The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Elko District, Wells Field Office and the Ely District, Schell Field Office are scheduled to gather and remove 200 wild horses from the Antelope and Antelope Valley Herd Management Areas (HMAs), beginning on or about Oct. 1. The helicopter gather is necessary to prevent a further decline in animal condition caused by minimal forage growth and reduced water availability due to severe drought conditions.

Appropriate Management Level (AML) for the Antelope HMA is 150-324 wild horses, although it currently is home to 468 wild horses. The AML for the Antelope Valley HMA is 115-259 wild horses; the current population is 641 wild horses. The BLM has been monitoring the condition of the wild horses due to the on-going drought conditions and the wild horses in the two HMAs are in moderately thin to very thin body condition, with further declines beyond the point of recovery anticipated if actions are not taken.

Wild horses removed from the range will be shipped either to Palomino Valley near Reno, Nev., or the Gunnison Correctional Facility in Gunnison, Utah, to be prepared for the BLM wild horse adoption program or for long-term pastures.

The potential impacts of the actions that will be taken during the gather operations have been analyzed in the Antelope Complex Capture Plan and Environmental Assessment, which was signed in December 2010