High Desert District Office
| Contacts: | Sarah Beckwith 307-347-5207 | |||
| Cindy Wertz 307-775-6014 |
Adobe Town/Salt Wells Gather Expected to Begin Oct. 6
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) High Desert District plans to begin gathering wild horses from the Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek Herd Management Areas (HMAs) near Rawlins and Rock Springs around Oct. 6.
The BLM will gather and remove approximately 1,580 excess wild horses from the HMAs. Approximately 100 mares will be treated with the fertility-control vaccine Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP) and released. This will bring the population to approximately 860 wild horses, which is the appropriate management level (AML) for this herd complex.
The AML is the point at which the herd’s population is consistent with the land’s capacity to support wild horses in balance with other public rangeland uses and resources. Population surveys conducted in July 2009 revealed approximately 1,950 horses within the two adjacent HMAs, well over the AMLs. The gather is necessary to maintain these wild horse herds within the established AMLs and to comply with the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act and the 2003 Wyoming Consent Decree.
The public is welcome to view gather operations once they begin. Information on the gather and observation opportunities will be available from the BLM Wyoming website at www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/programs/Wild_Horses/fallgather.html.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
High Desert District Office 280 Highway 191 North Rock Springs, WY 82901