BLM to Study Wild Horse and Burro Populations

September 2, 2015

AWHC Contributor

SALT LAKE CITY — A trio of Utah field offices within the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to study wild horse and burro populations, including the potential sterilization of male animals. This initiative aims to address the excess numbers of wild horses generating controversy in Utah and across the West. Legislation introduced by Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, proposes to turn over management of the animals to the states.

Iron County Commissioner Dave Miller and Beaver County Commissioners Mark Whitney and Tammy Pearson are in Oklahoma City to speak to the BLM's National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, which is convening a two-day meeting Wednesday.

"Our objective is to make sure those who are involved in this know that we have serious problems that need to be addressed," Miller said. "Things have to be dealt with."

Both Iron and Beaver counties threatened to conduct their own roundups last summer but backed off. A lawsuit by ranchers and other local leaders filed against the BLM over wild horse management is pending in federal courts.

The herd research is part of an effort by the federal agency to gather more information on the animals to enhance management approaches. Utah's studies are part of 21 research projects with $11 million in funding.

Representatives of the Price, Fillmore, and Cedar City BLM offices propose partnering with the U.S. Geological Survey's Fort Collins Science Center to carry out several studies examining the demography of burro and wild horse populations in certain herd management areas.

The agency stated that the research responds to a 2013 National Academies of Science report commissioned by the BLM, which found the government needed to use science-based approaches to solve the population dilemma.

In Utah, wild horse populations total about 3,245, well above the preferred management goal of 1,946.

Two of the research proposals focus on the Sinbad wild burro herd in the Price area, specifically looking at how surveys are conducted to determine the population and develop new counting methods, in addition to studying the "ecology" of the animals and their rangeland.

The NAS report noted the absence of research on burro populations and emphasized that field research would improve management of the species.

The Frisco and Conger herd management areas, overseen by the Cedar City and Fillmore field offices, are also part of studies to be conducted. For the Conger herd specifically, the research will examine the impacts of sterilizing male horses and how that may affect the animals' behavior.

The national scientific study released in 2013 found that horse populations are growing at a rate of between 15 percent and 20 percent, and that the federal agency often uses subjective, inconsistent methods of determining an appropriate herd management level. The report indicated that the agency might have under-counted the horses and burros by as much as 50 percent.

Current fertility methods are limited in scope, and wild horse roundups are expensive and controversial.

Nationally, the agency is responsible for 179 herd management areas that span nearly 32 million acres. In 2012, wild horses and burros in long-term holding pens numbered close to 50,000, eclipsing the number of animals on the range.

In Utah, there are 20 distinct herd management areas and two that include burros. Earlier this year, the agency initiated its first-ever use of fertility control using darts, targeting 50 mares in the Onaqui Herd in Tooele County. That herd's population sits at 321, well over management goals of 210 animals.

Gus Warr, Utah's director of the BLM's wild horse and burro program, said the studies will allow the agency to obtain solid information on burro numbers, possibly for the first time in the agency's history.

The burros represent a unique management program and are particularly hard to inventory given behavior that is far different from wild horse herds. While wild horses scatter and run during aerial surveys, burros tend to bunch up in clusters and hide. The animals also have different social structures from wild horses, congregating in varying manners throughout the year, making counts difficult.