BLM Seeking Comments on Proposed Wild Horse Gather

The Bureau of Land Management is seeking public comments on issues to be considered in an Environmental Assessment (EA) for a proposed roundup of excess wild horses from the Fox-Hog, High Rock, Bitner and Wall Canyon herd management areas in far northwest Nevada. The roundups are being evaluated collectively as the High Rock Complex.

Comments are being accepted during a 30-day “scoping” period that opens December 15, 2010 and closes Jan. 15, 2011. Comments should be mailed to: Bureau of Land Management, PO Box 460, Cedarville, CA 96104, Attention wild horse gather; or sent by email to cahighrockcomplex@blm.gov.

“We are proposing this action to return the wild horse population in the complex to its appropriate management level of 228 to 385 horses,” said Allen Bollschweiller, manager of the BLM Surprise Field Office in Cedarville, Calif. “We estimate the current population at 885 to 930 horses. We also propose removing about 400 wild horses that are outside of established herd management areas.”

Bollschweiller noted that the BLM is not setting appropriate management levels for these wild herds in this proposed action. These population levels were established in the resource management plans for the Surprise Field Office and the Black Rock Desert –High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area. The plans are available online at http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/surprise.html and http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_programs/planning/Black_Rock_Desert-High_Rock_Canyon_Emigrant_Trails_National_Conservation_Area/black_rock_desert-high.html respectively.

Comments received during scoping will help the BLM define the range of alternatives to be analyzed in the EA. A preliminary document will be released for public review and comment in February 2011.