Wild Horse and Burro Gather Planning, Scheduling, and Approval

This guidance outlines management options and considerations that the authorized officer (AO) should account for when developing gather planning documents to achieve and maintain appropriate management levels (AML).[1] It also outlines the approval process for the annual gather schedule, as well as how state offices receive approval for proposed changes to the gather schedule, including emergency and nuisance removals. In addition, it carries forward the exception for the use of helicopters to gather wild horses during the foaling season (March 1 - June 30) under emergency actions articulated in Attachment 2. 

1. Gather Planning and Management Actions

   Where appropriate, a combination of the above methods can be used to further reduce population growth rates.

   1. Gather Planning Documents. When preparing gather planning documents, the AO should evaluate multiple management options to achieve and maintain the AML within Herd Management Areas (HMAs). Each management option should generally be evaluated for implementation by the BLM over a multiyear period. These management options include, but are not limited to the following:
      1. Utilizing all capture methods to implement the gather, which would include both helicopter and bait/water trap. Helicopters may not be used to gather wild horses during peak foaling season (March 1 – June 30) for planned gathers. Helicopters may be used year-round to gather wild burros since they do not exhibit a specific foaling season.
      2. Removing excess animals and implementing population growth suppression management actions per Section 1(c) below.
      3. Gathering and implementing population growth suppression management actions only as outlined in Section 1(c) below.
      4. Releasing and/or relocating select animals within HMAs to maintain desirable genetic diversity.
      5. Any other action integral to achieving and maintaining the AML.
   2. Types of Gathers. Gathers and removal of excess animals may be necessary for several reasons, including, but not limited to the following:[2]  
      1. Emergencies
      2. Court Orders
      3. Nuisance animals
      4. Impacts to threatened, endangered, or sensitive species (TES)
      5. Resource Conditions
      6. Achieve and Maintain AML
      7. Catch-Treat-Hold-Release[3]
      8. Research

      Selective removals (Attachment 1)[4] may be considered for all gather types except emergencies and nuisance gathers. Other potential exceptions to the selective removal policy may be removals required by law or Land Use Plan (LUP) decisions, LUP selective management prescriptions (examples: Spanish characteristics, genetic considerations, etc.) or court-ordered gathers.

   3. Considerations for Reducing Population Growth Rates. Identification and consideration of population growth suppression methods will be required in all gather planning efforts. During gather planning, the AO should consider multiple management actions to reduce population growth rates and extend the time between removals. Prior to returning any gathered animals to the range, the AO should identify appropriate population growth control measures. These management actions include, but are not limited to, the following:
      1. Temporary fertility control vaccines – administering approved fertility control vaccines, such as GonaCon, ZonaStat-H (native PZP), PZP-22, and newly developed and approved vaccine formulations to mares prior to release back to the range. The implementation of a field remote darting program should also be considered where possible.
      2. Intrauterine devices (IUDs) – applying IUDs in suitable mares and then returning them to the range. IUDs should only be used in mares that are not pregnant.
      3. Non-reproducing animals – sterilizing animals (male and/or female) with an approved method and returning them to the range, generally with the goal of reducing the breeding female component of the herd by at least ten percent. To manage for partially or wholly non-reproducing herds, animals would be sterilized (spayed, gelded, vasectomized, or treated with a minimally invasive sterilization method) before being released to the range. Gather planning documents should specify that if sterile burro-horse hybrids (mules and hinnies) are gathered, then they should be prioritized for return to the range.
      4. Sex ratio adjustment – changing the sex ratio of a herd, generally by releasing additional males back to the range after a gather. The goal with this management technique is for mares to represent no more than approximately 30-40 percent of the breeding animals within a herd, reducing the population growth rate.

2. Gather Scheduling and Concurrence Process
   1. Gather Schedule. During the third quarter of each fiscal year, HQ will coordinate with WHB state leads to request a prioritized list of gathers for the upcoming fiscal year with rationale for each. In developing the prioritized list of gathers, state offices should consider resource conditions, including potential drought impacts and restoration efforts to improve resilience to climate change, as well as animal health and population levels. The On-Range Branch Chief will develop a tentative gather schedule based on state and national priorities, population growth suppression efforts, space availability, and anticipated funding levels. The On-Range Branch Chief and Division Chief will brief the Assistant Director of Resources and Planning (AD) and obtain approval of the proposed schedule by September 30 each year. The Division Chief and AD will brief the Deputy Director of Operations (DD-Ops) for approval of the proposed gather schedule. Once the proposed schedule has been approved, WHB state leads will be notified to implement as planned. Any change to the approved gather schedule requires DD-OPS notification.
   2. Adjustments to Gather Schedule. State offices may adjust gather plans within their approved budget and removal numbers identified in the annual gather schedule to address reprioritization based on emerging issues within their jurisdiction, such as rapidly declining resource conditions, animal health, emergencies, or nuisance animals. This change shall not result in an increase of total numbers. State offices have the flexibility to manage state priorities across HMAs and HAs within the approved gather/removal numbers for the FY gather schedule. Those changes must be communicated and coordinated with the WHB On-Range Branch Chief to update the gather schedule and ensure available holding space, contract capacity, DD-OPS notification, and other logistics.
   3. Emergency gathers. Emergencies generally are unexpected events that threaten the health or welfare of a WHB population or its habitat and require immediate action, such as an unanticipated lack of water or forage (i.e., extreme/exceptional drought[5]), fire, insect infestation, or outbreak of disease. Drought is identified in BLM Handbook H-4700-1 as an escalating problem; however, due to widespread climatic change, the intensity and the degree of drought conditions can result in unanticipated immediate forage and water loss. Based on the severity of the drought classification, it may be elevated to an emergency management action.
   4. Nuisance gathers. Nuisance and public safety gathers address situations where WHB stray from public lands onto adjoining lands (e.g., private property, state and other Federal lands) or roadways, and interfere with traffic or otherwise threaten public health and safety.
   5. Emergency and nuisance gathers are generally not included in the initial development of the annual gather schedule, but will be considered using the following process:
      1. The WHB State Lead, with concurrence from the state director, will submit a written emergency or nuisance gather request to the On- Range Branch Chief. All requests should clearly articulate the need for the immediate action and should include gather location, estimated number of animals slated for removal, proposed gather method, and whether the actions are covered by an implementation decision. When possible, visual documentation (e.g., pictures of utilization, body condition) should be provided to further illustrate the need for the requested emergency or nuisance gather. For a nuisance gather, the proposal should, where applicable, include the written request by the private landowner for the removal of the animals and giving the BLM permission to access their private property to remove the animals.
      2. The On-Range Branch Chief will coordinate with the WHB state lead for all necessary information; ensure contractor scheduling, budget, and space availability; and forward the request to the Division Chief.
      3. HQ approval to proceed with emergency and nuisance gathers will be based on the proposed number of animals to be removed, as follows:[6]
         1. Removal of 50 or fewer animals, provided space and budget are available – On-Range Branch Chief.
         2. Removal of 51 to 499 animals, provided space and budget are available – Division Chief.
         3. Removal of more than 500 animals and requested removals that exceed the WHB program budget – AD approval after consultation with DD-Ops.
         4. Information regarding emergency gather requests will be provided to DD-Ops by the AD and a briefing coordinated upon request.

   Note: If the emergency gather occurs during foaling season, approval under Attachment 2 is required to gather with a helicopter, and this should be included in the initial request.

[1] This IM is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity by a party against the United States, its departments, agencies, instrumentalities or entities, its officers or employees, or any other person.

[2] Section 4.6 of the Wild Horses and Burros Management Handbook, H-4700-1, provides that gathers should be prioritized in a specific order.  This IM amends section 4.6.  Rather than prioritizing gathers in a specific order, the BLM believes that the relative importance of these considerations will depend on fact-specific circumstances. As a result, a rigid hierarchy is inappropriate, and BLM staff should appropriately weigh relevant considerations when prioritizing gathers.

[3] Gathers with the primary objective of applying population growth suppression and little to no removals.

[4] Carries forward selective removal policy from BLM Manual Section 4720, Section .33.

[5] The U.S. Drought Monitor is produced through a partnership between the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

[6] This IM updates the approval levels contained in IM 2020-012. In recent years, widespread climactic changes, increased wild horse and burro populations, and other conditions have resulted in the BLM needing to perform an increased number of emergency and nuisance removals.  The approval requirements specified in IM will streamline the BLM’s administrative processes and allow the agency to react more expediently to changed conditions.