Annual/Termination Reports:

[10/01/2023]

Report Information

Participants

Jeff Beck University of Wyoming
Derek Scasta University of Wyoming
David Stoner Utah State University
Eric Thacker Utah State University
Hannah Klugman Utah State University
Mark Nelson Utah State University
Nicki Frey Utah State University
Jesse Hadfield Utah State University
Brian Higginbotham Utah State University
Jake Henning University of Arizona
Tim Fitzgerald Texas Tech University
Laura Snell University of California Davis
Kate Schoenecker US Geological Survey
Sarah King Colorado State University
Stacy Lyn Colorado State University
Casey Spackman New Mexico State University
Shannon Neighberg Washington State University
Laura Goodman Oklahoma State University
Chris Pritsos University of Nevada Reno
Wade Lieurance University of Nevada Reno
Amanda Gearhart Nevada Department of Wildlife
Carlos Gradil University of Massachusetts
Gus War Utah Bureau of Land Management
Teressa Drotar US Forest Service
Celeste Carlisle Return to Freedom

Brief Summary of Minutes

Summary of Minutes

Tuesday – May 14th (9:00 am to 4:00 pm); 23 participants (9 female) remote and in-person.

Welcome and Review of Purpose: Derek Scasta (University of Wyoming) and Eric Thacker (Utah State University). The meeting started with a welcome and overview of the history of this group, a review of the NIMSS website and Appendix E, and the mission and objectives of the group.

Administrator Update and Outcomes for This Meeting: Chris Pritsos (University of Nevada – Reno, Director of Nv Ag Experiment Station, Associate Dean of Research) gave an administrative welcome and discussed membership, recruiting, and reporting.

State Updates:  We then moved through updates from the states involved or states we think need involvement. 

• Arizona: Jacob (Jake) Hennig (University of Arizona); Dr. Hennig is new to the group and gave an introduction of his background working on horses and burros in Wyoming and with Dr. Schoenecker's lab; Dr. Hennig is new to Arizona and getting his program going with a focus on burro diets and tribal issues.


• California: Laura Snell (UC Extension): Ms. Snell has been a group member for a while and gave an update on her work with horse camps and Forest Service horses issues. She is also part of a group discussing a potential 'Train-the-Trainer' program at SRM to help folks in other states start horse camps if interested.


• Colorado: Sarah King (CSU)/Stacy Lynn (CSU)/Kate Schoenecker (USGS); Dr. Sarah King (Colorado State University) started by discussing recent research on behavior. Dr. Stacy Lynn presented a new grant focused on curriculum development and opportunities for this group to have input. Dr. Schoenecker presented on multiple projects, including counting horses, horse movement, and horse welfare.


• Idaho: There is not currently a representative, and after a group discussion, we decided to invite Jessica Wind and Scott Jensen


• Montana: There is not currently a representative, and after a group discussion, we decided to invite through AES and possibly tribes


• Nevada: Wade Lieurance (UNR)/Amanda Gearhart (NV Department of Wildlife): Mr. Lieurance gave an update on his horse body condition work, which is an outcome of this group. Amanda gave an update on her recent changes and insights from her prior positions and current perspectives with the NV Department of Wildlife.


• New Mexico: Casey Spackman (NMSU): Dr. Spackman gave an update on horses in New Mexico and associated efforts there.


• Oregon: Michelle Kutzer was invited but not in attendance; discussed others, including potentially USDA ARS Chad Boyd and Kirk Davies


• Utah: Eric Thacker (USU)/David Stoner (USU)/Nicki Frey (USU); Dr. Thacker gave an overview of Utah efforts, including the FREES network and recent leadership changes. Dr. Stoner updated wildlife-related work, including range overlap and water-related drivers. Dr. Frey gave an update on recent surveys and associated publications. In addition, Dr. Frey gave an update on emerging efforts with tribes and tribal horses.


• Washington: Shannon Neibergs (WSU): Dr. Neibergs is new to the group and gave an update on ideas about the economics related to the wild horse and burro program, including on-range and off-range holding. There was a discussion about potentially developing an economics team.


• Wyoming: Derek Scasta (UW)/Jeff Beck (UW); Dr. Scasta gave updates on horse research related to diets in a high-elevation steppe and the use of burros for sheep protection. Dr. Beck gave updates on horse diets across the West and a new forthcoming publication about the response of sage-grouse vital rates to horse population densities in Wyoming.


• New States in the Southern Great Plains:


• Oklahoma: Laura Goodman (OSU): Dr. Goodman gave an update on horses in off-range holding in Oklahoma, which led to discussions about issues in the tallgrass prairie and economics.


• Texas: Tim Fitzgerald (TTU): Dr. Fitzgerald gave an update on ideas regarding the economics of off-range horses, which led to more discussion about the need for an economics group.

We then had group updates from the following folks and discussed the need for new groups, particularly those concerned with wildlife and ESA potential species, economics, and off-range horses. 

• National Survey: Nicki Frey


• Fertility: Chris Davies/Carlos Gradil


• Youth and Engagement: Jessie Hadfield


• Rangeland: David Stoner

As part of this discussion, it was brought up the need for a standardized Publication Statement that could be something like this: This publication was a product of participation in the federal multi-state working group "WERA 1024 - Sustainable management of free-roaming equid populations on designated western US landscapes". Project Administrators thought there might be something already in place.

We then received agency updates from the following folks:

• BLM: Gus Warr


• USFS: Teresa Drotar


• USGS: Kate Schoenecker


• NIFA: Tim Sullivan


• WH&B Advisory Board: Celeste Carlisle

These updates included programmatic specifics but also opportunities to collaborate.

Wednesday – May 15th (8:00 am to 4:00 pm): Field Tour of HMAs

Dr Stoner and MS student Hannah Klugman lead the field tour of the Eagle Herd Management Area, where they research wild horses and cougar predation on wild horses. The area is characterized by vast sagebrush and pinyon-juniper rangelands, and BLM managers are working to moderate population growth. The tour included several stops, and we were able to observe wild horses. Much discussion revolved around habitat treatments and the impact cougars have on wild horse herds in the area.

Thursday – May 14th (8:00 am to 12:00 pm); 16 participants (7 female) remote and in-person.

The final morning session included an open group discussion about reporting needs for the multi-state group, including deadlines. We then discussed the group's evolution, including the emergence of new focus groups on wildlife, economics, and off-range horses. Future meeting locations were discussed, including northern California and southwestern Wyoming.

Accomplishments

<ul><br /> <li>The most notable accomplishment was bringing the group back together after the departure of Dr. Messmer, getting things up and moving forward again.</li><br /> <li>The Rangeland group is still active and working on a manuscript draft on wild horse body condition methodologies.</li><br /> <li>The Contraception group is still active and has received approval to use the Inter-uterine devices Dr. Gradil developed in an on-range wild horse herd.</li><br /> <li>Kate Schoenecker, Dr. Eric Thacker, Dr. Derek Scasta, Dr. Jake Henning, Dr. Nicki Frey, and Dr. Sarah King all presented research at the Society for Range Management meeting in Sparks, NV, in Feb. 2024 as part of a wild horse and burro symposium sponsored by the FREES Network.</li><br /> <li>Wade Lieurance Presented a poster on the Wild horse body condition data at the Society for Range Management Meetings in Sparks, NV.</li><br /> <li>Dr Kate Schoenecker, Dr. Stoner, Dr. Thacker, and Kalen Taylor received BLM funding to explore the spatial use of horses, wildlife, and livestock in the Sulfur herd management area.</li><br /> <li>Michelle Kutzler (PI) and Dawn Sherwood from Oregon State University have submitted a proposal to BLM titled: "Developing a novel contraceptive vaccine against SPACA3 for use in wild free-roaming horses."</li><br /> <li>Jesse Hadfield, Kalen Taylor,Dr. Nicki Frey, Mark Nelson, and other USU Extension faculty have grown the Mustang Camp and recently received a grant from BLM ($850,000) to expand the program beyond Utah to five additional states. In 2024, they conducted the first camp in CA with Laura Snell.</li><br /> </ul><br /> <p><strong>Impacts</strong></p><br /> <p>The group's impact is understated in this report because this was the first time we had met in almost two years. However, the effects of those participating in the group are significant. Nearly 60 % of North American wild horse and burro publications were produced by WERA participants (Table 1). The future efforts of these groups will also be significant for the Free-Roaming Equid Ecosystem Sustainability Network(FREES). Several WERA 1024 participants also participate in the FREES, and several are on the FREES steering committee. The FREES has taped several WERA 1024 participants to present at the FREES Summits. The science and outreach materials developed by the WERA 1024 provide much of the science backbone the FREES relies on. FREES is viewed as the largest science-solution-based entity operating on the wild horse and burro issue.</p><br /> <table style="height: 104px;" width="351"><br /> <tbody><br /> <tr><br /> <td><br /> <table width="240"><br /> <tbody><br /> <tr><br /> <td width="102">&nbsp;</td><br /> <td width="55"><br /> <p><strong>FREES¹</strong></p><br /> </td><br /> <td width="83"><br /> <p><strong>WERA1024²</strong></p><br /> </td><br /> </tr><br /> <tr><br /> <td width="102"><br /> <p>2021-2022</p><br /> </td><br /> <td width="55"><br /> <p>8</p><br /> </td><br /> <td width="83"><br /> <p>13</p><br /> </td><br /> </tr><br /> <tr><br /> <td width="102"><br /> <p>2022-2023</p><br /> </td><br /> <td width="55"><br /> <p>13</p><br /> </td><br /> <td width="83"><br /> <p>19</p><br /> </td><br /> </tr><br /> <tr><br /> <td width="102"><br /> <p><strong>Total*</strong></p><br /> </td><br /> <td width="55"><br /> <p><strong>21</strong></p><br /> </td><br /> <td width="83"><br /> <p><strong>32</strong></p><br /> </td><br /> </tr><br /> <tr><br /> <td width="102"><br /> <p><strong>% of Total</strong></p><br /> </td><br /> <td width="55"><br /> <p><strong>38</strong></p><br /> </td><br /> <td width="83"><br /> <p><strong>58</strong></p><br /> </td><br /> </tr><br /> </tbody><br /> </table><br /> </td><br /> <td>&nbsp;</td><br /> <td>&nbsp;</td><br /> </tr><br /> <tr><br /> <td>&nbsp;</td><br /> <td>&nbsp;</td><br /> <td>&nbsp;</td><br /> </tr><br /> <tr><br /> <td>&nbsp;</td><br /> <td>&nbsp;</td><br /> <td>&nbsp;</td><br /> </tr><br /> <tr><br /> <td>&nbsp;</td><br /> <td>&nbsp;</td><br /> <td>&nbsp;</td><br /> </tr><br /> <tr><br /> <td>&nbsp;</td><br /> <td>&nbsp;</td><br /> <td>&nbsp;</td><br /> </tr><br /> </tbody><br /> </table><br /> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Publications

Impact Statements

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