BLM seeks input for NV horse management areas

WLJ May 7, 2026 1 minute read 22 comments

BLM seeks input for NV horse management areas — Pictured here, a 2023 gather in the Reveille Herd Management Area in Nye County, NV.
BLM Nevada

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking public comment on the proposed management of wild horses in the Eagle Complex and the Silver King Herd Management Area (HMA) of Nevada.

Horses in the Eagle Complex total more than 2,000 head in comparison to the appropriate management level (AML) of 145-265 horses. Comments for the Eagle Complex are due by May 21 and may be submitted at tinyurl.com/3x6am2te.

Horses in the Silver King HMA total about 595 head compared to the AML of 60-128 head. Comments for the Silver King HMA are due by May 29 and may be submitted at tinyurl.com/4f3xbb9f.

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22 Comments

Sarah
May 12, 2026
They need managed!! We manage everything else! Theres way too many!!!
Reply to Sarah
Deb Goodman
May 12, 2026
When the Mustangs were in my neighborhood they decreased the fire danger by grazing the cheat grass and other more flammable growth. We never had problems with coyotes, bears, or big cats. They were a pleasure to have in the neighborhood. Keep them wild and free. They are part of our Western heritage. Stop the cruel round-ups and slaughter pipeline. Save the Mustangs.
Reply to Deb Goodman
Nathan Walton
May 12, 2026
Please round these horses up. They are damaging the landscape and making it hard for the native wildlife
Reply to Nathan Walton
Myles Burdett
May 12, 2026
It's time for fast wide spread population reduction. Helicopter eradication or hunting tags are the only fast options. This overpopulation needs to be corrected in 1-2 years, not an over complex decade long plan.
Reply to Myles Burdett
Lex
May 12, 2026
Please cull these massive herds. I’ve seen them have a negative impact on our deer, antelope and elk populations. The only thing that can take down a horse would be the mountain lion and those are being eradicated “for study”. And now we have a feral horse hierarchy. There are too many and they need to be managed, might I even suggest hunted.
Reply to Lex
Travis Lamborn
May 12, 2026
Way to many horses. They need to be taken of the protected status. The state should be able to offer tags. There are hunters that would eat the meat. Fill the freezer and the state would generate money off of tags that can go back to managing all wild life in the state. Win win win. Only ones that cry are the horse advocates that have no idea how to take emotion out of this problem that we have.
Reply to Travis Lamborn
Brent Johnson
May 12, 2026
The BLM Administration should be promoting the idea of consuming horse meat domestically instead of just selling by auction to kill buyers who have no alternative but to ship the live resource out of the country to Mexico and Canada. The Wild Horse and Burro Act clearly states that any equine over 10 years old should be sold at auction. It further states that any equine that has been passed over for adoption 3 times will also qualify that equine to be sold. What this actually means is that any 3 adoptions in a fiscal year allows the BLM to sell off all remaining equine livestock currently being held in BLM facilities. Also, the allowed number of equine on all Department of Interior lands is only 26,700 head. The BLM and USFS have been derelict in their duty to manage and maintain those inventory figures. The BLM should be ordered by the President of the United States to immediately develop government run slaughter facilities and USDA inspection of feral horse and donkey meat to be sold to the public. In addition the Department of Interior should be given no longer than 24 months to implement these changes including reducing the range inventories to the statutory level of 26,700 animal units.
Reply to Brent Johnson
Peggy
May 12, 2026
If the wild horses truly need to be rounded up, please change your methods and do that humanely. Castrate the males humanely. Let the mares and foals go, then the castrated males. Killing and Butchering horses is wrong in every sense of the word. We are domesticated Americans for God sake. Thank you.
Reply to Peggy
Zac ideker
May 12, 2026
I think Farrell horses should be removed no different than any other animal that the landscape can’t handle that many critters. Thank you BLM for your hard work.
Reply to Zac ideker
Maureen Jefferson
May 12, 2026
I am for removal of all excess horses in HMAs. Enforce the law
Reply to Maureen Jefferson
Rhonda Poor
May 12, 2026
The horses in both HMA’s should be left alone. There is plenty of land to support them. If rounded up most will spend the rest of their lives in holding pens or end up in the slaughter pipeline. Keep them wild and free
Reply to Rhonda Poor
Paige
May 13, 2026
I am sick and tired of BLM lies. I’m against all your ******** toundups. Its completely biased for ranchers.
Reply to Paige
Jon Bezzone
May 13, 2026
There are far too many feral horses in north America and Nevada is the biggest disaster of all. Lets get the management or better yet complete removal of this destructive INVASIVE species underway. The feral horses have destroyed natural populations of wildlife.
Reply to Jon Bezzone
Kaylee Howard
May 13, 2026
@Brent Johnson Spoken by a truly disgusting example of a “man”, I can only assume you’re also going to come after peoples pet dogs, cats & fish. Have the day you deserve, may it be short & may justice be served. 😡😡😡😡
Reply to Kaylee Howard
Joanna K
May 13, 2026
The BLM needs to keep their hands off of the wild horses altogether. You have no business in Nevada. If ranchers cannot figure out how to get along, with the rest of the actual world, they need to get into a different business. Horses do not pull the grass out of the ground like cattle do, and besides that, horses were here first. They have as much right to their natural lives as any other human or animal. STOP rounding them up and stop thinking of them as a food source. These horses belong to the wild lands where they live, not to the federal government. I am not sure how any of you live with yourselves. And as for this Brent Johnson person who commented --- you should be ashamed.
Reply to Joanna K
Sandra swiger
May 13, 2026
Let these horses be free ! Please dont let rich ranchers kill our native horses so their cattle can tear up the land
Reply to Sandra swiger
Stacey Alexander
May 13, 2026
Leave them alone
Reply to Stacey Alexander
Janie Duncan
May 14, 2026
Please stop all wild horse and burro roundup and leave them alone.
Reply to Janie Duncan
Gregory Griffin
May 15, 2026
Hey COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS? I HAVE TO ASK....WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BE HONEST WITH THE PUBLIC? Why are wild horses blamed when BLM’s own range data points somewhere else? Nevada’s public rangelands are in serious trouble, but the story the public often hears is too simple: blame the wild horses, round them up, and call it “range health.” The data tells a different story. According to BLM-derived rangeland health data compiled by PEER, Nevada has about 42.8 million acres of BLM grazing allotments. Only about 10% were reported as meeting all land health standards. Among assessed Nevada acreage, about 84% was failing. Even more important: about 15.76 million Nevada acres were listed as failing due to livestock, while millions more were failing for other causes, unknown causes, or had no completed determination at all. So here is the question BLM needs to answer: How many failing Nevada grazing allotments are outside wild horse and burro management areas — meaning wild horses cannot credibly be blamed for the damage? If an allotment is failing range standards and lies outside designated wild horse areas, then removing wild horses does nothing to fix that land. It only distracts from the real issue: continued livestock grazing on damaged public lands. Wild horses are repeatedly targeted in the name of “range health.” But if range health is truly the goal, then BLM must apply the same standard to livestock grazing. Where livestock is identified as a cause of failure, grazing permits should be reduced, rested, modified, or suspended until the land recovers. This is not about ignoring impacts. It is about truth, accountability, and fairness. Nevada’s wild horses should not be scapegoated for land degradation on allotments where they are absent, not managed, or not identified as the cause. We need transparency. We need maps. We need completed land health assessments. And we need BLM to stop using wild horses as cover for a much larger livestock-grazing accountability problem. #WildHorses #Nevada #BLM #PublicLands #RangeHealth #WildHorseAdvocacy #ProtectWildHorses #Accountability #WildHorsesLivesMatter MOVING CATTLE OUT OF THE WAY TO ROUND UP HORSES! WILD HORSES LIVES MATTER
Reply to Gregory Griffin
Penny McKenzie
May 16, 2026
As the owner of 4 Mustangs that will live out thier life with me, I have to say please leave them Wild. I am concerned about the titles of these horses going to owners then the owners signing them over to livestock places and then them in their fearful state being shipped over the border to Mexico or Canada. The BLM is supposed to insure their lives not sell them to scroungy people that hang on to them for a year then get the 1000 dollars then do away with them. They are the BLMs charges and yall should take their lives serious. Each and every life is your responsibility. Beautiful horses and prey creatures, I am disgusted and horrified for their fate. Not one should ship terrified to their deaths. Yall do better by them! Integrity matters!
Reply to Penny McKenzie
Jennifer Fraley
May 18, 2026
I want an agency NOT THE BLM to give an accurate number of horses in each of these ranges! The BLM has padded the numbers in order to clear more horses! The information provided cannot be trusted. We need to have an HMAP, something that has been required! The BLM has not provided any true scientific evidence as witnessed by many different individual agencies! These horses belong and have survived for years. This is merely a greedy government ploy in which to overstep against the American people using our tax dollars to do it! We are fighting for the lives of these iconic symbols of the American history, these horses deserve better!! I am truly disgusted by the cruelty inflicted on our natural beauty of these horses and the wild life found on these PUBLIC LANDS! Stop your greedy evil!!!
Reply to Jennifer Fraley
Jennifer Fraley
May 18, 2026
I want true numbers of the horses. I want the vicious roundups stopped. The horses were given the public lands and it’s a known fact that horses are not the ones causing the problems with the land. And you want to run cattle thru! Come on!! The BLM is part of the horror of the slaughter pipeline! Taking Americans taxes for this contemptible roundups and slaughter! You’ve played with the numbers and lies long enough! Thousands of acres horses outnumbered by 30 or more cattle to 1 horse! Scientific HMAP’s are a requirement. People who actually have feelings and a heart for our home life our country want to protect these horses. Stop the slaughter, stop the lies, and stop the overreach of the American people who care want!
Reply to Jennifer Fraley