Wyoming Committee Urges Congressional Action on Wild Horse Management

Members of the Wyoming House of Representatives Agricultural Committee have passed a resolution urging Congress to find new ways to control the wild horse population in the state. This move highlights ongoing concerns about ecological balance and the impact of wild horses on rangelands.

The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act federally protects wild horses and burros residing in western states, placing them under the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) jurisdiction. The BLM Wyoming website indicates the bureau manages about 3,000 horses in 16 different herd management areas (HMAs) within the state. The agency establishes appropriate management levels for each HMA to ensure a proper ecological balance between wildlife, livestock, and wild horses.

Earlier this year, the BLM began removing wild horses from an area known as the "checkerboard"—a part of the range where private, federal, and state lands intermingle—to comply with a consent decree between the BLM and owners of livestock that also graze BLM-owned land.

The state of Wyoming subsequently filed suit asking the court to order the federal agencies to manage the state's wild horses according to the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.

On Jan. 14, members of the Wyoming House's Select Federal Natural Resource Management Committee introduced HJ 0003, which asks Congress and state and local authorities to take action to remediate damages caused by free-roaming horses on western rangelands. The legislation also asks the BLM to develop effective fertility-control methods to reduce wild horse populations.

The resolution claims that wild horses destroy vegetation and overgraze rangelands, causing degradation in areas that provide important habitat for native species such as pronghorn, mule deer, bighorn sheep, and sage grouse. While the BLM removes excessive wild horse populations from rangelands, the number of removed animals exceeds the number that are adopted or sold, the resolution said.

However, some wild horse advocates claim the legislation is misleading because the state's wild horse population is actually beneath the allowable level set by the BLM.

“The state’s hyper-focus on the small number of wild horses that survive in Wyoming is a deliberate ploy to divert attention away from the immense problem of massive livestock grazing on public lands in the state,” said Suzanne Roy, director of the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation). “Livestock grazing on Wyoming public lands exacts huge costs to the environment, to wildlife—including wild horses—and to American taxpayers, who have subsidized this activity to the tune of more than $1 billion over the past decade.”

Wyoming Legislative Information Officer Anthony Sara said HJ 0003 was subsequently assigned to Wyoming's House Agricultural Committee where, on Jan. 29, it was unanimously passed.

The legislation now moves on for consideration by the full Wyoming House of Representatives.

Originally Posted By The Horse