LOVELL The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced plans this month to remove 40 horses from the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range this fall as a part of its 10-year herd management plan.The plan also includes treating 43 mares with fertility control and releasing them back to the range. BLM field manager Nate Arave told MTN the horses in the range are running out of resources.Watch the report below: BLM plans Pryor Mountain horse removal; herd experts warn of overmanagementThe first thing we're starting to see again is the rangelands deteriorate, said Arave. If you don't have enough food for the horses, they can begin to have deteriorating health themselves, which is not what we want to see long-term.Related: BLM unveils 10-year plan for Pryor Mountain wild horsesBLM estimated the herd population to be 187 this spring. The 10-year goal would put the range at 107 to 120 horses.Some herd experts worry this much reduction could pose a risk to the health of the herd. (A) self-sustaining herd requires enough numbers and reproductive capacity to survive on into the next years, said Nancy Cerroni, the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center director based in Lovell, Wyoming.Cerroni gives hundreds of wild horse tours to tourists from around the world every year. She worries reducing the herds population to 107 could result in too much inbreeding.This small population has a finite gene pool. What's up there now is what's up there, she said.Cerroni filed an appeal to the Interior Board of Land Appeals this week to halt BLMs 10-year-plan. This is her second time this summer filing an appeal. We're hoping we can see some positive results, she told MTN.Other wild horse experts agree with Cerroni that the 10-year plan could pose a danger to the herds survival.One hundred and seven is a ridiculous number, said Ginger Kathrens, founder of The Cloud Foundation. You start to lose that genetic viability. And then you start to see weirdnesses... any kind of physical weirdness can occur.That's not setting up these horses for success or survival, said Kerry Ferguson, executive director of The Cloud Foundation. That is what we are most concerned about is the future health of this historic and very well-known herd.BLM plans to remove the horses through bait-and-trap methods. A date has not been set for when removal will start.The gathered horses will be relocated to holding facilities, where they will be adopted out. You can read more about BLMs adoption program here. ...read more read less