Three Fingers Herd Roundup Rescheduled

VALE — The wild horse roundup is back on.

The Bureau of Land Management Vale District plans to gather wild horses in the Three Fingers Herd Management area on August 23. Agency officials say they plan to capture 100 wild horses and return 50 — 25 studs and 25 mares — to the range.

There are 202 horses in the herd management area now, according to the agency's count. Officials say the appropriate management level is 75 to 150 wild horses.

The herd management area is about 25 miles south of Vale.

Because of the larger population and drought conditions, horses are grazing well outside the boundaries of the herd management area, according to a news release from the agency.

Horses are grazing in areas affected by the 2015 Soda Fire, which burned nearly 280,000 acres in Oregon and Idaho. Grazing in those areas is particularly destructive to fire rehabilitation efforts, agency officials say.

Rounding up horses will help protect that area. It will also help the herd itself, according to the release.

The gather, which was originally slated for late July, will last two to four days, according to the agency. Horses will be taken to Oregon’s Wild Horse Corral Facility in Hines, and they will be made available for adoption later this year.

Originally posted by The Argus Observer