The BLM has determined there is not enough water to support all the horses in the Big Sand Spring Valley. | Photo: iStock

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Nevada Ely District’s Bristlecone Field Office will begin a wild horse gather on or about July 9 in Big Sand Spring Valley. The agency has determined there is not enough water to support the number of horses in the area.

BLM employees (not contractors) will conduct the gather using the bait and water trap method; no helicopters will be used. Corrals will be placed within the Pancake Herd Management Area (HMA) about 30 miles west of Ely and 80 miles northeast of Tonopah, Nevada. The BLM plans to gather and remove approximately 250 excess wild horses.

The BLM said the Pancake HMA encompasses 855,000 acres; wild horses overpopulate nearly 120,000 acres of this area, which has an appropriate management level of 240-493 wild horses, the agency said. With a current population of approximately 2,160 wild horses, valuable resources have been depleted, affecting the health of those animals, the BLM said. The central portion of Big Sand Spring Valley is extremely dry with few perennial waters and the area has been closed to cattle grazing since 2000