The Bureau of Land Management will release about 35 wild horses back onto the range in northwest Nevada next week, to maintain wild populations at sustainable levels. The animals were gathered in a population control roundup over the past few weeks.
Mares that have been treated with a fertility control drug and groups of stallions will be returned to two areas of the High Rock Herd Management Area east of Cedarville, on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 27th and 28th.
Anyone interested in watching the releases should be at the BLM Surprise Field Office, 602 Cressler St. in Cedarville, at 8:30 a.m. each day. They must provide their own transportation to the release sites. High clearance vehicles are recommended.
In Tuesday’s release, BLM officials plan to return four stallions and four mares to the range. The Wednesday release should consist of 13 stallions and 14 mares.
“With these releases, the High Rock HMA population will be 78 wild horses, which is the low end of the appropriate management level.” said Allen Bollschweiler, manager of the BLM Surprise Field Office in Cedarville.
“The herd will be allowed to grow toward the upper end of the AML. The use of fertility control is expected to slow the growth rate for about two years.”
Horses have already been returned to the Bitner, Fox Hog and Nut Mountain herd management areas and those populations are estimated to be within appropriate management levels.
Earlier this month, the BLM completed gather operations for five herd management areas managed collectively as the High Rock Complex. The project was designed to reduce the wild population to a range of 258 to 451 animals in the complex.
