The Sand Wash Basin herd in Colorado is one of the most photographed in the country. The (relatively speaking) smaller Herd Management Area (HMA) consists of 157,730 acres. BLM has a broad AML range of 163-362 wild horses.

In 2008, BLM released wild horses to the range that had been given the pelleted form of Porcine Zona Pellucida (18-24 month efficacy) called PZP-22 via jab stick in temporary corrals. Field darting began the following year but was not organized. Organized field darting began in 2014 through Sand Wash Advocate Team or SWAT. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) never officially promised or legally mandated a permanent ban on helicopter gathers in favor of exclusive bait-and-trap and PZP darting methods. However, a highly publicized public commitment and strategic goal to prioritize those methods was made in September 2021.

During a highly controversial 2021 helicopter gather, the BLM captured 733 wild horses and permanently removed 683 from the rangeland, reducing the basin’s herd to its minimum management level. It was supposed to be the last helicopter drive.

In October 2023, the BLM Colorado office doubled down on this “management vision.” They announced a $600,000 investment in permanent range infrastructure and fixed bait-trap stations in Sand Wash Basin. They stated that as long as the population remained stable, they would forgo large roundups and strictly manage future growth using these fixed bait traps and support for volunteer PZP darting teams.

Why switch to a helicopter? 

Could it be Wyoming horses? The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the BLM’s controversial Rock Springs Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment—which aimed to completely “zero out” and eliminate the wild horse populations in Salt Wells Creek and nearly half of Adobe Town—was arbitrary, capricious, and unlawful. There is active litigation against subsequent gather planning for those Wyoming Herds.

Trap location map overlayed over a larger map to give you a clear picture of the planned operation. The red circles are two miles wide for perspective. Helicopter drive trapping routinely movs horses from 10-15 miles away from trap.

Advocates should look closer at these shared border traps, as evidence suggests the BLM is likely using Sand Wash Basin’s overpopulation data as an administrative backdoor to clear horses from a legally contested zone. This tactical placement appears to be a deliberate geographic shell game to gather horses from the southern edge of Adobe Town, effectively bypassing the 10th Circuit Court’s federal injunction against the Rock Springs RMP amendment. Compounding this, the BLM’s limited public access prevents advocates from documenting individual horses, while a lack of genetic testing or ledger cross-referencing allows the agency to erase the distinction between these two distinct populations.

Is a horse 6 miles from Salt Wells and 10 miles from Sand Wash… a Sand Wash off HMA horse or a Salt Wells horse? Is a horse inside Adobe Town, or 2 miles from Adobe Town, but 10 miles from Sand Wash… a Sand Wash or Adobe Town horse? The northernmost trap is in the same basic area as an Adobe Town trap used between 7/18 and 7/22 in 2025.

“Food for thought” using BLM data and words in the chart below:

We are just asking questions. Questions BLM has not answered in any assessment for any of the herds mentioned. 

Access is being limited. The dates for access keep changing. It was also stated that there would be no access to temporary holding. But even that appears to be changing or will lead to discriminatory access? We will keep you posted. 

Official cumulative numbers:

Captured (official count):

Unofficial count: 11 (5 stallions, 3 mares and 3 foals).

Shipped:

Deaths:

Please be aware, BLM weakened the standards in their CAWP program on June 29th, right before helicopter roundup season began. A veterinarian is no longer required to be onsite. 

.Newer reports will appear at the top

09-20-26

Observers were held on the road waiting to go to trap. The waiting spot was just 6 miles south of the Wyoming border.

This is the location the public was held on the road, not trap.

They were told no horses were found and were never taken to the trap location. The text came from our observer at 10:53 a.m..

(Apparently BLM may be allowing differing access opportunities for partner organizations. We are looking into it.)

09-19-26

BLM set trap and moved trailers, trucks and saddle horses into position. But then observers were told that the viewing location was inaccessible due to heavy rain.

This did not prohibit the public from traveling outside the closure zone. Scott Wilson is onsite and was spending tme with a band. The helicopter swooped in. 

Advocates that stayed on the road to document trailers and those representing the darting team were allowed into the temporary corrals.

Our team is really busy. We do not have a staff. We do not have paid public relations. 

Our funding is going into the fight. And we need your help to keep going. 

Every mile we travel to cover roundups or assess a herd, every court case we bring, every win, every action we take is only possible because of your support. Sincere Gratitude. 

Limited Edition Shirt to help support our work. 

Click image or click here to order a two-sided shirt and support our work.

Help Defend Against The Broken Promise

Fifty-five years after Congress declared wild free-roaming horses and burros “fast disappearing from the American scene,” federal agencies are still driving their numbers down on the public lands meant to protect them.

Relentless removals are aimed at herd targets roughly one-third below the numbers found when Congress acted in 1971.

And the failures do not end there. After more than five decades, wild horses and burros still lack enforceable federal welfare standards that protect them through capture, confinement, transport, and disposition. Agencies continue to remove them without ensuring they are safeguarded from the slaughter pipeline.

This 55th-anniversary shirt honors the work of Velma Bronn Johnston—Wild Horse Annie—and refuses to let the cause she ignited be erased. We are carrying the fight forward for freedom, mercy, justice, and the right of wild horses and burros to remain wild and free on their public lands.

All proceeds fuel that fight.