The sun is low on the horizon, casting soft light on the crimson boulders and cliffs of Spring Creek Basin. Bands of colorful wild horses dot the folded landscape as it gently dips toward the dry wash and empty highway in the distance. This peaceful place is one of four Herd Management Areas in Colorado where our agency, the Bureau of Land Management, works to sustain wild horses.
Here, fertility control darting efforts led by our partner, Spring Creek Basin Mustangs, and water infrastructure funded by the bureau maintain a stable population of 71 wild horses, which is within the 50 to 80 horse appropriate management level, or carrying capacity, of the area.
On the ground, maintaining herds within the appropriate management level means healthy horses on healthy rangelands. The bureau increased the appropriate management level in this area in 2020 because of the successful fertility control program, and horses have not been gathered since 2011.
As the sun disappears behind the cliffs, I lean against the dusty truck and wonder aloud, "Why don’t the newspapers write about Spring Creek Basin?“
While building on our success in Spring Creek Basin will be difficult, the Colorado BLM is taking steps to achieve this vision in the Sand Wash Basin Herd Management Area in Northwest Colorado. The Sand Wash population now sits at an estimated 300 horses, within the 163 to 363 appropriate management level because of challenging conditions last winter that resulted in losses of big game and wild horses. As a result, the bureau will forgo a planned small-scale gather this fall in Sand Wash.
The bureau also recently invested in more than $600,000 in infrastructure in Sand Wash, and we hope to work with the state’s new Colorado Wild Horse Project to provide additional support for our partner organizations – the Sand Wash Basin Wild Horse Advocate Team and Wild Horse Warriors for Sand Wash Basin – to invest in range improvements and fertility control.
The Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Area near Grand Junction is another BLM success story. Friends of the Mustangs, our partner organization, was one of the first to pilot fertility control darting for wild horses and inspired similar efforts in other states. However, the pandemic slowed fertility control darting in these canyons and now the population stands at 230 horses, more than the 90 to 150 horse appropriate management level.
Even more challenging, Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area has a population of more than 800 horses, dramatically above the 135 to 235 horse appropriate management level. The bureau also recently awarded $120,620 to Piceance Mustangs for fertility control efforts, but to regain appropriate management level and have any chance of longterm success of staying within that range, we will need to conduct gathers in these areas again.
We often hear a preference for fertility control instead of gathers, especially helicopter gathers. But fertility control is not an alternative to gather operations in large Herd Management Areas, particularly those in other states. In such cases, even if a Herd Management Area is at the appropriate management level, routine gathers are still required because of the number of animals and vastness of the landscapes.
Wild horse gathers elicit a passionate response from the public. This emotion is justifiable, but sometimes it distracts from the facts.
BLM staff love our wild horse herds. They are truly magnificent and it is a privilege for all of us to manage these magnificent animals and their rugged homelands.
We invite you to enjoy the sunset in Spring Creek Basin and the serenity of healthy horses on healthy rangelands.
Doug Vilsack is the Colorado state director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
