BLM seeks input on wild horse herd plan and future gathers near Lander
Organization
BLM Office:
Media Contact:
LANDER, Wyo. – The Bureau of Land Management is requesting public input as it analyzes a North Lander Wild Horse Complex herd management plan and future wild horse gathers. These actions demonstrate the BLM’s commitment to maintaining healthy wild horses while managing for sustainable, working public lands.
The North Lander Complex is located in southeast Fremont County and is made up of the Conant Creek, Dishpan Butte, Muskrat Basin and Rock Creek Mountain herd management areas (HMAs). Public input is needed in order to update the herd management plan, which will guide future management of the complex and the wild horses within it for the next several years.
The North Lander Complex’s appropriate management level (AML)—the point at which the wild horse population is consistent with the land’s capacity to support it and other mandated uses of those lands—is 320–536 mature horses. The BLM estimates that there are more than 1,100 horses in the complex.
The proposed herd management plan will analyze long-term solutions to bring the population down to the AML and keep it within the low and high AML range. Actions being considered to accomplish these objectives include, but are not limited to, vasectomizing a portion of the stallions within the complex; reducing the reproducing population through the use of gelding and adjusted sex ratios; creating limited-reproducing herds using some combination of gelding, spay and/or segregation; and using the fertility control drug GonaCon in conjunction with one of the previously mentioned treatments.
Public input is valuable early in the process and will enable the BLM to develop a well-informed environmental assessment. Comments should be received by June 30, 2018, and may be emailed to blm_wy_north_lander_gather@blm.gov or mailed to Wild Horse Specialist, BLM Lander Field Office, 1335 Main Street, Lander, WY 82401.
When including personal identifying information with your comment, such as address, phone number or email address, be advised that it may be made publicly available at any time. The BLM cannot guarantee to withhold personal identifying information from public review.
For more information, visit https://go.usa.gov/xnJVx or contact BLM Wild Horse and Burro Specialist Clay Stott at (307) 332-8400.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.