The seventh roundup on the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Plateau Territory (DGPWHT) in nine years officially ended — reducing what was once California’s largest wild horse herd to less than 400 horses. Now the horses are facing an even bigger threat.

In January 2025, the USFS is expected to finalize and release the document that will determine the future of the Devil’s Garden wild horses for the next 10 years. And that future appears grim.

The helicopter halted on Saturday, November 30th, after capturing one stallion, two mares, and two foals that day.

In an operation spanning more than a month, 341 wild horses were captured and removed from the Modoc National Forest, according to the USFS website.

In another significant step forward for gray wolf conservation in California, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley, has launched the California Wolf Project (CAWP). 

For decades, the largest wild horse herd in California resided in the lava strewn plateau of the Devil’s Garden Plateau Wild Horse Territory (DGPWHT) on the Modoc National Forest (MNF).  Over the years, however, ranchers who also graze their livestock on the 258,000 acres of federally protected wild horse habitat for pennies have been waging a war against them, claiming that the wild horses are destroying the ecosystem and causing economic ruin for Modoc County.  Their solution – elimination of the herd.

The Forest Service has announced it will proceed with the helicopter and bait trapping roundup of the Devil's Garden Plateau wild horses in the Modoc National Forest. The operation begins October 28th and is estimated to last for 30 days. The agency has awarded CD Warner Livestock, LLC up to $749,000 to capture and remove 500 wild horses roaming free on federally managed land. 

The Department of the Interior recently announced the 2024 public lands grazing Animal Unit Month (AUM) price at a paltry $1.35.

The fee was mandated in the 1980s as a means to steward healthy public landscapes without disrupting an extractive industry. Yet, over time, it has become clear that the scales have tipped heavily in favor of preventing harm to private interests and commercial industry with minimal regard for the true costs borne by taxpayers and the environment.

Congress just finalized FY2024 appropriations for the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program. While some celebrate Congress’s recommendations for the agency to utilize up to $11 million in funding for humane fertility control, little evidence points to congress steering the current roundup and hold ‘em system in a more sustainable direction.

Conservation groups are standing united in opposition to a looming threat hidden within the 2024 Department of Interior (DOI) Appropriations bill. The insidious culprits are riders, seemingly innocuous amendments added to bills that can have far-reaching consequences.

As a Nevada roundup results in killing a foal, the arguably baseless Bureau of Land Management program runs itself and wild horses in deadly circles.

Is it that wild horses have no natural predators, or is it that our society and government have hushed the ecosystem-balancing power of mountain lions to prioritize sprawl, convenience, and commercial interests?

While livestock grazing slaughters landscape health on public lands, the Bureau of Land Management scapegoats wild horses for the damage, and the agency uses taxpayer dollars to do its dirty work.

While WNP applauds an update to the definition of conservation, a commitment to restoration, and the ethics to follow science and data, we’re watching the evolution and potential implementation of this proposal closely.