MAVERICK-MEDICINE HERD MANAGEMENT AREA, NV
The Maverick-Medicine Herd Management Area (HMA) is located approximately 75 miles
southeast of Elko. The HMA is 30 miles wide, 25 miles long and encompasses 285,960 acres of public lands. There are 500 acres of privately owned lands within this HMA. The HMA is bordered on the west by the Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge; on the east by the crest of the impressive Cherry Creek Mountains; to the north by a large playa, which in wet years becomes a shallow lake and attracts many different forms of wildlife; and to the south by the Maverick Spring Mountains. The highest point in the HMA is High Bald Peak at 9,396 feet in elevation. The lowest points can be found in the valley bottoms and playas and range from 6,000 to 7,000 feet. Between these high and low points, rolling juniper covered hills broken by sagebrush covered valleys make up the topography. Temperatures can be extreme, ranging from a high of 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer to well below 0 degrees in the winter months.
The vegetation in the foothills and valley regions support desert shrubs such as sagebrush, spiny hopsage, horsebrush, shadscale and rabbitbrush mixed with many species of native grasses such as Indian ricegrass, squirreltail and bluebunch wheatgrass. The higher elevations support pinyonpine and juniper forests. At the highest elevations, fir and spruce trees are abundant.
Most of the horses in the Maverick-Medicine HMA are descendants of horses that were turned loose or escaped from nearby ranches. The dominant colors are bay, sorrel, black and brown. Other colors found are gray, roan, buckskin, palomino and grulla.