Johnnie HMA

During the 1900's to the 1940's, the Army Remount Service was active in a portion of the Antelope/Antelope Valley Complex. Periodically, the Army would release animals in the wild to upgrade their stock. The released stallions were mainly thoroughbreds or Morgans. A few draft blood lines were introduced to develop a hardier strain of horse to pull wagons and heavy artillery. As a result, the wild horses found in the complex are hardy and sound. They possess a variety of colors with variations from white to black, but most are sorrels and bays.  There are about 362 different species of wildlife in the Complex including mule deer, sage grouse, blue grouse, eagles, and hawks. 

Location: The Johnnie Herd Management Area (HMA) is located in southern Nevada, approximately 60 miles northwest of Las Vegas in Clark and Nye counties. The Bureau of Land Management, Las Vegas Field Office, has administrative responsibility for wild horses and burros within this HMA. 

Size: The area consists of 177,237 acres of BLM land and 2,131 acres of a mix of private and other public lands for a total of 179,368 acres.

Topography/Vegetation: The area is characterized as Mojave desert surrounded by low, rocky desert mountains. During the hot months of the year, burros occupy areas characterized by ravines which supply shade. Feral horses tend to occupy the open country. During the cooler season, horses and burros roam all the HMA. Permanent water sources consist of springs found in the mid-range elevations along the slopes of the Spring Mountains. The animals can travel up to ten miles and back each day for water during the drier part of the year. Burros drink at least once each day during the hotter part of the year, but can survive by drinking every second day during the winter and early spring. Vegetation in the HMA is typical Mojave desert shrub, low growing and able to survive long periods of drought. The vegetation consists of salt-tolerant plants such as saltbush, greasewood and rabbitbrush, with grasses such as galleta grass and Indian ricegrass. The mountains contain pinyon-pine and juniper trees with an understory of sagebrush, other mountain shrubs and small amounts of grass. 

AML:  65-108 burros; there is not an AML for horses although there are often feral  horses roaming in the HMA