RENO -- The Bureau of Land Management has completed its latest roundup of hundreds of horses belonging to two Western Shoshone sisters in northeast Nevada, ending the latest chapter in a decades-old land dispute.
"It was a long, long haul. We thought they'd never leave," Julie Fishel, a spokeswoman for Mary and Carrie Dann, said Wednesday.
Many of the horses remain corralled at the Dann's Crescent Valley ranch while state officials await results of required tests before the animals can be shipped out of state.
"It could go very fast or it could be a long, protracted process," state brand inspector Jim Connelley said.
Ultimately, many of the horses are destined for Southern California, where rancher Slick Gardner has offered them sanctuary at his spread in Buellton, a small town in the Santa Ynez Valley northwest of Santa Barbara.
The Danns signed over ownership of the horses to Gardner as they were gathered by the BLM. Gardner has said the horses will not be sold for slaughter.
The BLM said 534 horses belonging to the Danns were taken off the range in the roundup that began Feb. 6 and ended Tuesday.
"The two main reasons we decided to end the gather at this time are the cost efficiencies of continuing to use a helicopter to bring in dwindling numbers of horses, and the increasing potential to compromise the health of the remaining horses, which are in poor condition," said Bob Abbey, BLM state director.
The BLM maintains the Danns have been grazing hundreds of cattle and horses illegally for decades, to the detriment of the range and other ranchers who have permits to graze livestock in the region.
In September, the agency seized and sold 227 cattle belonging to the elderly grandmothers.
"About 95 percent of the cattle and horses the Danns had on the allotment in trespass are now off the range," said Helen Hankins, BLM field manager in Elko.
Hankins said remaining animals would be removed later.
"We expect to come back for these horses in a few months," she said. "By reducing the grazing pressure in the area we can expect forage and stream conditions to improve on the allotment."
The Danns contend the land still belongs to the Shoshone tribe under the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley and that the BLM has no authority to regulate their grazing practices.
In 1993, an international group recognized the Danns for their "courage and perseverance in asserting the rights of indigenous peoples to the land." They were presented with the "Right Livelihood Award" in Stockholm, Sweden, an award sometimes referred to as the alternative Nobel Prize.
More recently, The Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concluded the federal government has violated the sisters' rights.
Fishel said the Danns would continue to press their case in the international arena.
Carrie Dann was scheduled to travel to Washington, D.C., next week to attend a special session of the commission on the property rights of indigenous people, Fishel said.