Understanding the Wyoming Checkerboard: A Battle for Wild Horses

February 5, 2020

AWHC Contributor

February 4, 2020 - The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), on behalf of the livestock industry, has been engaged in a decade-long effort to eradicate federally protected wild horses in Wyoming from an area roughly the size of Connecticut (2.8 million acres/4,400 square miles). This area includes four Herd Management Areas (HMAs) and a 2-million-acre expanse of public and private lands known as the Wyoming Checkerboard, originating from the railroad land grants of the mid-1800s. Much of this region lies within Wyoming's ecologically diverse Red Desert.

The private lands in this area are controlled by the powerful Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA), whose members hold permits to graze their livestock on public lands for below-market, taxpayer-subsidized fees. Since 2011, the RSGA has pursued a legal battle to eliminate wild horses from the Wyoming Checkerboard, including on public lands designated as wild horse and burro habitats. American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) and allies have been fighting against this plan, which, if enacted, would be the largest wild horse eradication since the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.

In 2011, when the RSGA sued the BLM to remove all wild horses from this area, AWHC, The Cloud Foundation, Return to Freedom, wildlife photographers Carol Walker and Kimerlee Curyl, and the law firms of Meyer, Glitzenstein and Crystal and Eubanks and Associates, began the fight for these herds' future. Over the years, important legal precedents have been established, including:

The BLM cannot turn public lands over to private interests by using requests to remove wild horses from private lands as an excuse to eradicate them from adjacent public lands.
The BLM is not required to remove wild horses from public lands solely because their populations exceed the agency’s imposed population limits (AMLs).

Despite these efforts, the BLM and RSGA continue their quest to turn public land over to private grazing interests, aiming for the total eradication of wild horses within the Wyoming Checkerboard and the elimination of 1 million acres of federally-designated wild horse habitat.

Over the years, the Animal Welfare Institute and Western Watersheds Project joined the fight. At stake is the loss of 60% of the state’s wild horse habitat and the removal of nearly 40% of its wild horse population.

On January 31, 2020, the BLM released an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) analyzing proposed amendments to the Resource Management Plans (RMPs) that set land-use policy for the public lands in this area. Under the Proposed Action, the BLM would:

Immediately eradicate wild horses from nearly 2.4 million acres of designated habitat by “zeroing out” the Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide Basin HMAs.
Reduce the size of the Adobe Town HMA and slash the population limit for wild horses by almost 40%, down to 225-450 horses “or less.”
Sterilize all the wild horses living in the White Mountain HMA and those that remain within the reduced borders of the Adobe Town HMA.

On May 8, 2023, the BLM released a final EIS and Record of Decision on the amendments to the Rawlins and Rock Springs RMPs. The approved amendments call for the elimination of most wild horses from the Wyoming Checkerboard by changing the status of the Salt Wells Creek and Divide Basin from HMAs to Herd Areas with AMLs of 0 wild horses. Approximately half of the Adobe Town HMA would revert to HA status, and the overall allowed population in the HMA would be halved. In a small victory, the White Mountain HMA will remain a reproducing herd, reflecting local opposition to sterilizing the population, which is considered an ecotourism resource by Sweetwater County and the towns of Green River and Rock Springs.

On May 10, 2023, Eubanks and Associates, on behalf of a coalition of environmentalists, academics, wild horse advocacy, and animal welfare groups, filed suit challenging the new RMP amendments. Plaintiffs include American Wild Horse Conservation (dba American Wild Horse Campaign), the Animal Welfare Institute, Western Watersheds Project, author and sociologist Chad Hanson, and wildlife photographers Carol Walker and Kimerlee Curyl.

On August 13, the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming issued a flawed opinion allowing the eradication plan to move forward. The opinion grants the BLM the discretion to zero out wild horses from public lands based on private landowner requests to remove them from private lands. This court order contradicts the federal Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act and a recent Supreme Court decision curbing the discretionary authority of federal agencies.

Two days later, on August 15, 2024, the plaintiffs filed a Notice of Appeal with the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, where AWHC and others have twice prevailed in challenging the BLM's plan for the Checkerboard horses.

This is a fight for the future of federally protected wild horses across the West, as this federal court decision has implications far beyond Wyoming.

The public lands in this area belong to all Americans, not just the livestock operators who receive steep tax subsidies to graze their cattle and sheep there. All Americans should have a say in the future of these lands, designated as habitats for federally-protected wild horses.

Americans have consistently demonstrated their strong desire to protect these iconic animals on Western public lands. AWHC and our colleagues are committed to continuing the fight against this special-interest-driven eradication plan.