Spartacus and Buddy, a father and son duo caught during the Surprise Complex roundup of 2023.
As helicopter roundup season approaches we felt it was a really good time to talk about planning (or the lack thereof) and transparency (or the lack thereof).
How have recent lawsuits and decisions created avenues for potential change and clarity? How could these court rulings influence not just BLM planning, but public discourse?
Big media outlets are doing the same type of stories they have written for 50 years and focusing on outdated messaging. If just one large outlet began to give his story the depth of investigation it deserves, maybe we could gain movement, understanding and bring this program into this Century?
As we discuss this subject, we will use one of the roundups from the start of the 2024 fiscal year roundup schedule as an example: the Surprise Complex. Surprise Complex roundup information will be featured to illustrate “what happened, what should change,” and pose the question… “Is it too late?”
Every roundup is different. Every plan to remove wild horses or burros has a distinct set of paperwork that creates the “authority” to do the removal. Each subsequent roundup under the 10-20 year “Gather Environmental Assessment” also is supposed to have a plan that is used to finalize contracts (but BLM too often refuses to share the data with the public).
Not all roundups on the schedule could have been different after the court orders of Spring 2024. Litigation is a vital tool of advocacy encompassing any subject and, in “wild horse country,” we are trying to expand our effort. One area that could have been stopped if the legal precedents had existed at that time, was the Surprise Complex operation that took place at the beginning of the fiscal year. (Note: The fiscal year 2024 schedule was the most intensive in history shattering removal numbers. HERE)
This article will go a bit into the weeds. Many of our readers are long time advocates and some even helm other organizations. This article might be a bit technical for newcomers to follow. However, we urge you to bookmark and take your time.
As we look at Surprise we can see the issues at the “ground zero” point of management where every other issue begins; from abuse during roundups to adopted horses landing in kill pens, it all begins right here.
Below: Surprise studs at Litchfield the day before shipping off into the blackhole of off-limits long term holding last week.
Above: A big bay with one ear was one of the wild ones that shipped off into the black hole of holding/sale authority last week. In 2011, we watched as he was captured and released with a promise that he would remain free as a part of a tracking program. In 2011, BLM began using PZP on these herds. We worked with CA BLM to not only brand mares on the hip with a tracking number, but to mark studs with an HMA code so that movement between HMAs could be better understood. By 2016, the state of NV (where these horses physically reside even though they are managed by CA BLM) faced an onslaught from ranchers who pressured the brand inspector and BLM to essentially outlaw any branding of BLM horses being released on the range claiming all brands (except the traditional neck brand on mustangs) belonged to ranchers. BLM NV simply bowed down (like they always do) and every tracking program that was collecting information began to unravel and these horses became a target for permanent removal. However, in 2011 he was caught in Fox Hog. He was caught in Fox Hog again in 2023. He lived his entire life in one HMA. We will talk more about the “story of tracking numbers” and the NV BLM in another article.
In 2019 BLM finalized a Gather Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Surprise Complex. “Environmental Assessment” does not mean what it sounds like; it is not a document that assesses the complete environment. An EA is just a “depth of analysis” classification under NEPA (things like a Categorical Exclusion represent the least amount of analysis and Environmental Impact Statement the greatest amount). The words before the level of analysis determine what is analyzed. A “Gather-EA” simply covers “gather/fertility control” and creates the site-specific authority to remove horses and burros, that is really all it does.
BLM set (via agreement, not data) what they call the Appropriate Management Level (AML) for the entire complex at 283-496 wild horses and 0 burros. The AML is the number BLM set for all 6 HMAs that they say should be living on 396,674 acres.
Essentially, all BLM uses is the AML (set by agreement) to claim a “Thriving Natural Ecological Balance” metric… and then removes wild horses to suit management plans for every private profit user of public lands. This is not what the law intended and AML alone is not the definition of “excess.”
We all know the plethora of deficits and historic shortchanging of wild horses and burros on the range and the list is far too long to include in this article. All of the inequities exist with mining, livestock and recreation that exist on all of public lands as well.
Above: Buddy escaping trap in 2021
Many of these deficits could be rectified if BLM simply created the management document noted in regulation (the Herd Management Area Plan or HMAP) 40 years ago.
The court order at Pancake in 2024 found an undue delay in crafting an HMAP, (that ruling also found the “gather plan” deficient in analysis). Oddly, BLM did not begin scoping for the Pancake Complex after the court order. Instead BLM dropped a lackluster scoping for a HMAP at Blue Wing, the area of another lawsuit. This begs the question: Do we need to file a lawsuit for every HMA to get the long overdue HMAP?
At Surprise we have the identical lack of actual management planning (HMAPs) and only gather plans. An HMAP should have been done decades ago and updated as new data, discoveries and methods became available. BLM has not begun scoping for an HMAP in the Surprise Complex.
In the 2020 Report to Congress, BLM asked for additional funding and they stated: “Herd Management Area Plans (HMAPs) summarize the management goals for an HMA and the anticipated actions required to achieve those goals…For many HMAs, the BLM needs to develop and/or update HMAPs to include the use of new and improved population growth suppression methods and population management goals. In addition, these plans need to consider new research results and the potential for changes to AML.”
BLM obtained additional funding. But instead of doing management planning (HMAPs), all BLM did was ram “expanding fertility control” into long term roundup plans and continued to deny any discussion on any subject that did not align with the big corporate lobby document BLM embraced (“Path Forward”).
How can BLM continue to claim that Gather-EAs are written to roundup excess wild horses and burros when clear and well analyzed management goals, as well as what “excess” even means in a specific HMA, were never defined in HMAPs? We are still attempting to educate Congress, the public and the courts to this egregious sleight of hand maneuver BLM has pulled off the last 40 years, as they rely on a lack of understanding of their processes buried in a sea of government acronyms. (We are carrying a heavy load of litigation and are trying to find resources to expand.)
Is it too late for any hope of ever having viable herds at Surprise again?
In 2021, BLM did a roundup saying the “census flights and population modeling” showed between 1,300 and 1,700 horses in the six HMAs.The modeling was done (apparently) using a 2019 census, not one from 2021.
Spartacus escaping trap in 2021
In 2021, BLM captured 1216 wild horses (21 died). BLM treated 68 mares with PZP and released a total of 158 (90 stallions, 68 mares) to “sex-skew” the range. At the time BLM said they had hit AML range and therefore could treat and release of PZP treated mares.
Another court decision this spring (2024) found that BLM could continue to use these long term Gather-EAs to reach AML (the court did state BLM had to add validation and clarity when using old planning). Unfortunately, the court did not set a limit to the number of years that BLM could use one Gather-EA to reach AML. However, after they reach AML, they need to do another Gather-EA even if they reach AML in the first roundup.
At Surprise, after the 2021 roundup where they reached AML range, BLM should have been required to do a new Gather-EA if the ruling had been available at that time.
The ruling came too late to stop the 2023 roundup at Surprise.
Above: First “capture” of Spartacus and his son (that escaped in 2021) during the convoluted 2023 roundup.
In 2023, BLM announced a “Surprise/Calico Complex” roundup. Not only did we just have a roundup in Surprise in 2021, Calico had just had a roundup in 2022 that, using BLM numbers, brought populations down to AML (around 730).
BLM claimed insane “population estimates” in 3 of the Surprise Complex areas and bizarrely inflated numbers at Calico to justify another removal.
Our investigative team found BLM did not do any census flights, they did distribution flights, pre-roundup. Not “how many horses,” but “where are the horses.” The relied primarily on flawed computer modeling to determine population size.
BLM had also added a new metric to “modeling” reflected in BLMs population statistics report; BLM can now claim a 25% error rate “up or down.” BLM is not using that metric as a caution that they are pushing down below the already too low AML by 25%. BLM has a tendency to only inflate numbers and we saw this new metric in play at Surprise/Calico.
Above: Spartacus escapes and is relentlessly pursued and captured. BLM claimed he came from “outside the HMA” and had to be captured (to justify the lengths they went to catch him). WHE also had an observer in another location and marked the location he was pushed from… inside the neighboring HMA where he went to try to escape pursuit. This time his fight to stay free had ended in capture. The video of his capture has been viewed over 52K times on Facebook.
The 2023 Surprise roundup captured 495 wild horses, 16 died onsite.
After the roundup our estimate had the population left out on 6 HMAs in the Surprise Complex just under 300.
We pushed hard for BLM to do an actual population census post-roundup and release wild horses to, at the very least, reach AML (because we knew they pushed some areas below AML).
Above: Faces of those forever captive… that never should have been captured.
After the roundup and release, in a direct count, BLM said they found 604 wild horses in the Surprise Complex (including foals). However, in the report the BLM submitted, they included the 221 wild horses they say they counted at Carter Reservoir into the total for the “Surprise Complex” (when Carter is not part of the complex at all). When you take time to “do the math,” using BLM numbers they have 383 left in the entire 396,674 acre Surprise complex. With a 25% allowable error rate, the population could be as low as 287 on nearly 400,000 acres.
Using only BLM direct data (without the allowable 25% error rate): BLM pushed the 41,158 acre Wall Canyon HMA down to 10 horses, below low AML. BLM pushed the 53,748 acres acre Bitner HMA down to 62. BLM pushed the 39,942 acres Massacre Lakes HMA, that has heavy mountain lion predation rates, down to 42. The 127,122 acres Fox Hog HMA down to 136. The 25,806 acres Nut Mountain HMA to 47. High Rock down to 86 on 94,708 acres. BLM is within or under low AML in each HMA.
The devastation does not stop with the paltry numbers left on the range.
BLM has been “expanding fertility control” by including things like IUDs, sterilization and a varied mash-up of fertility control agents in Gather-EAs, without any site-specific plan. (Please be careful what you are asking Congress to do. What you see at Surprise is “expanding fertility control.”)
BLM changed the fertility control at Surprise from the PZP they used in 2021 (that had not completely worn off yet and even BLM stated they saw the impact they were looking for) to long-lasting double doses of GonaCon (under pressure from NV BLM). GonaCon is a hormonal vaccine only used in domestic horses with ovarian disease to stop ovulation for 4-10 years. The mares BLM treated were older and are likely to die before reproduction returns after GonaCon wears off.
BLM has never updated numbers on their “gather page” to include numbers released back to the range or which HMAs had a release.
We covered the release in 2 parts: Stallion release (What comes next?) and Broken System.
Above: BLM released an additional band back into Wall Canyon. BLM had removed this HMA down to 5 horses and released 5 more still hitting below low AML.
We were able to gain some small understanding through numerous conversations with the field office of the dangers in the way they were using GonaCon and the low population numbers. The additional release back to Wall Canyon was one band: one stud and four mares (treated with PZP-22, not GonaCon). The understanding came far too late, far too little, to impact a roundup in fall of 2023 where if legal precedents that were gained in spring of 2024 were applied, never could have happened. (Wild horse advocacy brings fewer lawsuits into the courts every year than livestock and environmentalists. However, BLM has a habitat of complaining more about wild horse cases than they do about those brought by any other stakeholder. We are looking to expand and accelerate our actions, time is running out.)
BLM has still not created any monitoring plan to determine the impacts of their actions on these herds. BLM has no monitoring plan in place to determine when, or if, a “foaling season” will return to the complex.
BLM should have created an HMAP BEFORE any roundup. BLM is essentially claiming that it is “too hard” to get them all done before removals. In the late 90’s BLM started including everything that they thought should be in an HMAP into Gather-EAs, but prohibiting public input. Gather-EAs became voluminous documents to look like they were “management plans.” If BLM has time to do these overblown Gather-EAs (that should be around 20 pages and just tie to an HMAP), they have time to actually do HMAPS they have kicked down the road for 40 years,
A Gather-EA just lumps all population growth options into one “plan.” An HMAP would analyze options on a site-specific basis. An HMAP would also outline any monitoring plan (an HMAP should repair AMLs set by agreements and analyzed them using data). An HMAP should be a landscape level analysis that creates a management plan… before faulty numbers are used as the only metric to determine wild horses are at fault for range degradation and a roundup needs to happen.
When using an existing NEPA document (an approved roundup EA, even a mining or livestock EA/EIS), BLM is obligated to transparently validate that existing NEPA. That document is called a DNA or Determination of NEPA Adequacy or Decision of NEPA Adequacy.
If BLM intended to use the 2019 Gather-EA in 2023 (4 years after it was approved and after a roundup in 2022), BLM needed to release a DNA. A DNA would need to disclose data and their reasoning to the public, require public comment before being finalized.
If a DNA had been done, the absolute devastation of the Surprise Complex herds, that will last decades, could have been stopped. BLM had already reached AML and had not justified the change in fertility control.
We are addressing this lack of validation of existing roundup plans in the courts, right now. BLM is set to hit Blue Wing again this year (wiping out the burro population to near eradication numbers) and hit the Triple B side of the Antelope/Triple B complex (in the last 8 years, over 10,000 wild horses have been removed from this area). We are in active briefing on both of these areas, now.
Spartacus right after the roundup in 2023 now at the Litchfield corrals with no hope of going back to the range.
The lack of a DNA, validation of existing NEPA, is a widespread problem in the entire program.
Not only is BLM using multi-year (or decades long) roundup plans to claim the need to get to a certain number they call AML, they are not disclosing data, updating plans based on new science or information, or even validating plans before they cause irreparable and long lasting damage.
Shouldn’t this be the headline in news stories and in every conversation you have with your Congressional representatives?
The future of the Surprise Complex is uncertain.
We do know there are still wild ones out in the complex. These herds have been treated badly. These herds have been set up for long-term failure by the agency tasked by law to protect them. We cannot ever forget these wild ones as the chopper moves elsewhere.
We have already sent a request to BLM to begin scoping for an HMAP in the Surprise Complex (based on the ruling we gained this summer). BLM cannot do another roundup out in Surprise due to another court order under the same gather plan and would need to write a new one. BLM would be woefully remiss if they do not begin scoping and trying to claim later that they had no time to do one. The time is now.
Let us not forget the herds that have already been damaged as the helicopter begins to fly elsewhere…. leaving the same injustice in its wake.
What happened at Surprise is set to happen all over the West beginning July 1. Our monitoring team is getting everything ready to continue to bring you comprehensive coverage and continue our fight against abuse.
We are in the courts, right now, trying to gain accountability to existing tools under law to protect and preserve our wild ones.
Together, we can create change for the future to stop what happened at Surprise from happening again.
We need your help to continue to document, expose, work toward reform with lawmakers and litigate. Our wild ones deserve to live free on the range and free from abuse.
Thank you for keeping WHE on the frontline in the fight to protect and preserve our treasured wild ones.
Categories: Wild Horse Education
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