The Bureau of Land Management seeks public comment on the Stone Cabin Complex Wild Horse Gather Environmental Assessment
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TONOPAH, Nev. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Battle Mountain District Office, Tonopah Field Office is announcing the availability of a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) to address potential environmental consequences associated with excess wild horses within and outside of the Stone Cabin Complex located in Nye County, Nevada. The preliminary 10-year Wild Horse Gather EA will be available for public review and comments from October 25 to November 23, 2022.
“We need to make sure that animals are not at risk due to herd overpopulation and severe drought conditions, said Douglas Furtado, Battle Mountain District Manager. “As always, we are committed to conducting safe and humane gather operations and implement related BLM policies as we work toward restoring a thriving natural ecological balance."
The proposed action is to gather and remove excess wild horses from within and outside the Stone Cabin Complex to achieve the established appropriate management level (AML) of 242-402 wild horses and implement a range of fertility controls to maintain the population within AML over a period of up to 10 years. The EA analyzes the direct, indirect, and cumulative effects from implementation of the project.
The project is located approximately 30 miles northeast of Tonopah and the Stone Cabin Complex includes the Stone Cabin and Saulsbury Herd Management Areas (HMAs) and BLM portions of the Monitor and Ralston Valleys that are outside of HMA.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) conducts removal gathers to ensure the long-term health of the public rangelands and to prevent resource degradation within herd management areas, as well as to maintain the health of wild horses and burros. The BLM is required to manage wild and burros at the appropriate management levels (AML) that were established through the analysis of monitoring data, and water and forage availability on a sustainable basis.
During the public comment period, the BLM welcomes comments, data or information related to potential issues, impacts and alternatives that should be addressed in the EA. Comments can be submitted via the Eplanning site at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2021968/510; written comments should be mailed to the Tonopah Field Office at P.O. Box 911 (1553 South Main Street); Tonopah, NV 89049; or emailed to bbrodowski@blm.gov. Please include “Stone Cabin Complex EA” in the subject line.
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment, including your personal identifying information, may be publicly available at any time. While you can ask that your personal identifying information be withheld from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. Anonymity is not allowed for submissions from organizations or businesses and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses.
For technical questions, please contact Brianna Brodowski, Wild Horse and Burro Specialist, at (775) 482-7842.
-BLM-
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.