WYOMING WILD HORSE & BURRO HERD MANAGEMENT AREAS

Lona Patton & Metawa from Adobe Town HMA(click for special page)

(IF you have a horse or burro from one of these areas, and would like to share, please send me a photo - be sure to include your name and the HMA name - Thanks!)

The Bureau of Land Management maintains and manages wild horses or burros in herd management areas (HMAs). In the ten states where BLM manages horses & burros, there are 270 HMAs. Wyoming has 16 Herd Management Areas for Horses, and it originally had 12 more Herd Areas that have since been zeroed out. Wyoming has no wild burros.

data from http://www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov/statistics/2005/index.htm

• Adobe Town
• Great Divide Basin
• Little Colorado
• Salt Wells
• White Mountain

WY0009 Adobe Town HMA

• Location: Between Interstate 80 and the Colorado-Wyoming border.

• Size: 472,812 acres

• Topography: varied with everything from colorful eroded desert badlands to wooded buttes and escarpments, rolling to rough uplands, desert playa and vegetated dune areas. Limited, sensitive desert riparian areas are important features of the landscape.

• Annual Precipitation: 7 - 12 inches

• Elevation Range: 6600 ft to 7800 ft

• Some of the HMA is in the Adobe Town Wilderness Study Area. Other features in the area include the Cherokee Trail, the Haystacks, and Powder Rim.

• AML: 700 horses

• Colors: Full range of colors, with roans and greys predominating.

• Size: 14 to 15 hands and 900-1100 pounds mature weight.

• One of the most famous wild horses of all times, named Desert Dust, came from this area.

Adobe Town Baggs & Nikki

Adobe Town Nikki

Metawa, adopted by Lona Patton

Blue & Bay Roan Mustangs from Adobe Town, at Adoption Center

Dobey, adopted by Russ Dodson, Wyoming

WY0031 Antelope Hills (includes sub areas of Cyclone Rim & Sweetwater river)

• Size: 57,000 acres
• AML : 60-82 adult horses.
• Location: 15 miles south/southeast of Atlantic, City, Wyoming.
• Elevation: up to 7,100 to 7,250 feet along Cyclone Rim.
• The HMA is bisected by the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail.
• Rainfall: 5-7 inches annually

WY0035 Crooks Mountain

• Size: 51,000 acres
• AML: 65-100 adult horses.
• Elevation Range: 6,900 to 8,100 feet.
• Precipitation: 10-20 inches annually

WY0011 Fifteen Mile Herd Management Area

Bays and sorrels, along with some grays, roans and pintos, roam the range. BLM administers a wild horse population of 70 to 160 adults in the HMA. Counting foals and yearlings, there may be as many as 270 horses to view and enjoy.

WY0002 Great Divide Basin, aka Divide Basin

WY0037 Green Mountain HMA

• Size: 88,000 acres, of which 74,000 acres are BLM-administered public lands.
• Topography: gently rolling hills, plus quite steep mountainous terrain and conifer/aspen forests.
• Elevation Range: 6,200 to 9,200 feet
• Precipitation: 10-14 inches at the lower elevations to 15-20 inches at the upper elevations.
•  AML: 300 horses.
• Colors: A full range of colors is present, solids and tobiano paints
• Size: The horses range from 11 to 15 hands and 750-1000

Green Mtn

Green Mtn

Green Mtn

Green Mtn

WY0039 Little Colorado

WY0035 Lost Creek HMA

The Lost Creek HMA encompasses 250,000 acres, of which 235,000 acres are BLM-administered public lands. The HMA lies within the Great Divide Basin, a closed basin out of which no water flows. Some desert playa and vegetated dune areas are interspersed throughout the HMA. Several sensitive desert wetland riparian areas occur throughout the area, including both intermittent and perennial lakes and streams. Elevation ranges from 6500 to 6800 feet. Winters are long and severe. Annual precipitation averages a little less than six inches. The Lost Creek HMA is joined on the east by the Stewart Creek HMA, on the north by the Antelope Hills HMA, and on the west by the Divide Basin HMA.

The AML for this HMA is 70 horses. A full range of colors is present. The present population has been influenced by the routine escape of domestic saddle stock from the surrounding populated areas. The horses range from 14 to 15 hands and 800-1000 pounds mature weight.

Genetic testing on the Lost Creek wild horse herd has shown the horses to carry a very high percentage of genetic markers identified with the Spanish Mustang breed. This means the horses are genetically more like the Spanish Mustang and other New World Iberian breeds than they are like other breeds such as American Quarter Horse or Morgan. These characteristics make the Lost Creek herd unique among the wild horse herds of Wyoming tested so far.
 

WY0012 McCullough Peaks Herd Management Area

A diversity of coat colors (bay, brown, black, sorrel, chestnut, white, buckskin, gray, palomino, blue, red and strawberry roans) and pinto patterns can be found in the McCullough Peaks wild horses. The animals tend to be moderate-to-large-sized and habitat conditions are such that the horses are in very good condition. The combination of size, conformation, coat colors and patterns, and excellent physical condition have become a draw for potential adopters and a matter of reputation for "McCullough Peaks" horses.
(quoted directly from Wyoming BLM website)

WY0027 Muskrat Basin
WY0029 Conant Creek
WY0026 Rock Creek
& WY0028 Dishpan Butte HMA's

• Location: Southeast Fremont County.
• Size: 375,000 acres of land, of which about 90% are BLM-administered public lands.
• While the four HMAs are managed with recognized individual populations, there is no geographic separation of the HMAs and the gates between them remain open a significant part of the year. As a result, the horses move regularly among the HMAs, helping to ensure the overall genetic health of the horses.
• Topography: high ridges and steep terrain with grand vistas.
• Elevation Range: 5,300 to 7,200 feet
• Precipitation: 5 to 12 inches/year
• AML total for these four HMAs is 320 horses.
• Full range of colors is present. Most horses are solid in color.
• Size of horses: 11 to 15 hands and 750-1000 pounds mature weight. Health is good with few apparent problems.

    
Rock Creek Mares

#8413, Connant Creek

#8461, Connant Creek
 

8471 Dishpan Butte

9527 Dishpan Butte

8592 Muskrat Basin

8507 Dishpan Butte

8556 Muskrat Basin

Muskrat Basin

Salt Wells Creek WY0001

   
Internet Adoption horses from Salt Wells Creek

Stewart Creek HMA WY0033

• 231,124 acres, of which 215,369 are BLM-administered public lands.

• The Continental Divide (eastern boundary of the Great Divide Basin) traverses the HMA in a north-south direction.

• Elevation Range: 6500 to 7900 feet.

• Annual precipitation: 7 - 10 inches.

• AML: 150 horses

• Colors: Full range, including tobiano paints.

• Origins: The present population has been influenced by the routine escape of domestic saddle stock from the surrounding populated areas.

• Size Range: 14 to 15 hands and 800-1000 pounds.

A wild horse viewing tour has been developed for this HMA by the Wyoming BLM.

Tango from Stewart Creek

WY0003 White Mountain

These White Mountain HMA horses are from the BLM's January 2004 Internet Adoption

  
Internet Adoption #7015, now "Cactus Kate" - adopted by Lynn & Family of South Florida

Windmill Draw

is a Wild Horse Area located on private & government land. It is not an official HMA, but is gathered occasionally by Wyoming BLM:

Bacardi from Windmill Draw

Red Desert

which lies between Rawlins, WY, and extends down to Rock Springs, WY, was the only description given to these horses adopted by Lona Patton's parents back in 1978. Perhaps it was part of the "Desert" Herd Area that was zeroed out in November 2001?

Kitten

Red Desert Grit, owned by Darla Stevenson and family in Florida