Battle Over Wild Horse Roundup Near Rangely Continues

GRAND JUNCTION – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is planning to gather more than 160 wild horses in northwest Colorado next month. This move could be put on hold by an organization considering legal action.

Paula King of the Cloud Foundation stated that the organization will soon decide whether to seek legal action against the BLM to prevent the roundup in West Douglas, as reported by The Daily Sentinel on Sunday.

BLM spokesman Steven Hall mentioned that the proposed gather is “both lawful and in keeping with good management of natural resources and with good management of wild horses.”

However, the foundation argues that removing the horses from the West Douglas area is more about eliminating competition for cattle grazing than protecting resources.

“BLM’s historic scapegoating of wild horses is a smoke screen,” said Ginger Kathrens, executive director of the foundation. “Western rangeland damage is caused by millions of head of privately owned livestock, not our publicly owned and theoretically protected wild horses.”

The foundation is also striving to preserve the history of the horses in the West Douglas area, claiming they are descendants of horses brought to the New World by Spanish explorers. Hall acknowledged that while some horses may have Spanish ancestry, the “overwhelming bloodlines are of the 19th and 20th centuries.”

The foundation successfully prevented a gather from the West Douglas area after filing a lawsuit in 2009. The BLM has since conducted a gather in 2011, removing horses from the nearby Piceance East Douglas Herd Management Area, and in 2012 when horses from the West Douglas area were taken due to a lack of water.

Next month, the agency plans to remove 167 horses from West Douglas and the Piceance East Douglas Herd Management Area.

Originally Posted By Associated Press