BLM Completes Horse Gather at Seaman Herd
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has successfully completed an emergency wild horse gather in the Seaman Herd area, located about 100 miles south of Ely. This operation, initiated in late July, was crucial due to severe water shortages affecting the horses. The gathered horses are now being prepared for adoption, with those not adopted being placed in long-term pastures to maintain their wild status.
Emergency Gather Details
The BLM had been monitoring the Seaman Herd area since mid-June. The decision to conduct the emergency gather was made after careful observation of the animals' conditions, with input from an Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service veterinarian.
“It depends on the area and what the resources are doing,” Benjamin Noyes said. “That area, we started in the middle of June and transported more water to them, fixed a concrete tank and then hauled water to them. They weren’t drinking from the supplemental water sources, so we started adding more to the seeps they were drinking out of. Then we realized how critical it was.”
The horses were transported to the Delta Wild Horse and Burro facility in Delta, Utah. Here, they will be prepped for the BLM’s adoption program. The BLM ensures that no wild horses are sent or sold for slaughter.
Success and Future Monitoring
Overall, the gather was deemed successful. Noyes noted that fewer horses than expected were in critical condition, thanks to pre-gather water supplementation.
“For the most part, it worked out,” Noyes said. “We thought we’d have maybe more animals that we’d have to euthanize that were in critical condition than we did. We were able to mitigate by adding water to them before we gathered so they were getting more water and were a little healthier. That helped quite a bit.”
The Seaman Herd Area is not expected to be the last site for horse gathers this summer or fall. The BLM is also monitoring several other areas for potential emergency gathers.
“We have a lot of critical areas that we’re watching,” Noyes said. “The northern Butte valley area is one of them. There’s many different areas with different resource issues.”
Unpredictable weather in the region makes continuous monitoring essential, as conditions can change rapidly.
“We’ll continue to monitor and see how it goes,” Noyes said. “We’ve got some areas that are really kind of touch and go and are two hot weeks from everything dying and two good rain storms from everything living and being green. You just never know in this area.”
Challenges with Long-Term Holding
While monitoring continues, the BLM faces a significant challenge: a shortage of long-term holding facility space. This issue could hinder future gathers.
“It’s something that has trickled down,” Noyes said. “Without having space, we can’t gather more horses and that’s kind of where we are right now. It’s something that we don’t control here on the ground, but it’s something that affects us directly.”
Deputy State Director for Natural Resources, Lands and Planning Raul Mora highlighted this issue, noting that the BLM could reach capacity in its long-term facilities by 2014. State Director Amy Lueders emphasized the need for multiple strategies, including fertility control and eco-sanctuaries, to address these challenges.
“So clearly it’s a program with a lot of passion from folks that have interests on all sides of that issue,” Lueders said in June. “Certainly space is a large constraint for us right now. I think what we need is as many tools as possible. We’re looking at fertility control, looking at long-term holding, looking at eco sanctuary types of ideas. We need as many tools as possible.”
As the BLM seeks solutions, the impact of limited space is already being felt.
“We’re seeing that more,” Noyes said. “That’s the direction we’re starting to get is the issue of space is really critical right now to getting horse gathers done. We’re seeing it on the ground.”
Originally Posted By Ely Times