Public comments will be accepted until May 17, 2007
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today released a draft Environmental assessment that would continue its program for managing non-native horses and burros at Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge (Sheldon) in Northwestern Nevada. The Services preferred alternative seeks to stop destruction of important wildlife habitat by overabundant populations of horses and burros, by significantly reducing their numbers through periodic gathering and adoption placement.
An estimated 1,600 horses and burros currently wander freely year-round across Sheldon, which was established in the 1930s to conserve American Pronghorn antelope and other native wildlife. The combined population, which numbered fewer than 400 horses and burros in the early 1990s, is growing at an estimated annual rate of between 17 and 23 percent. The horses and burros consume forage and water, trample vegetation, compact soils, and otherwise directly and indirectly harm native fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats.
"Horses and burros have been managed on Sheldon for more than a century by ranchers and the government, and we support allowing a small number on the refuge if sustainable with the ecosystem. But exploding populations of these non-native animals are causing immense damage to the refuges habitat and the wildlife it sustains, compromising the Fish and Wildlife Services ability to meet vital wildlife management obligations," said Ren Lohoefener, Director of the Services Pacific Region. "Our goal is to return horse and burro populations to suitable levels using humane capture methods and an effective adoption program that will find good homes for these animals."
In Sheldons high-elevation, semi-arid environments, conflicts among non-native horses and burros and native species are most severe during late summer and mid-winter and are prominent at Sheldons limited water resources and adjacent meadows, wetlands, and riparian riparian
Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.
Learn more about riparian zones. Monitoring information from 2002 concluded that 44 percent of all streams and 80 percent of the springs on the refuge are heavily or severely degraded by feral horses and burros. Although the Service has conducted periodic gathering of horses and burros on the refuge since 1980, efforts have not kept pace with growth in the population, exacerbating habitat damage.
The Horse and Burro Management objectives contained in the draft EA are based on Sheldons Renewable Natural Resources Management Plan and associated Final Environmental Impact Statement published in 1980. Those objectives include:
- Maintaining a manageable horse and burro population (75-125 horses, 30-60 burros) in balance with other wildlife to assure a functioning natural landscape is available for the enjoyment of refuge visitors;
- Stopping range deterioration, improving wildlife habitat and watershed conditions, and reducing impacts on existing water resources;
- Ensuring that the refuge's range provides ample forage for all wildlife populations endemic to the area, and;
- Reducing the spread of non-native horses and burros into key wildlife areas.
The Service is working cooperatively with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, private landowners, the Nevada Department of Wildlife and others with management expertise in addressing similar natural resource management challenges, as well as horse and burro management on adjacent lands.
The Service identified and evaluated five alternatives for managing the horse and burro populations until a Comprehensive Conservation Plan for the Refuge is completed. The alternatives range from discontinuing the current program to using private contractors, the Bureau of Land Management or Service employees to run the program and arrange for adoptions.
Under the Services preferred alternative, the Service would continue to select qualified contractors for gathering, transporting and managing adoption of the horses and burros. The horses would be gathered using contracted horseback riders and helicopters to herd them into corrals. Burros would be baited into corrals using hay or other forage. Another contractor would screen potential adopters to ensure that good homes are selected for the horses and burros. Once the horses and burros are gathered, tested for disease, rested, and transported to the contractors facility, the contractor would provide care for them until all adoptions are completed and coordinate transportation to their adopted homes. Staff, contractors, and cooperators will continue to work carefully to minimize injury to the horses and conduct gathering operations only after the peak of foaling. The Service believes that implementation of this alternative is the best and most humane way to accomplish management objectives for horse and burro management.
Persons seeking more detailed information can obtain a copy of the draft EA at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services website: http://www.fws.gov/sheldonhartmtn/horseburro.html
Questions should be e-mailed to sheldon-hart@fws.gov. Comments from the public must be received within 30 days of this announcement, by May 17, 2007. Written comments can be e-mailed to sheldon-hart@fws.gov or mailed to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 111, Lakeview, OR 97630.
The public is invited to an informational meeting May 8th, 2007, at 7 p.m. in the Lakeview, Oregon, Daly Middle School Auditorium. If there is enough interest, a field trip to Sheldon to view facilities and areas impacted by horses will be organized.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 547 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
