The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Nevada’s Elko District, Wells Field Office, began an emergency wild horse water and bait trap gather on Sept. 4 with placement of corrals in a nonherd management area (HMA) near Wood Hills.

The BLM said they’ve determined that the wild horses in the Wood Hills area are residing largely on private lands outside of the HMA boundary. The nearest HMA is the Spruce-Pequop HMA, located approximately 10 miles away.

With this water and bait trap gather the BLM hopes to remove all the excess wild horses from the Wood Hills area due to the declining critical water source on public lands. Gathering and removing the horses from the area will prevent further resource degradation and allow the range to recover from wild horse impacts, the BLM said.

The BLM plans to gather and remove approximately 60 horses utilizing temporary water and bait traps consisting of a series of corral panels stocked with water and hay; no helicopters will be used. As of Sept. 6, 30 wild horses had been removed