From large herds with big public followings to tiny herds that most people do not even know exist, our wild ones are in jeopardy as private profit driven uses maintain the stranglehold on public lands. 

Yesterday we informed you that BLM has finalized a plan to zero out Great Divide Basin and Salt Wells Creek HMAs and a large portion of the Adobe Town HMA in Wyoming. A massive removal will target over 3,600 this summer.

Most of the time we see roundup plans (like the one above) that will lead to a population of zero wild horses or burros in some type of NEPA document that directly notes the “zeroing out.”

But not always. Sometimes the plan is hidden inside a plan for something else.

Both the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Unites States Forest Service (USFS) are held to the parameters of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. They are both held to something called a “multiple use” mandate where they have to (supposedly) balance both private profits and natural values.

BLM manages 245 million acres of which 25.5 million acres are actively managed for wild horses and burros. BLM says they currently have about 70,000 wild horses and burros and wants to get that number down to low Appropriate Management Level (AML) of just over 16,000 in total across all western states.

The USFS manages 193 million acres and says that they only have to manage 2.5 million acres for wild horses and burros. 7,100 wild horses and 900 wild burros are fragment across 34 actively managed territories.

The Black Mountain Wild Horse Territory (WHT) is located in California about 20 miles east of San Luis Obispo and is made up of 13,215 acres of National Forest land and 635 acres of private land on the east side of the La Panza Mountain Range. This is really steep and rugged country. USFS says there are no livestock in the WHT (although opinions vary on this subject).

The Black Mountain WHT is recognized as the only wild mustang herd remaining on the California Central Coast. 

Forest Service says that the horses in this area originated first from livestock operators and then from Cavalry remount breeding. The herd was nearly wiped out by mustanging prior to the passage of the 1971 Act.

On the 13,215 acres of USFS land, they set the AML at 20. The last roundup we can find even any casual mention of was back in 2014. The herd has not grown, it has shrunk. Today there are 8 wild horses (by our count) and 10 is the number published by USFS. All of the horses are female. 

Our team member has been searching for any planning that references this tiny herd. The only document she can find is from 1986. This basic document sets the AML at basically “what the permittee said was left out there” after mustanging decimated the population. It says that “inbreeding will be an issue” and planned to release horses from other territories to maintain genetic health and reevaluation was needed in the future. There was no breakdown of how much forage was produced and how many wild horses could actually be sustained, allowing this herd to recover from the horrors of mustanging. The document seems more like a begrudging acknowledgement that they have to recognize the 1971 law.

Repeated visits to the field office gained no resulting documents, plans, census info (beyond an off-the-cuff remark about the stallion being “removed”). Our team member even spoke to the head of USFS Wild Horse and Burro program at the Advisory Board meeting in January of this year and obtained no  concrete information.

There is plenty of forage. There is a water source USFS is supposed to maintain that we are trying to find more information about. There is also private water that this tiny herd (of 8) barely impacts. 

Action item

Hidden in the pages of a Wildfire Risk Reduction Project we find an open door to rid the forest of these horses as they introduce “goats, sheep, cattle” to reduce fire fuels. 

Page 22. All year long targeted grazing with goats, sheep, cattle

You can find the project documents HERE.

DEADLINE: JUNE 2 You can comment by clicking HERE.

A simple comment would be that:

USFS failed to evaluate increasing AML for the Black Mountain herd to reduce wildfire risk. The AML is currently not genetically viable and a genetically viable AML might be all they need to obtain the necessary fire fuel reduction in the area of the plan that involves the Black Mountain WHT.  Instead, the only relevant notation in the Wildfire plan is that if there is a wildfire, it would likely cause the horses to be removed (after noting the range is in good shape). This is simply not acceptable and alternatives, like raising AML, were not even considered.

It is really disturbing that the project began scoping back in 2022.

As our team member went to the office and spoke with staff (and even with the head of the USFS WHB program at the Advisory Board), no one told her about this. Obviously USFS knew about this plan. She had to discover it on her own. This is not how a public lands management agency should deal with the public and critical information about public resources. Shame on them. 

Please take action today! 

DEADLINE: JUNE 2 You can comment by clicking HERE.

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Your support keeps our teams in the field, our investigations running and our litigation alive. Together, we will take a strong stand to defend our precious wild ones.