Wild horses to be gathered from burned Idaho rangelands

BOISE, Idaho–The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Owyhee and Four Rivers field offices’ staff will conduct an emergency gather of wild horses from both the Sands Basin and Four Mile Wild Horse Herd Management Areas (HMA) next week. Both areas were nearly completely burned by the lightning-caused Jump (25,720 acres burned) and Paddock fires (187,185 acres burned) and there is simply not enough vegetation to sustain the horses into the coming winter months. There has been no known loss of wild horses due to either fire.

The 11,724-acre Sands Basin HMA is near Marsing, and there are a total of approximately 40 wild horses that will be gathered. The Appropriate Management Level (AML) for this HMA is 33-64. The Four Mile HMA north of Emmett is 18,800 acres, and there are roughly 52 wild horses that will be gathered. The AML for this HMA is 37-60 wild horses.  

The wild horses will be transported initially to the BLM Boise Wild Horse Off-Range Corrals. Eventually, the horses will be cared for at the Bruneau Wild Horse Off-Range Corrals until they can be returned to the range.

The BLM Boise District will implement emergency stabilization and rehabilitation activities on the fire-impacted public lands in the coming months and years.  The wild horses will be returned to the public rangelands in both the Sands Basin and Four Mile HMAs once the rangelands have recovered.

While there will not be public viewing opportunities for this emergency wild horse gather, once the gather begins, there will be daily updates posted https://bit.ly/3YRj48L. There will be an opportunity for the public to view the horses at the Boise Wild Horse Off-Range Corral later this fall.

The Decision Record for the Sands Basin HMA Emergency Gather may be found https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2034039/510.  The Decision Record for the Four Mile HMA Emergency Gather may be found https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2034041/510. 

-BLM-