Adobe Town Wild Horse Roundup: A Disappearing Herd, A Disappearing Habitat

Adobe Town Wild Horse Roundup: A Disappearing Herd, A Disappearing Habitat

The Adobe Town Herd Management Area (HMA) in southern Wyoming has long been home to one of the most iconic and genetically significant wild horse populations in the West. Spanning stunning high desert terrain and rugged canyons, Adobe Town is part of the largest wild horse complex in the country. But the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is systematically dismantling that legacy—starting with this summer’s roundup.

A Crown Jewel of the Red Desert

Adobe Town lies within Wyoming’s Red Desert, one of the last great high desert ecosystems in North America—a place where badlands, buttes, and wide-open sagebrush steppe stretch across the horizon. This landscape is a haven for biodiversity: pronghorn antelope, sage-grouse, golden eagles, and mountain lions all make their home here.

But what makes Adobe Town truly special is the presence of wild horses, who have roamed this terrain for centuries. Their silhouettes against the red rock formations, their bands galloping across the open plain—these images define the wild character of this place. Wild horses are not just inhabitants of Adobe Town; they are integral to its identity and spirit. Their absence would leave a deep void in the ecological and visual fabric of the landscape.

What’s Happening Now: A Disappearing Herd and a Disappearing Habitat

On July 15, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will begin a helicopter roundup in the portion of Adobe Town it still officially manages as a Herd Management Area (HMA), where wild horses are currently authorized to live. The agency plans to remove approximately 1,675 horses from this area—the majority of the remaining Adobe Town population. 

But BLM’s plans don’t stop there. Its goal is to remove over 2,000 wild horses in total, including eradicating them entirely from nearly 121,000 acres of land it has reclassified as a Herd Area (HA)—parts of Adobe Town where wild horses are currently deemed unauthorized. The removal from this "zeroed-out" area has been delayed until August 25, giving the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals more time to rule on our pending lawsuit challenging the BLM’s actions.

That lawsuit challenges BLM’s sweeping decision to eliminate wild horses from more than 2 million acres of federally designated habitat across the Wyoming Checkerboard, including large portions of Adobe Town. If allowed to stand, the decision would not only slash Adobe Town’s wild horse population to just 259–536 horses across 358,000 acres, but also entirely eradicate the Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide Basin herds—a move that directly undermines the intent of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.

Follow the Cattle

The BLM’s decision to eradicate wild horses from the Wyoming Checkerboard comes after years of pressure from the Rock Springs Grazing Association, whose members graze cattle on the public lands in the area, paying significantly below-market grazing fees courtesy of taxpayer subsidies. 

The benefit to these cattlemen is obvious: While BLM is sharply reducing wild horse populations and habitat, it continues to authorize significant levels of private livestock grazing on the same lands. According to BLM's Environmental Assessment for the roundup:

• In the current Adobe Town HMA, BLM authorizes more than 12,000 AUMs (Animal Unit Months) for livestock grazing each year. That’s the annual equivalent of 1,000 cattle.
  
  
• In the broader Adobe Town Herd Area (the full original range), the number climbs to over 50,000 AUMs annually - the annual equivalent of 4,000 cattle.

That means thousands of cattle are allowed to graze year after year—while a few hundred wild horses are deemed “too many.” 

This imbalance lays bare the flawed and corrupt foundation of the BLM’s management strategy.

No Justification in Science

Even more troubling: BLM’s own analysis fails to demonstrate that the wild horses are causing ecological harm. Available documentation suggests the area may be at or near a Thriving Natural Ecological Balance (TNEB)—the legal threshold BLM must meet to justify removals. Yet instead of proving the herds are causing damage, the agency is pushing ahead with removals that threaten their survival.

This calls into question the legal basis for the roundup—and underscores why the pending court case is so critical.

Why It Matters

This isn’t just about Adobe Town—it’s about the future of wild horse herds across the West. What’s happening here is part of a disturbing pattern: shrinking wild horse habitats, slashing allowable populations, and using helicopter roundups to carry it out—all while leaving livestock operations untouched.

And in Adobe Town, what’s being lost isn’t just a herd—it’s part of the wild, living landscape of the Red Desert. These horses are woven into the character of this extraordinary place. Without them, Adobe Town becomes just another patch of land opened up for profit, stripped of its wild soul.

What You Can Do

• Share this blog to raise awareness about what’s happening in Adobe Town.
  
  
• Contact your members of Congress and urge them to support humane, science-based management and rein in the BLM’s destructive roundup policy.
  
  
• Support AWHC’s litigation fund to block the BLM’s plans to erase wild horse herds from the Wyoming Checkerboard and beyond.

The Adobe Town wild horses are a symbol of the American West—but their future is being decided not by science or public will, but by bureaucratic decisions behind closed doors. It’s up to us to make sure their story doesn’t end here.