CODY, Wyo. - A roundup of wild horses begins this week east of Cody as the Bureau of Land Management tries to bring the herd's numbers down to a legal threshold.
It's been several years since the BLM has captured horses from the McCullough Peaks Horse Management Area (HMA) - a 109,814-acre parcel of land where wild horses have been roaming for decades.
Looking across the range, Sandy Sisti see a wildness that brought her to the West.
“It's really hard to put into words, there's just something about it," Sisti said. "It's so peaceful and calming and it's just beautiful. They're so beautiful. It could almost bring tears to your eyes.”
Sisti documents the McCullough Peaks herd through her photography business, Wild at Heart Images, and advocates for the herd to stay intact.
“When they take these horses, it's going to break my heart," Sisti said. "I'm trying not to get all teary-eyed, but it's not about breaking my heart. It's about them. It's about their freedom, it's not about me, and they need to stay here.”
The McCullough Peaks herd, like other wild horse herds across the West, is managed by the BLM, and the size of these horse herds is set by law.
“Wild horses are within the Bureau of Land Management's purview," said Micky Fisher, Lead Public Affairs Specialist for the Wyoming BLM. "On all public lands that we do have wild horses roaming, we have an act called the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 that we have to abide by.”
Meaning when a herd surpasses its Appropriate Management Level (AML) the BLM must bring down its numbers with non-lethal practices.
“We are not trying to phase them out," Fisher said. "We're really just trying to keep them within their appropriate management level, once we go over that 140 threshold in this area, we have seen a detriment. We will begin to see that degradation range lands that ultimately has a second and third order effect on the other animals, other ecosystems out there."
The BLM shared plans for the bait trap gather that will reduce the horses from approximately 175 animals to about 140 animals. The 35 horses selected for removal will be taken to the Rock Springs Wild Horses Off-Range Corral, checked by a veterinarian, and adopted out. Helicopter hazing, a practice that has sparked controversy in the past, will not be used in this roundup.
In response to public feedback, the BLM reduced the number of horses it initially planned to remove from the McCullough Peaks herd.
“We're bringing them down to 140, which is that top end [of the AML]," Fisher said. "We did receive a ton of public feedback and because of all the feedback, we decided to lessen the amount that we're trying to bring out."
A roundup of the herd has not happened in a while, but Sisti knows she will see a difference.
"People and horses have been intertwined throughout civilization, so it really is just something that I think we should preserve and removing horses to bring in cattle is just, it just shouldn't be," Sisti said.
More information about the roundup can be found here: https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/herd-management/gathers-and-removals/wyoming/2023-mccullough-peaks
