FY2025 Buffalo Hills Wild Horse and Burro Gather

The Bureau of Land Management’s Black Rock Field Office concluded the Buffalo Hills wild horse and burro gather on or about November 15, 2024.

Purpose of Gather:

The purpose of the gather is to prevent undue or unnecessary degradation of the public lands associated with excess wild horses, to restore a thriving natural ecological balance and multiple-use relationship on public lands, consistent with the provisions of Section 1333(b) of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Horses Act.

By balancing herd size with what the land can support, the Black Rock Field Office aims to implement a maintenance gather to apply fertility control to released mares with minimal removal to achieve low end of Animal Management Level (AML) for the Buffalo Hills Complex (complex). This gather also address resources issues related to drought and past fire damage and protect habitat for other wildlife species such as sage grouse, pronghorn antelope and mule deer. Removing excess animals will enable significant progress toward achieving the Standards for Rangeland Health.

Details of Gather:

The gather will begin on or about November 15, 2024 and will be conducted by the helicopter assist method. The agency plans to gather approximately 235 wild horses and 33 excess wild burros, remove approximately 32 excess wild horses and 33 excess wild burros, and treat up to 100 mares with GonaCon Equine, a population suppression fertility control vaccine, before being released back to the range along with up to 103 Studs.

All animals identified for removal will be transported to the Palomino Valley Off-Range Corrals, located in Sparks, Nev. Upon arrival to the facility, all animals will be checked by a veterinarian and readied for the BLM’s wild horse and burro Adoption and Sales Program.

Public Observation:

To keep the public informed and allow reasonable access to gather operations, agency staff plan to schedule daily public visitation opportunities to view the gather operations.

A Public Affairs Officer and Law Enforcement Officer will meet the observers each morning at the pre-determined meeting location, to escort the group to the gather and/or holding sites. Agency staff will escort all media and/or visitors to and from the gather site each day. The “What to Know before You Go” information and “Visitation Protocol and Ground Rules” are provided in the links to the right.

All media and/or observers wanting to go to the gather site will need to RSVP by 5:30 P.M. the night before they wish to observe the gather by calling 775-623-1567. You will receive a call back no later than 9 P.M. with daily meeting times and locations.

Adoption Information:

For information on how to adopt or purchase a wild horse or burro, visit www.blm.gov/whb.

Background:

Horses within the HMA are descendants of ranch horses that either escaped or were released into the area, and horses that were raised for the cavalry remount program. The majority of horses exhibit a bay, brown or sorrel color pattern.

Location: The Buffalo Hills Herd Management Area (HMA) is located in central Washoe County, approximately 70 miles north of Reno, Nevada.

Size: The area consists of 125,207 acres of BLM land and 6,654 acres of a mix of private and other public lands for a total of 131,861 acres.

Topography/Vegetation: The terrain in the area consists of a circular shaped basaltic plateau dominated by large rugged rocky canyons. Elevations within the HMA range from 3,823 feet along the Smoke Creek Desert to 6,832 at Poodle Mountain. Climate is characterized by warm dry days, cool nights and low yearly precipitation that ranges from 4 to 6 inches at lower elevations to approximately 12 inches at higher elevations.

Vegetation varies from salt desert shrub communities at lower elevations to big sagebrush/grass communities at upper elevations. Typical species in the salt desert shrub community include shadscale, budsage, winterfat, black greasewood, indian rice grass, squirrel tail and Sandbergs bluegrass. Species typical of the sagebrush/grass communities include low sage, Wyoming and mountain big sagebrush, bitterbrush, rabbit brush, Utah juniper, needlegrasses, basin wild rye, squirrel tail, indian paintbrush and phlox.

Wildlife: The area is also utilized by domestic livestock during part of the year and numerous wildlife species. Typical wildlife species found in the area include mule deer, pronghorn antelope, sage grouse, chukar partridge, coyote, and various rodents.

AML: 188-314

Daily Gather Reports

Friday, November 15

Summary:

Horses Gathered: XX (XX Stallions, XX Mares, XX Foals)

Burros Gathered: XX (XX Jacks, XX Jennies, XX Foals)

Horses Shipped: XX (XX Stallions, XX Mares, and XX Foals)

Burros Shipped: XX (XX Jacks, XX Jennies, and XX Foals)

Animals Treated with Fertility Control: (XX Mares)

Animals Released: 0 (0 Stallions, 0 Mares, and 0 Foals)

Deaths: 0

- Sudden / Acute: 0