Federal Court Orders Restoration of 23,000 Acres for Wild Horses

A federal appeals court has delivered a significant victory for wild horse enthusiasts, mandating the restoration of 23,000 acres of critical land in California as protected horse territory. This decision reflects an increasing judicial scrutiny of federal agencies' decision-making processes.

The U.S. Forest Service had previously claimed that the land was included due to an “administrative error” in the 1980s and attempted to remove it from the protected wild horse territory. However, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that decades of historical protection cannot be dismissed so easily.

Judges have ordered the Forest Service to reconsider their decision, taking into account the potential impact on the horse population.

“This is a precedent-setting victory making clear that federal land management agencies cannot exclude federally protected wild horses or other key uses of public lands without grappling with the implications of such actions on the environment,” said William S. Eubanks II, a lawyer involved in the case.

The horse advocates have long been in conflict with the government over wild horse roundups and protected lands. The dispute over the California area known as Devil’s Garden in the Modoc National Forest is the latest in these ongoing battles.

Horses are protected by what Judge Patricia Millett, who authored the court’s opinion, described as a “Matryoshka doll of nesting federal statutes.”

In this case, the 23,000 acres served as a crucial link between two other protected horse territories, forming a large contiguous area. The Forest Service argued that the land was mistakenly added to a map in the 1980s and should not have been included.

They contended that removing the land was not a policy change but a correction of the original policy.

The judges countered that the Forest Service's longstanding history and practices cannot be disregarded by labeling the original decision as a mistake.

“The service brushed aside critical facts about its past treatment of and official statements about the boundaries of the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory,” Judge Millett wrote.

Last year, horse campaigners achieved another legal victory when a federal appeals court ruled that the Bureau of Land Management illegally removed wild horses from Wyoming territory.

Opposing the horse advocates are ranchers and state and local officials who argue that wild horses strain the land's resources.

This ruling also tests the courts' deference to federal agencies. While judges typically respect agency decisions, the three-judge panel in this case expressed skepticism, emphasizing that a mistake does not equate to a decision.

“There is no ‘oops’ exception to the duty of federal agencies to engage in reasoned decision making,” the court concluded.

Originally posted by Washington Post