If the decline is prolonged, it leads to poor rangeland health and accelerates a decrease in the health of the animals. Therefore, the BLM annually monitors the condition of the animals and their habitat. The BLM will also periodically count the wild horses and burros. Resource specialists from other disciplines also monitor the rangelands. The BLM assesses the monitoring and census data and determines if and how many animals must be removed from the range. If this is not done, the consequences to the herds can be injury or death from starvation, dehydration, or susceptibility to the elements. When the BLM determines that there are too many wild horses or burros, a "gather plan" and environmental analysis is prepared, and the public is invited to comment.

Animals are normally gathered using helicopters and herded into portable traps. Excess animals may also be caught in traps using food or water as bait. To protect the animals, stallions are separated from the mares, and if need be, weaned foals are separated from the larger animals. The BLM maintains very strict requirements about the gathering of wild horses and burros. But what happens after they are gathered? To examine the solutions click here.