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Utah Mustang Herd Management Areas |
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Price Field Office (Muddy Creek, Range Creek, Robbers Roost and Sinbad HMAs) |
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Cedar Mountain San Rafael Swell Tavaputs Robbers Roost Butch Cassidy Green River Rd |
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| There Four Cedar Mountain areas in Utah. Not all have mustangs. Three Cedar Mountains are in Emery County. | ||||
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Big and Little Cedar Mountain (Cubel Photo) Two are known as Big Cedar and Little Cedar Mountain, these are in the middle of Utah. |
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| Another Cedar MOUNTAIN is way down in Emery County, near the Mussentuchit (mustn't touch it) Badlands. see map #1) Photo Credit. Michael Collier. Thunderstorm near Muddy Creek in the Mussentuchit Badlands. They are extremely rugged, with washes, draws, ravines, & gullies. The badlands are barren with sparse vegetation of shrubs & grasses. The other, is named Cedar MOUNTAINS near Salt Lake City. It is a HMA and is on page 4. | ||||
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| Muddy Creek HMA covers a total of 137,110 acres. It is Federal and State lands which is located 15 miles south of Emery, UT. It extends 5 miles north and 10 miles south of I-70 from the Dutchman Arch to Fremont Junction. The vegetation is pinyon-juniper, sagebrush, shadscale and bunchgrass. Wild horses and burros have occupied the San Rafael Swell area since the beginning of the Old Spanish Trail in the early 1800s. Dominant colors of the horses bay, brown, black, pintos, grays and roans. The horses on the Muddy Creek HMA are average in size ranging from 700 to 1000 pounds. The management goal is to manage the horse herd is only 50 horses. Gathers are every 2 to 5 years. Horses may be seen in the Cedar Mountain area of Emery County. | ||||
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BLM photo |
Muddy Creek Gorge |
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| Range Creek HMA is approximately 78,638 acres. It is Federal, State and Private lands, located on the West Tavaputs Plateau, 28 miles east of Price, Utah. The HMA ranges from 5,600 to 8,900 feet in elevation and supports vegetation of aspen and mix conifer to salt desert shrub. The Pinion Junipers dominates the HMA with intermixed open grass parks. The origin of the wild horse herd is believed to be from ranch horses once owned by the Preston Nutter Ranch. Branded horses were allowed to run free in a semi wild state. Periodically captured the young horses were branded and used to work the ranch. The herds were last officially gathered by the ranchers for branding in the early 1930’s. Horses in the herd is black, bay, brown, sorrels, chestnuts, pintos and palominos. They roam on Flat Iron Mountain and on Cedar Ridge. (Cedar Mountain). The 100 horses on the managed HMA weigh from 700 to 1000 pounds and are gathered 2 to 5 years. | ||||
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9 Mile Canyon Range Creek Horses |
Tavaputs Plateau Nutter Ranch |
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| Robbers Roost HMA is approximately 169,906 acres of federal and state lands and is located in the San Rafael Desert. The land immediately west of Goblin Valley State Park is part of the San Rafael Swell, and like much of south Utah it is remote but beautiful, and traversed only by a few dirt tracks. There are various slot canyons in this area and some such as Little Wild Horse Canyon are both quite well known and may be explored relatively easily. Hanksville, the nearest town is close to Goblin Valley State Park are Green River (50 miles) and Torrey (67 miles). The HMA is 20 miles South of Green River, Utah and six miles Northeast of Hanksville, Utah. The HMA ranges from 5,000 to 6,100 feet in elevation, and supports a Desert Shrub, Indian rice grass, curly grass and sand drop seed grass. Horse colors are gray, black and roan, average in size ranging from 700 to 1000 pounds. BLM's goal is only 25 horses. Gathers are 2 to 5 years. | ||||
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Robbers Roost Horses Photo by Mike Tweddell, RMS/WH&B, Price Utah BLM |
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| The Sinbad HMA encompasses 234,050 acres of Federal and State lands. Sinbad HMA is located 30 miles west of Green River, UT. It extends up to 19 miles on both sides of I-70 from the San Rafael Reef to Eagle Canyon. The vegetation on the HMA is dominated by pinyon-juniper, sagebrush, shadscale and bunchgrass. The dominant colors of the SINBAD horses within the herd area are black, buckskin, grulla, and bays. The horses on the HMA are average in size ranging from 700 to 1000 pounds. The BLM management goal is to manage the horse herd at near 50 head. Wild horses have occupied the San Rafael Swell area since the beginning of the Old Spanish Trail in the early 1800s. Early travelers would lose animals or have them run off by Indians or rustlers. Many of these animals were headed for California to be traded and sold, were of good stock. Local ranches would sometimes release their domestic horses. By the early 1900s, wild horses were being captured and sold by local “mustangers.” One such 83 year old mustanger lives in CastleDale, Utah, with stories to tell. | ||||
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San Rafael Reef Sinbad Herd Colors |
Eagles Canyon |
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