The BLM to conduct emergency Conger Herd Management Area wild horse gather in western Millard County
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FILLMORE, Utah — The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Fillmore Field Office will soon begin emergency gather operations to help address exceptional drought conditions affecting wild horse populations within the Conger Herd Management Area (HMA) in southwestern Utah. The gather will help bring the Conger population to optimal levels to achieve a thriving ecological balance and will help support herd health.
Scheduled to begin on Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021, the gather is expected to last about a week but could take as long as 10 days. The public is welcome to view the Conger HMA wild horse gather operations. The gather and associated viewing opportunities will start on Aug 11, departing at 5:30 am from the Maverik Adventure’s One Stop located at 44 N Hwy 6, Delta, UT. This gather is a follow up to a five-year population control research study completed last year.
BLM Utah will gather horses within the Conger HMA and areas adjacent to the HMA, where horses have moved in search of forage and water because of extreme drought. Mares fitted with GPS collars that could not be remotely released at the conclusion of the research study, will be captured to remove the collars. Select wild horses may be returned to the HMA to maintain herd genetic diversity and characteristics and to meet herd management objectives.
The appropriate management level—the number of horses the range can sustainably support in conjunction with other animals and resource uses—for the Conger Herd Management Area is 40 to 80 horses. However, the population—estimated to be 296 horses on March 1—is now thought to have grown about 20 percent to 340 to 355, including this year’s foals.
The current gather has been elevated as necessary to address exceptional drought conditions in the herd management area. Drought conditions have caused a decline in the health of the wild horses during the last year because of lack of food and water. The gather will help the long-term sustainable health for the horses and the other resources within the area.
Access to and distance from the capture site location will be determined jointly by the contractor and the BLM contracting officer’s representative prior to gather operations. Observers will meet at a designated location for a pre-gather briefing and will then caravan to the observation site. Safety of the public, employees and contractors and horses remains the BLM’s top priority.
The horses will either be released at the gather site, or shipped to the Axtell Facility, a private facility that does not allow in-person, public adoptions. The BLM will announce when horses removed from the Conger HMA will be available for adoption or sale at a future date.
For more information and updates on the progress of the gather, please check our social media sites and the gather webpage at https://go.usa.gov/xFXK9. Visit our Facebook or Twitter pages for updates. You can also call the Utah Wild Horse and Burro hotline at (801) 539-4050 or email BLM_UT_WHB@blm.gov for more information. Supporting planning documents for the Conger Herd Management Area gather can be found on the BLM eplanning website.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.