Despite the offer of experts to assist the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to provide a humane alternative, and under the guise of an “emergency,” the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced today that it will launch a helicopter roundup tomorrow in the Jackson Mountains Herd Management Area (HMA) in northwestern Nevada. The action violates the agency’s own policy prohibiting the helicopter stampede of wild horses during peak foaling season (March 1 – June 30) and fails to meet the agency’s own criteria for an “emergenc
y” situation.
The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC), joined by The Cloud Foundation, sent an urgent letter to the BLM informing the agency of the immediate availability of an expert in bait/water trapping who works with the U.S. Forest Service who can assess the Jackson Mountains situation and begin bait/water trapping in the area.
June is the height of foaling season, and the BLM’s decision means that BLM-contracted helicopters will be stampeding tiny foals, heavily pregnant mares and other horses who may already be compromised from lack of adequate water and forage with helicopters for untold miles over rugged terrain in high summer desert temperatures.
Despite the BLM's concerns about forage and water shortages in the HMA, on June 8, 2012, the BLM confirmed to AWHPC that cows remained grazing in the HMA.
Please click here to read AWHPC's press release on the alternative to bring in an expert to humanely water/bait trap horses.
Please take a moment today to tell BLM Acting Director Mike Pool and BLM Nevada Director Amy Lueders that their decision to allow this helicopter roundup is wrong. Tell them it's not too late and to work with the independent expert to humanely capture horses through passive water/bait trapping.
Please submit your email by personalizing and sending the sample letter below. Thank you!
If you would rather send your comments directly, you may send them to:
See the Preliminary Environmental Assessment for the Proposed Roundup & Related Documents Here.
HMA Size: 286,000 public/private acres (274,510 acres of public lands and 8,490 acres of private land.); roundup to cover 775,000 acres (more than 1,200 square miles)
HMA Geography: The area is bordered on the west by the Black Rock Desert, on the east by Desert Valley, on the north by State Highway 140 and the Quinn River, and on the south by the Union Pacific Railroad. The elevation ranges from 4,000 feet along the valley floors to 8,923 feet at King Lear Peak.
Allowable Management Level for wild horses: 130 - 217
The majority of horses exhibit a bay, brown, black, or sorrel coat color.
Allowable cattle stocking level: annual equivalent of 846 cow/calf pairs on HMA lands.
Animal Unit Months (AUMS) of Forage Allotted to Livestock in the HMAs: 7,323
AUMs Allotted to Horses: 1560 – 2604
Grazing Allotments in HMA:
