Horse News

BLM roundup of horses “near” Sulphur HMA in Utah starts today

By on • ( 24 Comments )

The BLM claims there are 830 wild horses on the Sulphur HMA.  However, when the BLM rounded up wild horses off the Sulphur HMA in 2010, at that time they claimed there were 276.  The “gather” report from that roundup states the BLM removed 90, then returned 60 (some of these may have been given fertility control).   So, that would leave 246 wild horses at the end of 2010.  If we use BLM’s 20% population increase estimate per year, that would add up to about 296 in 2011, then 356 for 2012, then 428 for 2013, then 514 for 2014.  We are only 2 months into 2015, but just to be fair, we’ll add another 9 horses.  That adds up to a total of 523 wild horses, if none died, and all mares given fertility control gave birth.  So, how did the population on the Sulphur HMA suddenly jump to 830?  – Debbie

SOURCE:  thehorse.com

wild-horse-in-utah

The BLM says the Sulphur HMA has an appropriate management level of 250 horses, but the current HMA horse population is approximately 830 animals

BLM to gather horses in southern Utah

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Utah Cedar City Field Office says it will be gathering and removing wild horses causing public health and safety concerns along Highway 21 near the Sulphur herd management area (HMA). Efforts to remove approximately 100 horses are scheduled to begin on Feb. 26.

Members of the public are welcome to view the daily gather operations once they begin, provided the safety of the animals, staff, and observers are not jeopardized and operations are not disrupted, the bureau says.

The BLM says the Sulphur HMA has an appropriate management level of 250 horses, but the current HMA horse population is approximately 830 animals. This situation has created public health and safety issues for the horses and motorists along Highway 21 near the HMA. Some horses have migrated to the outer most parts of the HMA due to over population and forage limitations and are encroaching on Highway 21.

Beginning Feb. 26, escorted tours for interested public will be provided each day of the gather operations. Participants should meet at the Border Inn Gas Station located on Highway 6 and 50 on the Utah-Nevada Border, 88.6 miles west of Delta, Utah, and be ready to leave promptly at 7:00 a.m. MST. The dates and departure times for public tours are subject to change depending upon weather and gather operations. Please check the gather hotline at 435/865-3030 for changes or updates.

Participants must provide their own transportation, water, and lunches. The BLM recommends wearing footwear and clothing suitable for harsh field conditions. Binoculars and four-wheel drive, high clearance vehicles are also very strongly recommended.

Public lands will remain open unless closures are deemed necessary due to safety concerns. Outdoor recreationists and visitors to the gather area should be aware that there will be low flying aircraft in the area. The BLM requests that pilots avoid flight patterns along Highway 21 and within the Mountain Home area because air-traffic could pose safety risk to helicopters assisting gather operations. These helicopters often change course and altitude quickly. Brief road closures could also be needed to allow movement of horses during gather operations.

Animals removed from near Highway 21 will be made available for adoption through the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Program. Those that are not adopted will be cared for in long-term pastures, where they retain their “wild” status and protection under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The BLM removed 30 wild horses from the same area on Aug. 1, 2014; 24 of these horses have found new homes with families and trainers and only six remain in the BLM Adoption Program.

Gather updates and information will be posted as they become available at http://blm.gov/h6ld or follow us on Twitter @BLMUtah using #SulphurGather2015.

For additional information on participating in public observation days, please contact public affairs specialist Lisa Reid at 435/743-3128 or lreid@blm.gov. Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf can call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 800/877-8339 to leave a message or question for the above individual. The FIRS is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Replies are provided during normal business hours.

– See more at: http://www.thehorse.com/articles/35358/blm-to-gather-horses-in-southern-utah#sthash.AXpaNqWP.dpuf

Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs

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24 replies »

  1. Its all a crock of be. I had the opportunity to visit and look at property I bought in Arizona years ago. I was appalled to find cattle grazing all over the private property that at no one has developed yet. We noticed about 5 or 6 head of cattle grazing on my friends property. It was apparent that these Welfare Ranchers feel they own the entire West. Signs all over telling you to watch for loose cattle. I was shocked. Who would you call because you had no idea who owned them. It is so out of hand I can’t believe it. And yet we are told the problem is with the horses. The Horse Councils out here appear to not want to get involved. When I was speaking to someone from the Arizona Council, they appeared to take the opposite side without saying so. Of course why should I be surprised the Illinois Horse Council supported horse slaughter without any hesitation. I would just like to see for once a handful of US Legislators get some kahunas and show up unannounced to one of these roundups. And definitely not any from the Western states involved. Let the BLM give them some bs about how close or far away they have to be. I would love it because the truth would be out. I dare anyone of them to be present and that includes my Legislators from Illinois!

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  2. Any statements made from the BLM are false, unwarrennted and pure lies !!!! Proven Fact !!!!!!! Why does anyone even listen to them??????

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  3. We need so badly to get an outside aerial count of the entire country, so that everyone will know the truth..The BLM should be there, but definitely not in charge of the actual count…how can we make THIS happen…prayers for safety for our wild ones…

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  5. I want to go a little off topic—-it seems there is NO justice “for man or animal” it is just money anymore, whatever big money wants is all that counts, they bought the land not the animals on it, same as with other animals standing in the way of money,”my heart hurts we love those little guys”http://kdvr.com/2015/02/24/group-protests-trapping-of-prairie-dogs-at-huge-castle-rock-shopping-development

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  6. The taxpaying Public was not given the opportunity to comment on this decision

    http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro.html

    HWY 21/Sulphur Gather 2015
    Press Release (Issued 02/23/15)
    Sulphur 2015 Gather Information
    Sulphur HMA Public Health and Safety HWY 21 Nuisance Gather Decision Record

    Click to access Sulphur_2015_DNA_&_DR.pdf

    BLM Announces Sulphur Wild Horse Gather to Start One Day Sooner Due to Weather Concerns

    http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/info/newsroom/2015/february/blm_announces_sulphur.html

    Release Date: 02/23/15
    Contacts: Lisa Reid , 435-743-3128

    Cedar City, Utah—The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Utah Cedar City Field Office announced last week the gathering and removing of wild horses causing public health and safety concerns along Highway 21 near the Sulphur Herd Management Area (HMA). Due to inclement weather concerns, including high winds, the BLM will be starting gather operations on Feb. 25, 2015. Members of the public are still welcome to view the daily gather operations once they begin, provided the safety of the animals, staff and observers are not jeopardized and operations are not disrupted.

    Gather operations are now scheduled to begin on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015. Gather updates and information will be posted as they become available at: http://blm.gov/h6ld or follow us on Twitter @BLMUtah using #SulphurGather2015

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  7. PUBLIC TRUST BETRAYED

    From PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility)

    Click to access public_trust_betrayed.pdf

    This document was painstakingly prepared by over a dozen current Bureau of Land Management employees in the inter-mountain west. They are district managers, fisheries and wildlife biologists, and range conservationists who passionately care about the ecological health of the public lands they administer. Their report has also been peer reviewed by over thirty other grazing specialists and scientists in other federal and state land management agencies, academia, and other knowledgeable people in the private sector.

    The authors of this white paper merely want to communicate that the BLM’s oft-repeated claim that public rangelands are in better condition now than they have ever been is a myth, and that decisive action must be taken immediately in order to end the deterioration of these lands.

    They have had to stay anonymous in order to avoid the inevitable retaliation that would be taken against them by their supervisors in the Bureau, local grazing permitees, and state and local legislators. In the BLM and in the west, the status quo if still to “kill the messenger” who tries to speak to the continued overgrazing crises and the need to drastically reduce the stocking levels and change the grazing management practices on public rangelands.

    Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is proud to be able to serve the brave few in the BLM who produced this report by being the intermediary in its distribution

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    • Louie, thanks. It looks like this report was published in 1995, so the data is probably even older. Wish it was a lot newer, but sad the story isn’t much changed twenty years on,

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      • icySpots, this is a current report and you’re right…..nothing has changed excerpt the fact that there are even fewer Wild Horses and Burros left on Public Lands

        BLM DUMBING DOWN REPORTS ON LIVESTOCK RANGE CONDITIONS
        Complaint Demands Restoration of Data Quantifying and Qualifying Grazing Effects
        Posted on Dec 22, 2014
        http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/2014/12/22/blm-dumbing-down-reports-on-livestock-range-conditions/

        The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has removed key data from a statutorily mandated report measuring how well vast federal rangelands are protected from damaging overgrazing, according to an administrative complaint filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The group is pressing BLM to restore data contained in previous annual reports tracking whether overgrazing or other factors are degrading the condition of 150 million acres of federal rangelands across a 13-state area covering most of the West.

        The BLM’s 2013 Rangeland Inventory, Monitoring, and Evaluation (RIME) report, released on November 4, 2014, differs substantially from previous reports by removing the following data:

        The number and land area of grazing allotments meeting and failing rangeland health standards;

        Information distinguishing between failures of the standards due to livestock and other causes; and

        Whether land conditions are improving or declining or whether BLM is taking any management steps to restore degraded rangeland.

        The new report is a significant departure from prior RIME reports which had been showing a disturbing trend of more and more lands failing to meet range health standards for water, vegetation, soils and the ability to support wildlife principally due to commercial livestock operations. In the last decade as more land has been assessed, estimates of damaged lands have doubled across the 20,000 BLM grazing allotments. Crippling drought in much of the Sagebrush West is undoubtedly further aggravating conditions.

        “BLM is obscuring the very information Congress and the public need to gauge the success or failure of rangeland management,” said PEER Advocacy Director Kirsten Stade, calling out the new report as “RIME without reason.” “BLM cannot escape accountability by editing its books to remove all the modifiers.”

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      • IcySpots, here is another current report.

        BLM WEIGHS WILD HORSE IMPACT MUCH MORE HEAVILY THAN CATTLE
        Agency Sage Grouse Review Puts Thumb on Scale to Magnify Wild Horse and Burro Effects
        Posted on Sep 16, 2014
        http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/2014/09/16/blm-weighs-wild-horse-impact-much-more-heavily-than-cattle/

        The method used by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to assess range conditions is seriously skewed toward minimizing impacts from domestic livestock and magnifying those from wild horses and burros, according to an appraisal by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). As a result, the BLM’s approach to range management targets scattered wild horses and burros while ignoring far more numerous cattle

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  9. You may remember that last year the Utah welfare ranchers conspired and threatened to reduce the wild horses herds themselves … the BLM negotiated with them BUT if you follow these actions it becomes apparent that the BLM assured the ranchers that they would be using every trick in the book to rid the public lands of wild horses – including this so called “emergency” capture and then they will continue to chip away at the Utah herds until they are all below viable populations and eventually gone.

    Found these old notes regarding Utah and know some things have changed with many wild horses being captured since 2012 … it still gives us a good idea of the lies we are being told and that the BLM (to appease their welfare ranching buddies) is using to manage our wild horses and burros to extinction:

    And while the Iron County Commissioners say that the wild horse herd management areas (HMA’s) are extremely over-populated, BLM population counts in March 2012 show that only one of the HMA’s, Bible Springs, has a population that would insure their genetic viability (150-200 adult horses).

    Tilley Creek has 55 horses on 37,000 acres
    Bible Springs 290 horses on 56,588 acres
    4 Mile, 71 horses on 61,273 acres

    Only 518 wild horses are reported in these HMA’s – not 1200 as reported by Iron County Commissioners. HMAs: Chloride Canyon, Mt. Elinor, North Hills, Bible Springs Complex, Choke Cherry, Sulphur

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  10. Is this not fraud and deception?

    BLM DIRECTOR URGED RANCHERS TO SUE HER AGENCY
    Kathleen Clarke Tried to Block Award of Grazing Permit to Grand Canyon Trust
    Posted on Aug 29, 2005
    http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/2005/08/29/blm-director-urged-ranchers-to-sue-her-agency/

    Kathleen Clarke, the Director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, encouraged ranchers to sue her agency after her own efforts to overturn grazing permits issued to an environmental organization were stymied by her superiors in the Department of Interior, according to the sworn testimony of the Public Lands Chairman of the Utah Cattlemen’s Association released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). PEER is asking for an ethics review to determine whether Clarke let her personal views conflict with her duties as BLM Director.

    The federal appeal (LeFevre et al vs. BLM) was financed, in large part, by the State of Utah and included testimony from Richard Nicholas, former Public Lands Chairman of the Utah Cattlemen’s Association. Nicholas testified that in direct, personal conversations with him, Clarke

    Encouraged the ranchers to sue BLM, telling him, “Go get them.” Clarke called Nicholas at home to make sure the Cattlemen’s Association had filed its protests in a timely manner so as to ensure its “standing” to sue BLM;

    Complained that she “was rolled” by superiors in the Interior Department on the matter, citing Assistant Secretary Lynn Scarlett, for one, as being “too attached to the deal:” and

    Declared that she “was against grazing elimination anytime” regardless of the condition of the land.

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  11. It sounds as though the people in the state of Utah have also been fleeced.
    They have had to foot the bill for lawsuits and after the dust settles,….
    do they even have access to their own Public Lands?

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  12. “When will the federal government bring Clive Bundy to justice?”
    “The American people are waiting.”http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2015/bundy-02-26-2015.html

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  13. “The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking proposals for new off-range pasture facilities that can provide a free-roaming environment for wild horses removed from Western public lands.

    Proposals will be accepted from the following states through April 22: Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming.

    One or more off-range pasture contracts will be awarded and each must accommodate a minimum of 100 wild horses. The contractor must provide humane care for a one-year period, with a renewal option under BLM contract for a four-year or nine-year period.

    Applicants who have never conducted business with the government must first obtain a Duns and Bradstreet number at http://www.dnb.com before registering at http://www.sam.gov to do business with the federal government. There is no fee involved.

    To obtain the solicitation:

    Go to http://www.fedconnect.net;
    Click on “Search Public Opportunities”;
    Under Search Criteria, select “Reference Number”;
    Put in the solicitation number “L15PS00182”; and
    Click “Search” and the solicitation information will appear. The solicitation form describes what to submit and where to send it.

    For assistance, visit http://www.blm.gov, contact Eric Pagal at 202/591-5079 or epagal@blm.gov, or contact Ken Lund at 202/912-7034 or klund@blm.gov. They can assist with general questions and/or coordinate a meeting for you with a local BLM contracting officer and small business specialist.

    Under the authority of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, as amended, the BLM manages and protects wild horses and burros while working to ensure that population levels are in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses. The current free-roaming population of BLM-managed wild horses and burros is estimated to be 49,209, as of March 1, which exceeds by more than 22,500 the number determined by the BLM to be the appropriate management level. The BLM is also using population growth-suppression (PGS) measures, and is supporting research to improve existing and develop new PGS tools.

    For general questions about the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, please contact 866/468-7826 or wildhorse@blm.gov.”

    SOURCE: http://www.thehorse.com/articles/35395/blm-seeks-bids-for-off-range-pastures-for-wild-horses?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=welfare-industry&utm_campaign=02-26-2015

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