good stewards of the land; let us be good stewards."
As for the wild horse heritage, mustang lovers have nothing to worry about, Estill said. They should be worried about the long-term health of the herds and their environment.
"Nobody could ever catch them all," Estill said. "That's one thing the wild horse advocates don't understand; if we just left all the horses alone and never touched them, in 10 or 20 years they'd be starving. Instead of 200, there'd be 600 horses. There'd be no cows, no wildlife, the range would be ruined and then the horses would start dying. That's the only conclusion if you never manage these horses. It's like having a bunch of cats in your backyard. If you let them keep breeding, we know what's going to happen."
The Bureau of Land Management Winnemucca District provided the following responses in an email to a reporter's questions regarding the mustangs in the Limerick, Rochester and Coal Canyon area.
Approximately how many horses are in the Rochester/Limerick Canyon area?
An inventory of the wild horses was conducted this past September and approximately 140 wild horses were counted.
What is the condition of these animals?
Using the Henneke Equine Body Scoring Chart, the wild horses in the Humboldt HA are approximately a 4 - moderately thin.
Do they have adequate forage and water to survive the winter?
At this point in time it appears there is adequate forage and water to sustain the current number of wild horses in the area. The Humboldt HA and the wild horses in this area will continue to be monitored by BLM staff.
Two ranchers (Dan Duncan and Jim Estill) claim the horses are living in what the BLM has designated as a "horse-free area" and that the animals have negatively impacted their grazing allotments. Would you agree with this statement?
It is important to understand that there is no designation as a "Horse-Free Area." This area is considered a Herd Area (HA) rather than a Herd Management Area (HMA).
If so, will the animals be removed from this area and when?
Yes, eventually the wild horses will be removed. Although this HA is a high priority for the Winnemucca District it currently is not on the National Gather Schedule due to numerous reasons. These reasons include higher priority gathers involving emergencies, escalating issues, budget constraints, short-term holding capacity and long term holding pasture capacity as well as, current litigation and court settlements. A gather date has not been set for this gather though we are actively working on rectifying this issue in as short a period of time as possible.
Are these animals having a negative impact on wildlife as well as livestock?
The Coal Canyon-Poker Allotment has three livestock permitees which utilize portions of the allotment. Combined these permits total 3,144 Animal Unit Months (AUMs). An AUM is the amount of forage necessary for the sustenance of one cow or its equivalent for a period of one month. The approximate 140 wild horses graze year round or 12 months which equates to 1,680 AUMs. The forage the wild horses utilize is above what is permitted within the allotment. Competition for forage and water resources does exist and has the potential to impact wildlife and livestock operations. Although we do not have exact numbers, we know that Mr. Duncan did not utilize all he is permitted this past summer due to the wild horses and drought, though he has turned out full numbers for the fall and winter season. Another operator is taking a voluntary, non-use (not using any of his permitted use). Our field observations indicate that the wild horses and rangeland conditions are fair to good condition. The voluntary reduction of AUMs by the livestock operators helps maintain the health of rangelands, wild horses and other resources present within the allotment. However, we do not have the monitoring data required to determine the extent of the total impact of these wild horses.
Have you noticed any tattoos, brands or other evidence that some of these horses could be strays instead of wild animals?
Not at this point in time.
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