The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) for the Silver King herd management area (HMA), in Nevada.

The BLM said it is is seeking comments on the EA, which analyzes the need to gather and remove excess wild horses from within and outside the Silver King HMA. The HMA, located in Lincoln County, Nevada, is 606,000 acres in size. The appropriate management level for the Silver King is 60 -128 horses; the BLM completed a population inventory in February 2017 and estimated the population to be 850 animals.

By implementing the actions outlined in the proposed wild horse gather EA, the BLM hopes to be able to improve vegetation, habitat, and watershed health. Removing excess animals would enable significant progress toward achieving the Standards for Rangeland Health identified by the Mohave-Southern Great Basin Resource Advisory Council, the agency said.

The BLM would also collect information on herd characteristics and determine herd health during the gather. In addition to the proposed gather and removal of wild horses, some wild horses would be released back into the HMA. Fertility control treatments of PZP and GonaCon, are addressed in the EA.

The BLM’s Ely District Office is requesting feedback on the EA and has made the document available for review and public comment. The 30-day public comment period began on July 14 and submissions will be accepted until 4:30 p.m., PDT, on Aug. 14. The document is available online at bit.ly/2ubBSRZ and hardcopies are available upon request from the Ely District Office.

Interested individuals should address all written comments to Ben Noyes, wild horse and burro specialist, using either of the following methods. Be advised that only the comments received by postal mail or to the specific e-mail address will be considered in the completion of the final EA:

Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or any other personal identifying information in your comment, be aware that your entire comment, including personal identifying information, could be made publicly available at any time. While individuals can request BLM to withhold personal identifying information from public view, the BLM cannot guarantee it will be able to do so.