You can see in this map of wild horse areas that Devil’s Garden is the last substantive herd of wild horses that is physically located northern California. The others may be “managed” by CA, but exist primarily inside the state of Nevada. This does not mean horses were not in any other area of northern CA, they were just not included in management by BLM or USFS after the “claiming period.”
As of 9/15, this is the only information provided by USFS.
No questions have been answered on deaths or how they are classifying deaths (they are not even in the stallion/mates/foal counts.
Our team is briefing for a second hearing next week.
The Devil’s Garden Plateau Wild Horse Territory (WHT) is located in California approximately 7 miles north of Alturas, CA. Devil’s Garden is a Wild Horse Territory (WHT) under the jurisdiction of the United State Forest Service (USFS). The WHT consists of 258,000 acres (248,428 acres of Forest Service land, 7,632 acres Bureau of Land Management land). 800 acres of Tribal Lands, 640 acres of State Lands and 500 acres of private lands fall within the territorial boundaries and are not included in the territory acreage.
In Spring of 2024, the USFS census specifically stated there were 723 wild horses inside and outside the 258,000-acre Devil’s Garden Plateau WHT. A roundup occurred after the census quoted in the USFS release in Fall 2024/Winter 2025 where 316 horses were left in the WHT (according to USFS numbers). USFS says reproductive rate for wild horses in the Garden is 15%. This would place the pre-roundup population at around 363 wild horses.
Instead of finalizing the new plan they began creating in 2022 (that is one-step from completion), USFS released only a press release on August 15, including no new data or analysis and relying on the 12-year old 2013 plan, USFS stated the roundup that will include both bait-trapping and helicopter drive trapping will begin on September 2, 2025. They plan to take 350 wild horses claiming that somehow the population is back over 700 wild horses (according to an unreliable and archaic “ground count,” not comparable aerial survey).
WHE is in court, right now, to stop this madness.
Yes, there had been litigation in the past in this area. It had a good beginning and then, after livestock stepped in and litigated, the ball was dropped to stop the decimation of this herd. WHE had to step in.
We were forced to file rapidly with the court. In addition to an underlying complaint, we filed both a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and Preliminary Injunction (PI) Motion. After a hearing on the fast briefing involved in a TRO, the court allowed the roundup to move forward citing that after the 2017 rulings where other orgs gained a judgement against the 2013 plan, no litigation was filed to stop other roundups. USFS argued that with budget and staffing cuts, if they did not do a roundup right now (before fiscal year end) they might not be able to do one for years.
However, the judge did state that we have a “likelihood on success of the merits,” a legal phrase meaning that after full briefing on the case we have a really good chance of winning our claim that there is no actual NEPA that authorizes this roundup. In other words, it is not legal. The horses would be returned.
We need your support to keep up the fight for Devil’s Garden and all of our wild ones. We have active litigation in against roundups, habitat loss and abuse. Our Observation team needs support, too. Keeping boot-on-the-ground is vital to help us track the facts in the field in real time. None of our work is possible without your support.
Previous roundup at Devil’s Garden
We have not had time to work on trying to translate USFS into standard roundup totals. We will update soon.
Cumulative Updates as of 9/9 a.m. (we will update when USFS updates numbers):
Bait trap: 28 (14 studs, 11 mares, 3 foals) It is hard to tell from the way USFS is reporting, but it seems bait trapping was suspended during the helicopter drives?
Helicopter Drive-Trap: 64 (28 studs, 32 mares, 4 foals)
Cumulative: *92 (42 studs, 43 mares, 7 foals)
Deaths: 4 with claim of an unknown chronic condition (no further info available)
*USFS has 104 listed as the total. Please see daily update for explanation as to why we are listing a different total until the deaths are explained and USFS fixes their errors.
Wild horses are shipped directly from trap to the Double Devil Corral in the forest. This is a small facility and we have real concerns about welfare issues. Observation is only being allowed one day a week at the corrals. We will describe these in more depth in our daily reporting.
Please note: USFS is notorious for not posting injuries or deaths. We will update as we have information.
09-09-25
Two horses evade, a roper goes out. A trailer comes back with both. Two adult horses were captured via roping. This type of activity only occurs when an area is being zeroed out.
We are working on attempting to gain more insight into exactly how USFS is reporting capture numbers and deaths. As you know from previous days it appears the “dead horses” are being counted as “captured” without being included in the capture breakdown (age and sex).
This is one issue we brought up as our attorneys met with USFS to see if we needed to move forward with our Preliminary Injunction briefing and hearing. It is painfully obvious that we need to move forward to try to gain some justice as they move forward with this absolutely slippery move attaching this operation to the 2013 plan instead of finalizing the new one.
Keep September 19th open on your calendar. We will have a fast action item coming.
This is the same trap (Lauer) where USFS has already spent 3 days previously squeezing horses out of this area.
09-08-25
Our team member was onsite as week 2 of helicopter capture begins. No official update on numbers from bait trap or helicopter capture. Tentative numbers for today are 11.
USFS is simply referencing this as “Trap 35.” You can see unflagged barbed wire being used as a wing of the trap.
Still the same issue with providing you any insight into the death of horses. USFS is refusing to provide any detail, even refusing to note what sex or if it was a foal. It also appears they are only counting deaths at trap, not any that occur at holding or the next day.
NOTHING Makes sense about USFS numbers. They are extremely sloppy and provide no daily access so the public can truly monitor.
09-07-25 No access and no update. Apparently USFS is not doing daily updates.
09-06-25
Today, the second observation day in 8 days of active trapping, USFS went back to the same trap location they had observers at before (even though the last two days were somewhere else).
Apparently, USFS is allowing members of the public that do NOT sit all day at a trap to go to holding? We will update you soon as USFS continues to display an appalling lack of transparency.
Only 9 wild horses were captured the entire day.
USFS is not marking any horses in holding referencing which trap they came from inhibiting any safe return.
What a lot of people are unaware of is that USFS is running a dangerous experiment on Stallions. Currently GonaCon carries a warning label for the drug not to be used in males. Without doing any NEPA at all, anywhere, USFS and their corral partners began experimenting on Stallions.
09-05-25
It appears only deaths at trap, not the facility, are being counted. The wild horses that die are apparently not being included in the breakdown by sex or are being counted twice.
USFS is refusing to answer questions. Our court case continues and we hope to have answers for you soon. It appears we have to seek basic information through the courts.
09-04-25
No public observation. USFS denies public observation and provides very little info that appears to either be counting dead horses as captured twice, or simply refusing to identify any info (were they captured that day? sex? age? reason?).
09-03-25 No observation allowed. Forest Service at same trap ads the day before. They are claiming they do not have “trained personnel” to keep the public “safe” for daily observation. We are litigating this issue.
Why don’t we trust USFS with numbers?
Less than 50 horses have been captured to date and the columns are not added correctly. Two of the captured horses died. They do not represent 2 additional horses captured.
If the two that died are in fact additional horses… which day did they come in and why are they not listed in the breakdown of stallions, mares, foals?
The targeted number for this operation runs a very real risk of nearly wiping out all the horses in the Garden. The pre-roundup population (using basic math) is around 363 wild horses. Somehow USFS is claiming this population soared over 700 requiring even stallions to have given birth since the last actual census and roundup.
Explanation in the preface to the daily updates.
Although not allowed at trap or holding, WHE do have volunteers checking areas we are not restricted.
09-02-25
Tiny foal
Our onsite observer noted that the chopper had to refuel before bringing in the first band over 2 hours from the start of the day. Two foals, one really small, were captured in the first run where observation was obscured. She noted that she saw what appeared to be a roping horse leave after the first run, but observers were not updated.
Most of her day was spent trying to determine what was happening at trap through sound. There was no regular Public Affairs Officer (PAO) or any roundup trained USFS employee at observation. Apparently, the USFS employee had no contact with trap throughout the day.
It took 2.5 hours for 4 additional horses to be captured.
It took an entire day for 9 (3 studs, 4 mares, 2 foals) wild horses to be captured on ranges USFS is claiming is more than three times low AML.
Our team member has sent a list of questions about the roundup to USFS. We could not even get an answer to the question “Who is in charge?”
Our team is working hard to stop this roundup and get the wild horses returned.
Without your support, none of our work is possible.
Thank you for keeping WHE running for our wild ones!