The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is expected to begin a helicopter-conducted wild horse gather on or about Jan. 23 within the overpopulated Triple B Complex in Eastern Nevada.

The BLM plans to gather and remove up to 1,000 wild horses; they will treat approximately 250 mares with fertility control and release them, along with about 250 stallions, back into the complex.

The gather operation, which is expected to last approximately a month, is being conducted by the BLM Nevada’s Ely District Office. Approximately 2,766 wild horses will remain in the complex once the gather is completed, the agency said.

The BLM said the purpose of the operation is to prevent undue degradation of the public lands associated with excess wild horses and 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 Burros Act