Wild horses that were removed from their range three years ago after the Soda Fire are headed back home.
The Soda Fire burned almost 280,000 acres in southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon in 2015. The fire burned up the food source for the wild horses that live on that stretch of land and Heather Tiel-Nelson with the Bureau of Land Management says they were at risk of starving.
“Immediately following that fire we went in and conducted an emergency gather and we gathered about 279 wild horses at that point,” says Tiel-Nelson.
The horses were put in BLM corrals. More than 80 have been adopted, but the rest are waiting to go home to the range, now that the burned area has recovered enough to support them. On Wednesday, 15 studs and 11 mares will be released to the Sands Basin Herd Management Area southwest of Homedale.
“It’s a good day for us, all of us are going to be smiling, no doubt,” says Tiel-Nelson.
Tiel-Nelson says the public is invited to watch the release of the horses next week.
More horses will be released in the fall or next spring at the Hard Trigger Management Area south of the Snake River.
Find Samantha Wright on Twitter @samwrightradio
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