Fish Lake Valley HMA

One explanation for the low animal numbers is the rumored abundance of mountain lions in the White Mountains. Habitat condition and suitability may also play a role in wild horse distribution and numbers. 

Location: The Fish Lake Valley Herd Management Area (HMA) is located west of Dyer, Nevada, in Esmeralda County.

Size: The area consists of 64,007 acres of BLM land and 3,078 acres of a mix of private and other public lands for a total of 67,085 acres.

Topography/Vegetation: Elevations range from a high of 8,960 feet in the White Mountains to a low of 4,880 feet west of Dyer. The area receives 3 inches of precipitation in the valley bottoms to12 inches on mountain slopes. The HMA encompasses an area 7 miles wide and 24 miles long. Management concerns center around U.S. Forest Service (FS)/Bureau of Land Management (BLM) boundaries and private land issues. The vegetative communities are dominated by the salt desert shrub vegetation type. Alkaline meadows and bottoms vegetation type tends to occur in the broad valleys. In the higher precipitation zone are the sagebrush and pinyon-juniper woodland vegetation types. Important species include Indian ricegrass, bottlebrush, squirreltail, galleta grass, winterfat (white sage) and fourwing saltbush.

AML:  32-54