Action Will Leave Behind Just 83 Mustangs and 73 Burros on More Than 300 Square Miles of Land
Burros on BLM lands southeast of Hawthorne, Nevada
Photo Credit: Ginger Kathrens/The Cloud Foundation
Comments Are Due by October 26, 2011 - Take Easy Action Below
The Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking public comments on its plan to roundup and remove 157 wild horses in and around the Garfield Flats Herd Management Area (HMA) and 66 burros from the Marietta Wild Burro Range, near Hawthorne, Nevada. The Marietta Wild Burro Range is the only formally recognized Wild Burro Range and one of only four "special status" HMAs in the nation.
Please take action below to oppose this unnecessary roundup, which is scheduled for February 2012.
As in other areas, the BLM has set ridiculously low allowable population levels for wild horses and burros in these areas:
Garfield Flat HMA: Just 83 to 125 wild horses are allowed to live in this more than 220-square-mile area.
Marietta Wild Burro Range: Just 78 to 104 burros are allowed to live in this more than 100-square-mile area. Presently, the BLM's plan to remove burros from this area is unfunded. However, if Congress grants the BLM's requested funding increase for Fiscal Year 2012, this removal will take place.
Take Easy Action below to submit your comments on the proposed roundup and share this alert with friends and family!
Click here to see the Preliminary Environmental Assessment on the Proposed Roundup & Related Documents.
More information below.
CLICK HERE.
You will know that you have completed the action when the THANK YOU page appears.
If you would rather send your comments directly, please keep in mind that they must be RECEIVED by October 26, 2011 and should be sent to:
BLM Carson City Field Office
5665 Morgan Mill Rd.
Carson City, NV 89701
Att: Garfield Flat and Marietta roundup PEA
Email: GarfieldEA2011@BLM.gov
Fax: 775.885.6147
If you have any questions about the proposed action, please contact Steve Kramer at skramer@blm.gov or 775-885-6005.
More Information on the Proposed Garfield Flat and Marietta Wild Horse and Burro Roundup
Garfield Flat HMA: After permanently removing 157 wild horses from this area, the BLM intends to return to the range approximately 40 stallions and 26 mares treated with the PZP fertility control vaccine. With the return of these horses, the BLM will skew this population's sex ratio to 60% male/40% female. The horses will be captured via a helicopter stampede conducted in the winter, a time when mares are heavily pregnant. Many of these mares will suffer spontaneous abortions as a result of the roundup. This HMA has been subjected to repeated roundups: in 2009, 135 wild horses were removed; in 2004, 127 horses were removed.
Marietta Wild Burro Range: The BLM estimates that 144 burros currently reside in the Marietta range. This is just 40 burros over the high end of AML, yet instead of leaving these animals on the range where they cost taxpayers nothing, the agency proposes a costly roundup and removal of 66 burros from this area in order to bring the population down to low AML. Despite being declared a national burro range to be managed principally for the burros, the BLM allows just 74-104 of these animals to remain in this area.
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