Wild Horses Raise Concerns for Ranchers and BLM

CEDAR CITY — Failure to manage wild horses on public lands is causing an issue for ranchers, and a lawsuit is not out of the question for the Bureau of Land Management, said Iron County Commissioner Dave Miller.

Miller said the wild horses have been allowed to multiply and overgraze to a point where the ground is barren of feed for livestock.

“They (BLM officials) come to the ranchers and ask them to cut their grazing allotments in half,” Miller said. “That’s literally a taking. Those grazing permits are like property.”

Miller’s comments came after a meeting Monday when Mike Worthen, Iron County Natural Resource Specialist, said Nevada recently filed a lawsuit against the BLM for not protecting the rights of those who hold grazing permits, in respect to wild horses on public lands.

While the commissioners are not actively pushing for a lawsuit, they did send a letter to the BLM in recent weeks expressing concern about the management of the wild horse program and giving their position on the issue.

“The BLM expects others to follow policies they aren’t following,” Miller said. “They’re not taking care of their wild horses and they want the ranchers to pay the price. It’s not their fault.”

In other business, commissioners discussed prairie dogs contracting the bubonic plague, and the plan to vaccinate them by dusting burrows with special powder that enables survival.

The county commission also approved an extra $25 stipend on the payroll checks of each person in the county — appointed by the commissioners — who help with bilingual issues that arise in various departments.

The commissioners also convened as the Iron County Community Development and Renewal Agency where they approved and signed three ordinances and 22 resolutions, which authorize the creation of three solar community development project areas including Buckhorn, Cedar Valley, and Beryl.

“Iron County is one of the top physical locations in the country for solar power because of its generally cooler temperatures in the high desert and these solar power plants will help broaden our tax base and take pressure off of the citizen tax payers,” Miller said.

Originally Posted By The Spectrum