Breaking! Orgs Unite In Fight To Protect California Wild Horses
- Darice Massey
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Joint Statement:
Wild Horse Orgs Begin Legal Fight For California Wild Horses
Wild Horse Education (WHE), Carter Reservoir Mustangs Inc. (CRMI), and individual members began the legal battle against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 2025 Carter, Buckhorn, and Coppersmith gather plan that was approved on April 17. The coalition filed an Appeal, the first step, in the land use court.
Over the last several years, wild horses and burros managed by the State of California have been under a relentless assault. Population numbers have been driven to drastically low numbers with long-term fertility control measures applied without any valid science-based justification or monitoring planning. On the 16 million acres of land BLM manages in California and NW Nevada, a target goal of only 1,081 wild horses has been set for the entire state, creating isolated and non-viable pockets of wild horses.
Carter is home to an extremely unique population of wild horses. These wild horses have evolved in an isolated area where their ancient old-world roots have continued to produce a true treasure for lovers of wild horses. The Carter wild Mustangs have carved out a unique phenotype of extreme dun-factor markings. When visiting this California herd, one may not notice these unusual dun characteristics until viewing your photos. This is due to the camouflaging factor of these, often called “primitive dun coloring.
The southern part of this HMA is easily accessible, making this herd a favorite for photographers and tourists visiting the small, remote town of Cedarville. BLM has approved a removal of the Carter HMA horses to only 25, threatening the existence of the herd forever. The over 300,000-acre New Years Lake Herd Area (HA) was gutted down to the existing 23,000-acre boundary for Carter almost immediately after the 1971 law to protect wild horses was codified. No existing data-based review can be found that demonstrates anything beyond agreements and conveniences for the acreage loss. Carters have, and still do, utilize this acreage, and there is no science-based reason to shrink the area managed for wild horses so severely.
“From the first day I saw the Carter wild horses more than 20 years ago, I could see how truly special they were. Over the years, we have obtained genetic and familial information that has proven what I could see right from the start. Losing this unique herd would be both a national loss and personally devastating,” stated Darice Massey, President of CRMI.
Buckhorn and Coppersmith are far removed from Carter and exist at the top of Twin Peaks HMA. The wild horses in this area are entirely different than the isolated Carter herds and have a deep tie to the Cavalry remount programs from World War l. BLM plans to reduce the 203,000-acre Buckhorn population down to 59 and the 73,000-acre Coppersmith HMA to 50.
Rough map overlay showing HA/HMA boundary lines: The entire NW corner of NV (mostly managed by CA), and the NE Corner of CA, has been hit relentlessly with roundups and long-lasting fertility control (GonaCon). All that is left are these 3 HMAs.
“It is more than obvious that BLM just lumped these areas together under one removal plan to make life easier for themselves. These herds have no connection to each other except sharing the unfortunate reality of being last on the big roundup list for this field office. It is hard to even say the names of these HMAs in one sentence as if they are one thing, they simply are not. It is absurd that BLM put them in one NEPA document. This is not data-based (or even reality-based) management planning. I know in my heart BLM lumped these areas together to try to avoid any real scrutiny of underlying issues at Carter and their failure to include Buckhorn and Coppersmith in the Twin Peaks removal plan; it makes no sense except that it was easier for them. We are prepared to take this fight as far as it needs to go,” stated Laura Leigh, President, WHE.
The objective of the gather plan is to reduce these herds to what BLM calls “low Appropriate Management Level.” In documents filed by the groups, they state that BLM has never actually determined what a science-based management level would actually look like and instead relied on agreements with local livestock permittees and others to create these absurdly low management levels and boundary lines.
The groups state that the current plan was created for administrative ease, fails to address compliance with APA and NEPA, and the intention of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.
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In the coming days, we will bring you more articles and images to introduce you to these herds and tell you more about the path of this important lawsuit.