A draft version of a new Herd Area Management Plan released by the BLM earlier this month is the first update of the 1984 plan that sets out management practices for the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range since an update in 1992. If put into action, the proposed document would implement several range improvements and change the recommended Apropriate Management Level (AML) of horses on the range. The new document also recognizes the Spanish background of the horses, allowing the BLM to manage with their Spanish bloodline in mind.


The new HMAP would change the prescribed amount of horses on the range from its current level down to 90-120 horses, which is less than Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center Director Matt Dillon would like to see.


Dillon said, for the most part, he likes the new HMAP drafted by the Bureau of Land Management. He said the plan is well thought out and addresses a number of issues with minimum action.


He likes that the document includes a proposed network of guzzlers to be installed on the range, which are large tanks that collect water on large polymer sheets and create a water source for animals in locations where water would otherwise be scarce. The guzzlers would be spread out in the middle elevation area of the range, a place that is plentiful with desert grass, but low on water sources for the horses and other animals, Dillon said.
“Basically the purpose of these [guzzlers] is to get the horses to use the whole range, because they don’t use the whole range right now,” Dillon said.


The new guzzlers and are low profile and the polymer sheets are non-reflective earth tones designed to be inconspicuous and to not impact the wilderness values of the range.


Other range improvements are ridding some noxious weeds and carrying out prescribed burns to restore the forest to healthy condition.


Dillon said he likes that the BLM listened to public input and acknowledged that the horses are of Spanish descent and will be managed to keep that bloodline intact.


“This plan talks about Spanish horses for the first time and managing the herd for the Spanish type,” Dillon said.


The plan prescribes to use a system designed by Phil Sponenberg, a professor at Virginia Tech University, to examine the body shape and other features of the horses to evaluate their Spanish characteristics. Dillon said using Sponenberg’s system, management could be done to prevent Spanish bloodlines from being eliminated.


“In the past, some bloodlines have become extinct and others have grown too big,” he said.


The HMAP calls for a removal of horses to bring the number down to the AML of 90 to 120 laid out in the plan.


The BLM has released a 2008 Gather Plan and Preliminary Environmental Assessment that outlines the proposal to remove horses this summer, but the removal will be operating under the 1984/1992 HMAP, which sets out different guidelines for removing the horses than in the proposed new HMAP (see related story). 


One quarrel Dillon has with the proposed HMAP is the age of the horses the BLM would remove for adoption in future roundups. The plan calls for removal of horses in a set order, first removing all the non-Spanish type horses (which has already been taken care of for the most part, Dillon said). Next, non-reproductive animals that have already contributed to the gene pool by successfully breeding would be removed from the herd, which includes older mares and stallions. The third priority is to remove animals that are under 5 years old.


If there are no horses available for removal in the above three categories, the BLM would then begin removing horses over 11 years old, and finally, horses between the ages of 5 and 10. Dillon said it is unlikely the BLM would have to dip into the final two categories, but said he would rather see category two (older animals) and category three  (animals under 5 years old) flip-flopped.


“We prefer it when they take younger horses off like yearlings, because they get good homes easily, they’re easy to train and the effect on the horse is minimal,” Dillon said. “The question is, what about horses older than 10?”


Dillon said he understands the BLM’s decision to remove old horses that are no longer contributing to the gene pool, but he said there is a problem in removing old horses because no one wants to adopt them and they end up in long-term holding facilities.


“That’s definitely an area of concern,” he said.


There is also a problem with taking off older animals because, under the Burns Amendment of 2004 to the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, horses over 10 years old can be titled right away, whereas horses under 10 require a one-year trial period before a person is granted a title for the horse. This allows anyone to purchase wild horses (older than 10) removed from the range and sell them for any number of uses, including selling them to buyers across national borders to slaughter for human consumption.


Filmmaker Ginger Kathrens told the Chronicle that she agrees that removing older horses from the range is a big concern.


She feels the new HMAP is dangerous for the health and social structure of the herd and said reducing the number of horses from its current level down to 90 or 120 horses would affect genetic viability and cause other problems for the herd.


“The BLM removals disregard the social structure and stability of the families on the mountain,” Kathrens wrote in an e-mail bulletin. “Any horse could be removed regardless of the key roles they play as band stallions or lead mares. Most of these leaders have reproduced and are over 10 years of age, making then prime targets for removal.”


BLM Wild Horse and Burro Specialist Jared Bybee said the change in removal practices is being made in the HMAP to allow the BLM to remove some older animals for the sake of better genetic viability within the herd.


Kathrens is advocating wild horse lovers to stand up for the herd and send comments to Montana Senators and BLM officials to stop the proposed action. She proposed a number of other measures that could help the herd and range conditions, such as working with the NPS to add land to the range in areas where the horses already currently reside and limiting the number of permits granted for mountain lion hunting to allow natural predation to control the herd population.


She said the BLM is attempting to get their plan set in action as soon as possible, and before a change in the oval office that would bring new leadership to the BLM and other higher-up offices that would affect the way the organization is run.


“I think it’s pretty obvious the BLM wants to move quickly on this,” she said.


The BLM argues that there is an “excess of wild horses on the PMWHR” and data shows that the range does not have the capacity to sustain the current wild horse population over the longterm. The BLM states that they are prohibited from allowing a “deterioration of the range associated with an over-population of wild horses” as described in the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, and that the proposed action was developed to rectify this deficiency for one season.


Kathrens disagrees and argues that the range is in the best condition that she’s seen in the past 14 years. She said she is afraid of what might happen if the BLM is allowed to take more horses off the range, mentioning several other wild horse herds across the nation that have been “zeroed” by the BLM in recent years.


“Many of us know these animals as individuals with lives and families,” Kathrens said. “Their fate hangs by a thread at this moment in time.”


After the 30-day comment period, which ends July 11, the plan will then enter a 30-day period for a chance for appeals to the document. If the proposed document passes without appeal it could then be put into action. If the HMAP is implemented, it would likely manage the range for another 5 to 10 years.


Written, hand-delivered or oral comments must be submitted to: Jared Bybee, State Wild Horse and Burro Specialist, BLM -Billings Field Office, 5001 Southgate Drive, Billings, MT 59101, phone (406) 896-5223, fax (406) 896-5281. Office business hours for those submitting hand-delivered or oral comments are: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.
Electronic comments must be ill MS Word (.doc), Word Perfect, or RTF (.rtf) format and be sent to:
MT- WildHorse@blm.gov .The subject line must contain "Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range/Territory Preliminary Environmental Assessment and Draft HMAP.”