COLORADO HERD MANAGEMENT AREAS

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Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area covers almost 22,000 acres of rolling salt-desert shrub and pinon-juniper hills in Disappointment Valley in southwestern Colorado. Natural cliffs and ridges define the landscape and, combined with fencing, keep the horses within its boundaries. One of four herd management areas in the state (Little Book Cliffs is a wild horse range), its name comes from Spring Creek, a seasonal drainage that flows from the eastern ridges through the basin to the west side of the range on its way to Disappointment Creek, which flows to the Dolores River. Spring Creek and its tributary arroyos drain Spring Creek Basin.

Spring Creek Basin's herd manager is based at Tres Rios Field Office in Dolores, Colorado. BLM works with Disappointment Valley Mustangs volunteers on projects that benefit the mustangs. These include fertility-control treatments, herd documentation, maintenance on fences and water developments and catchments, and vegetation monitoring efforts.

In 2011, at the conclusion of the last roundup, a darting program using native PZP was implemented. PZP, porcine zona pellucida, is an immunocontraceptive - meaning that it works on a mare's immune system like any vaccine - that temporarily blocks fertilization and conception. Use of PZP has reduced the size of the annual foal crops, and there has been no roundup or removal of horses since 2011. The current AML is 50 to 80 adult horses (which was increased when the herd management area plan was updated in 2020), and the current population is about 70 adult horses.

Spring Creek Basin's terrain varies from rolling hills to rugged ridges with elevations ranging from 6,200 feet to 7,400 feet. McKenna Peak Wilderness Study Area overlaps the eastern and southeastern portion of the area. Primary forage plants for the horses include Indian ricegrass, Salina wildrye, galleta, grama, needle-and-thread, alkali sacatone and sand dropseed, and greasewood, shadscale, four-wing saltbush, winterfat and black sagebrush. The herd management area provides habitat for mule deer, elk and pronghorn, bald and golden eagles, peregrine falcons, kestrels, numerous song birds, coyotes, prairie dogs and ground squirrels, snakes (including rattlesnakes and bull snakes), coyotes, black bears and mountain lions. The livestock-grazing allotment within Spring Creek Basin has been closed since 2015, and no cattle have grazed within the basin since the winter of 2010-2011.

Spring Creek Basin is nestled within Disappointment Valley between Norwood and Dove Creek in the southwestern area of the state. 

From Norwood: Drive west on Colorado Highway 145 to its end/intersection with Colorado Highway 141. Turn left onto 141 toward Dove Creek. Just west of Gypsum Gap (watch for the 33 mile marker), turn left/south onto County Road 19Q. Drive about five miles and turn left onto Road K20E at the brown BLM sign: Spring Creek Basin 3. Drive about three miles to the basin boundary.

From Dove Creek: About two miles northwest of Dove Creek (U.S. Highway 491), turn right/north onto Colorado Highway 141. Drive about 32 miles (watch for the 32 mm) to Road 19Q and turn right. Follow above directions to K20E and Spring Creek Basin.

Respect private property along Road K20E.

 Map of Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area: https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/herd-management/herd-management-areas/colorado/spring-creek 

Tres Rios Field Office, Dolores, CO - (970) 882-1120

Disappointment Valley Mustangs - tjholmes0406@gmail.com

SpringCreekBasinMustangs.com