Beginning February 6, 2019, the Bureau of Land Management will gather about 575 wild horses in the Pine Nut Mountains, the BLM has announced. The BLM expects it to take two weeks to round up the horses.

The area near Carson City and Minden can support 118 to 179 wild horses but has a wild horse population of about 775, the BLM said in a statement. After the gather about 200 will remain.

The BLM contractor, Sampson Livestock of Meadow, Utah, will use a helicopter to drive the horses.

Because of the high number of horses, they have destroyed sage grouse habitat and degraded grasslands in the area, the BLM said. Horses have also moved onto roads and into residential areas looking for food, causing safety problems, the BLM said. Three horses have been hit and killed by vehicle in the past year.

The area where horses will be gathered is in Lyon and Douglas counties and Carson City. It is south of Dayton and east of Carson City and Minden.

The horses will be moved to the Palomino Valley horse and burro facility.

The BLM gave these instructions about people who want to monitor the gather:

Members of the public will have an opportunity to view gather operations, provided that it does not jeopardize the safety of the animals, staff, or observers, and does not disrupt gather operations. The BLM will offer observation opportunities at the gather site; however, public observation may be limited when operations take place on private land. Limited first-come, first serve observation will be held daily at temporary holding when observation is not available at the gather site. Members of the public must email blm_nv_ccdowebmail@blm.gov to request to observe gather operations at least 24 hours prior to the date they would like to attend. Please put “Pine Nut Wild Horse Request” in the subject line. A confirmation will be sent to individuals with instructions on when and where to meet. The BLM anticipates that viewing opportunities will be limited due to logistics in regards to private land, terrain and weather.