The Bureau of Land Management Nevada’s Battle Mountain District Tonopah Field Office is scheduled to begin a drought-related wild horse gather in the Little Fish Lake Herd Management Area (HMA), near Tonopah, on or about Feb. 8.

The BLM plans to gather about 150 wild horses threatened by lack of forage using a helicopter to locate and guide wild horses toward a set of corrals. Fifty horses will be released back into the HMA, and all mares will be treated with the fertility control drug porcine zona pellucida. About 100 horses will be transported to the Ridgecrest Regional Wild Horse and Burro Corrals in Ridgecrest, California, where they will be will be prepared for adoption by the public. A total of about 100 horses will remain in the HMA after the gather.

Drought conditions have persisted throughout Nevada since 2012, leading to pending emergency conditions in Nye County that seriously threaten the health and well-being of these wild horses. The U.S. drought monitor shows the HMA is in severe drought which, coupled with overutilization by wild horses, has left the HMA with limited available forage for the winter. Lack of vegetation and range impacts from overpopulation by wild horses is also affecting important habitat used by Greater Sage-Grouse.

Wild horse gathers due to drought conditions were analyzed in the Battle Mountain District Drought Management Environmental Assessment dated June 22, 2012. A Determination of National Environmental Policy Act Adequacy, and a Finding of No Significant Impact were completed for this gather; the documents can be viewed online