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Wild Sulphurs |
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| Mountain Home Range, 9480 feet, Indian Peak, 9790 feet. The 40 mile long Needle Range is covered with heavy stands of pinion and juniper, and located east of the Nevada-Utah border. Hamblin Valley to the west, Pine Valley to the east, Escalante Desert is to the south, Antelope Valley, the Burbank Hills, and Great Basin National Park are to the north. Elevations of the surrounding valley floors are between 5,000 and 6,000 feet. From a dry valley floor, the land gently rises over native grass covered flats to sagebrush covered foothills and pinion-juniper covered mountains. There are rugged canyons, low areas are generally sandy, while the mountain slopes are very rocky. The Sulphur HMA is approximately 142,800 unfenced acres and covers the entire Needle Range. | |||||
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| Indian Peak Range | Hamblin Valley | Pine Valley Mountain | |||
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| Great Basin National Park | Needles Outlook | Burbank Hills | |||
| The Sulphur Herd roams a vast, unpopulated region of alternating high desert basins and expansive mountain ranges. Their home, the Needle Range, is a starkly beautiful mountain block that lies about 45 miles west of Milford, Utah, along the Nevada State line. In some spots, the range rises to nearly 10,000 feet in elevation. from north to south, the mountainous spine of the Needle Range is comprised of two main peaks--Mountain Home and Indian Peaks. | |||||
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| In the mountain peaks and sloping lowlands of the Needle Mountain Range roams a nationally recognized herd of wild horses with a Utah heritage much older than most of ours. These horses draw their bloodlines from the old Spanish Type, the first horses brought to America by the Spanish explorers in the late 1500s. Through time, the Sulphur Herd has bred with escaped ranch livestock, but most still hold many of the Spanish Barb traits. There are only three other wild horse herd areas in the United States which exhibit a high concentration of Spanish characteristics. | |||||
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| The Needle Range is characterized by steep slopes and narrow ridges. Access to the ridges and surrounding area is good, provided you are driving a vehicle capable of traversing rough, back country roads. You will find most of the horses in the Mountain Home portion of the range. An extensive dirt-road system provides access throughout the entire area for those properly equipped. Typically, roads wander through sagebrush flats and forests of pinyon and juniper. The high country of Mountain Home Peak is a particularly pleasant destination, providing outstanding views of Hamlin Valley and Great Basin National Park. | |||||
| Sulphur Herd Objectives Strive to maintain an ecological balance through dispersal of wild horses within the habitat and the removal of excess horses beyond the carrying capacity of the range. Make excess wild horses available for public adoption. Maintain a herd size of 135 to 180 head of adult horses above two years of age. Through natural breeding, increase the number of horses displaying good conformation, color, or characteristics of the original Colonial Spanish Type horse. Keep the current wild horse population as pure as possible with no introduction of outside animals into the herd area.. |
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| The Bureau
of Land Management maintains and manages wild horses or burros in "herd
management areas" (HMAs), in the eleven states where BLM manages horses, there
are 270 herd areas. In Utah, about 4000 horses are found among 22 different
herds scattered across the state. Two herds of burros containing about 100
animals are found on public lands in southeastern Utah. Management Objectives A management objective for the herd area is to ensure proper utilization of the area by wild horses at a level sufficient to guarantee their continued existence without exceeding the overall carrying capacity for all animals--livestock, wildlife and horses. Another objective is to develop a recreation and viewing area for the public to observe wild horses in a natural setting. |
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| Contact:
Gus
Warr Cell (801) 539-4057 Bureau of Land Management Utah State Office PO Box 45155 Salt Lake City, Utah 84145-0155 P: (801) 539-4001 / F: (801) 539-4013 |
Contact:
Chad Hunter Cell (435) 590-5395 BLM Wild Horse Rangeland Mgt. Specialist Cedar City Field Office 176 E DL Sargent Drive Cedar City, Utah 84720 P: (435) 865-300 / F: (435) 865-3058 |
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| Utah Herd Maps | Site Map | Dun Factors | |||