Gold Butte Burros

- Gold Butte's burros need your voice. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has proposed a new Herd Management Area (HMA) Plan for Gold Butte's burros in Nevada, effective for the next 10-20 years. The Gold Butte HMA is the last of three HMAs in the Lake Mead Conservation Area BLM has not yet zeroed out: the area used to be the third largest concentration of wild burros in the West with an estimated population of 800, with 600 in Gold Butte alone. The plan authorizes round-ups every 4-5 years with a population target of just 22 burros. When the herd grows to 49, BLM intends to remove them again, even though the established appropriate management level allows up to 98 burros throughout the 271,000 acres of the HMA. BLM is only offering two options: the new plan or 'No Action.' Please support the No Action Alternative until an option is presented for responsible management of viable herds. This should at least include:

1. Allowing the burro herd to reach its high AML range of 98 before any round-up can take place, not 49 as the current plan is written.
2. Providing for maintenance of existing water developments and requiring water be provided if any new springs are fenced off.
3. Allowing the burros' forage measurements to still extend 10 miles around water. The new plan only allows 1-3 miles to be used, a very short distance for burros!
4. Establishing a rangeland recovery plan for those portions of the HMA that were burned by wildfires. Currently, BLM has no plan in place to help the burros survive for the next 20 years.
5. Not continuing to allow the National Park Service to remove or dispose of this last remaining burro herd. Any removals should be done by BLM through normal procedures.

Comments must be postmarked by September 19, 2008:
BLM Las Vegas Field Office, 4701 North Torrey Pines Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89130
Phone: (702) 515-5000, Fax: (702) 515-5023
Patrick Putnam/Assistant Field Manager pputnam@nv.blm.gov or
Jerrie Bertola, Wild Horse and Burro Specialist Jerrie_Bertola@nv.blm.gov
Be sure to include EA # NV052-2008-435, Gold Butte HMAP in your subject line.

For more suggestions on how to help, please click here. On behalf of America?s wild horses and burros, thank you for your support,

The AWHPC Team
American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign
www.wildhorsepreservation.org
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