Federal agencies plan wild horse emergency roundup after Eastern Oregon wildfire

Federal officials say wild horses in Eastern Oregon are at risk of starving after a wildfire burned through an expanse of wildlands over the summer.

So the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service have proposed trapping up to 400 horses near John Day and keeping them at BLM’s wild horse corral while native grasses and shrubs recover. Agency staff say that recovery could take at least two years, though they haven’t proposed an exact timeline for when the horses would be released.

With the threat of winter weather around the corner, the agencies are proposing a tight turnaround for this emergency roundup. The public has until Monday to assess the proposal and provide comments.

The Rail Ridge Fire burned across 176,000 acres. Though much of it burned at low levels — which is consistent with the area’s natural fire regime, BLM documents say — it consumed much of the grass that the wild horses need to survive through winter.

BLM estimates there are about 660 horses roaming this region, a span of about 143,000 acres of public and private lands in Grant County called the Murderer’s Creek Wild Horse Joint Management Area.

The emergency roundup comes as the BLM and Forest Service finalize a herd management plan for the area, which would allow them to trap horses and administer contraceptives to females. The agencies aim to reduce the herd population down to between 50 and 140 adults. Their proposed plan says the herd has grown too large, and that’s impeding cattle grazing and wildlife rehabilitation in the area.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has requested the agencies remove all wild horses from state lands within the management area.

Wild horse advocates say gathering these horses ahead of winter is the right move, since they are at risk of starvation.

“Also, there has to be some forage out there for the deer now,” Theresa Barbour, executive director of the Oregon Wild Horse Organization, said. “They need that forage.”

Still, she says she’s worried agency staff might use this opportunity to start administering population control methods to female horses before the herd management plan has been completed. Spokespeople with both agencies said they won’t begin birth control administration until the management plans are finalized. The Forest Service might castrate some male horses that act aggressively, to protect staff or other horses.

“There‘s definitely tension about these things,” Forest Supervisor Ann Niesen of Malheur National Forest said, adding that the emergency gather is for the horses’ well-being. “I wish we were done with the herd management plan, too, but these fires do their own thing.”

The agencies will trap horses by luring them into pens using water and food as bait, then a trip wire will close a gate behind them. They’ll be kept in corrals run by each of the agencies, including one in Hines.

“They receive high-quality feed every single day,” Tara Thissell, a spokesperson for the BLM Burns District, said. “They have fresh, quality water at all times. So they’re going to receive quite a bit of attention while they’re in holding.”

BLM says these horses are likely descendants of animals lost or turned loose by settlers and ranchers. Still, wild horse advocates take issue with agencies treating wild horses as invasive species.

Scientists believe horses once roamed North America until they inexplicably vanished after the last ice age. If their disappearance was human-caused, then their reappearance in the late 1400s along with the Spanish conquistadors could be considered a species reintroduction.

Correction: A previous version of this story mischaracterized the population control methods the Bureau of Land Management might use on mares in the Murderer’s Creek Joint Management Area. The BLM said it may administer temporary contraceptives to female horses it rounds up. OPB regrets the error.