2 J The Lovell Chronicle J July 5, 2012
Wild horse gather begins this week
BY PATTI CARPENTER
The Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) began
its much-anticipated gath-
er of wild horses this week
to remove excess wild mus-
tangs from the Pryor Moun-
tain Wild Horse Range. The
gather is expected to in-
clude the removal of some
horses that have become
familiar faces to the many
wild horse advocates who
frequent the range and
keep a watchful eye on the
horses.
"It's easy to get attached
to certain horses, to connect
with them," explained Pry-
or Mountain Wild Mustang
Center Director Lori Gra-
ham. "For some people it's
like connecting with anoth-
er person, so it's really hard
to see them taken out of
the range like this, but we
know it has to happen."
BLM officials have
spent the last few weeks
preparing for the gather
and removal of excess hors-
es from the range. This
preparation includes the
construction of portable
pens that will be used as
baiting pens with mineral
blocks and in some cases
water. The pens are set up
for several days to allow the
horses to get used to going
inside for the bait. Even-
tually, the gate to the pen
will be closed and certain
horses that have been pre-
selected based on age and
genetic factors and marked
with paint ball guns will be
removed. Those not target-
ed for removal that end up
in the pens will be released
back on to the range. Those
targeted for removal will
be loaded into horse trail-
ers and taken to a safe area
where they will, in some
cases, be "gentled" in prep-
aration for adoption.
The BLM has been
working with local advo-
cates from the Pryor Moun-
tain Wild Mustang Center
and others who keep dose,
tabs on the horses to de-
termine which horses will
likely be removed. The de-
cision is based on which
horses will cause the least
detriment to the genetic di-
versity of the herd if they
are removed. The group
keeps meticulous records
of the horses, including
photos and a record of their
bloodlines and even names
them, but most of all, it
keeps an eye on their well-
being.
The BLM plans, as
imuch as possible, to gather
i horses that are nonessen-
;tial to the overall genetic
:diversity of the herd. The
horses that are gathered
and removed will be sold
at auction to individuals
who have met certain crite-
ria that prequalify them to
adopt the horses. None of
the horses will be slaugh-
tered.
"We know that this has
to be done because they are
fenced in and this needs to
COURTESY PHOTO
Bait traps have been set in the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range like this
one set up in the Layout Creek Area. The BLM is using the bait traps to gather
excess horses that will be removed from the range.
be done so they can stay
healthy and survive for
years to come," said Gra-
ham. "If this isn't done
some of the horses could
starve. Even the ones we
don't have a large repre-
sentation of could starve
and that would be bad for
the whole herd. We don't
like this but we have ac-
cepted it."
The non-helicopter
gather, which is considered
the most humane method
by many, is designed to
"manage the appropriate
number of wild horses so
that rangelands and hors-
es can be healthy and pro-
ductive for years to come,"
states the BLM on their
website. The current wild
horse population is approx-
imately 170 horses, not
including the estimated
21 foals born this spring.
That number exceeds the
established Appropriate
Management Level (AML),
which calls for 90-120 hors-
es.
"If the'range wasn't
fenced we wouldn't have to
do this," said Graham, "but
the reality is that they are
fenced in and so the num-
bers have to be kept down
to keep them healthy."
The rough terrain
of most of the range is a
somewhat hostile environ-
ment for the tough-as-nails
mustangs that have sur-
vived on limited resourc-
es for food and water for
more than 100 years on the
range.
The PMWHR/Territo-
ry Environmental Assess-
ment and Herd Manage-
ment Area Plan, which was
developed in a public plan-
ning process and issued in
2009, guides the manage-
ment decisions regarding
the Pryor Mountain Wild
Horse Range (PMWHR).
The gather comes at
the tail end of a lengthy
legal process that allowed
several periods for public
comment.
"We gave them our
opinion in writing about
which horses we think
should stay on the range
and which ones would
cause the least problems
if removed," said Graham.
"Of course, we'd like them
all to stay, but we have to
look at this from a scientif-
ic point of view not from an
emotional one."
BLM officials spent
this week monitoring and
tracking wild horse use
patterns at trap sites. The
water in springs near two
of the trap sites are dry-
ing up, and the BLM staff
plans to haul water to ex-
isting troughs at those lo-
cations to encourage the
horses to frequent those
areas.
The BLM encountered
some problems when they
marked the horses in the
higher elevations because
the horses rubbed against
each other, rendering the
markings useless. So far,
they have not encountered
the same problem at the
lower elevations, which
includes the horses of the
Dryhead area located near
Lovell.
Bait traps have been
constructed at Cottonwood
Spring, Bad Pass Seep and
Layout with salt/mineral
blocks inside the panels.
The horses were shot with
the paint ball guns to mark
their hindquarters, using
a carefully planned color-
coding system that iden-
tifies horses slated for re-
moval and horses that will
stay on the range. The bait
trapping and removal will
continue for a period of sev-
eral months.
The 38,000-acre wild
horse range is located
north of Lovell and extends
along the Montana-Wyo-
ming border. It consists of
BLM, U.S. Forest Service
and National Park Service
managed land. Since the
wild horses are not consid-
ered "wildlife," they are not
afforded the legal protec-
tions of other animals like
wolves and bears.
Don Bowers
Donnie (Don) Everett
Bowers, 81, of Lovell died
Monday, July 2, 2012, at
the Billings Clinic of lym-
phoma.
Memorial services will
be held at 10:30 a.m. Fri-
day, July 6, 2012, at St.
John's Lutheran Church in
Lovell. Burial of ashes will
take place at the Crown
Hill emetery in Pow¢ll,
obitua will be:
printed in next week's
Chronicle.
St. Joseph's
Catholic Church
1141 Shoshone Ave.. Lovell, WY
Sacrifice of the Mass
Sunday at 11:30 am
Louel[ IAmmu°e°°°l
flssembl9
of G0d
Church
310 Idaho flue., Louell
Services
Sunday School -- 9:45 am
Morning Worship - 10:50 am
Sunday Night -- 6:30 pm
Wed. Bible Study -- 7 pm
Rev. Dan Jarvis
548-7105
Austin James
Skyberg
Nov. 16, 1989-
June 24, 2012
Funeral services were
held on June 29, 2012,
in Estherville, Iowa, for
22-year-old Austin Sky-
berg, son of Tamrin Badget
of Cowley and Daniel Sky-
berg of Sioux Falls, S,D.
Austin was killed in an au-
tomobile accident June 24
in eastern Minnesota.
Austin was born on
Nov. 16, 1989, in Sioux
Falls. He was united in
marriage to his soul mate,
Joy (Carlson), in Esther-
ville on Sept. 10, 2011. The
two met in college in 2008
and came together through
their passion for film, simi-
lar personalities and a deep
love for one another. To Joy
and Austin, every day was
a grand adventure, and
they dived in with both feet.
Austin and Joy had three
rocks with these words on
them: Faith, Hope, and
Joy. Each time Austin went
Austin loved creating.
His passion was filmmak-
ing and videography. He
directed and edited many
film projects. He was a tra-
ceur, an enthusiast in the
practice of Parkour. He
enjoyed theater, perform-
ing and working on a num-
ber of high school and col-
lege plays. He loved video
games, playing and modify-
ing games for himself and
his friends. He had a great
interest in history and me-
dieval re-enactment. Aus-
tin's word was his bond and
to know him was to trust
him. He was one of those
special people who greeted
every day with a smile and
with exhilaration, living
every moment with gusto.
He was deeply loved by
all who knew him. He will
be greatly missed by his
wife, Joy, of Estherville,
Iowa; father Daniel (Dab)
Skyberg of Sioux Falls;
mother Tamrin Badget,
little brother Evan and
grandparents Ken and Di-
ane Badget, all of Cowley;
grandparents Jan and Paul
Skyberg of Renner, S.D.;
mother- and father-in-law
Connie and Lannie Carl-
son of Estherville; aunts,
uncles, numerous cousins,
many, many friends, his co-
workers and the comrauni-
ty of Estherville.
to hisjob several miles from .........................
their home, the rocks with
Faith and Hope stayed be-
hind so Joy would know he
would always be back. Aus-
tin tucked the rock which
said Joy into his pocket so
she was always with him.
Austin's shining star
was his little brother,
Evan. Austin was there the
day Evan was born and was
proud to help care for and
nurture him as he grew.
Austin passed on his love
of Star Wars to Evan and
dueling light sabers was
their fav0rite game. They
laughed,, played and loved
every minute they were to-
gether. Evan adored him.
Pearl Ames
Pearl Ames, 91, for-
merly of Byron, died on
Sunday, July 1, 2012, in
Parker, Colo.
Viewing and visitation
will be held on Thursday,
July 5, from 6 to 8 p.m. at
Haskell Funeral Home in
Lovell. Funeral services
will be held on Friday, July
6, at 2 p.m., at the Byron
LDS Church.
Burial will be in the
Byron Cemetery. Condo-
lecd''j/'be sent to the
family 'online at Www.
haskell fUfit'alhome.con.
I The Bible Churc00h 1
W)sh Serwcc , Prayer 7 pm
1Sunday School Rev. Kurt McNabb|
/10:30am 56E. Maln |
lBible Lesson Lovell l
I, 6pm J
Faith Southern Baptist
Church
340 e. 3d st., Love,
Pastor Michael McKnight
548-6561
Services'. Sunday School 9:46 am
Morn. Worship 11 am • Eve. Worthlp 6 pm
Wed. Bible Study 7 pm
5th & Montana, 548-7127
Rev. Christopher Brandt
9:00 am Worship Service
10:15 am Bible Study
Wednesday Service 7:30 pm
OAo q4f.o.,J
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Serving Northern
! , Big Horn County I
td,,ita ,f% l
Method.st • i f" I
• years
/
at the corner of = /
Park & Shoshone, Lovell |
J
Pastor Paula Morse
Church: 548-7478
8:30 Deaver Worship
10:30 Lovell Worship
Everyone
summer
548-7021
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