By Derek Hedges
The wild horse, what vision of America’s frontier past is more symbolic. Who amongst us can not remember watching classic western of the American cowboy in or childhood. The wild horse herd is one of the few remaining direct living links with the western frontier and all its history. Unfortunately, the maintaining of these herds and their management has become an issue between horse lovers and the Bureau of land Management, the government agency directed by a law in 1971 to manage the wild horse herd.
Wild horse herds are found on scattered public lands throughout the western United States. Wild horse activist believe that they should be allowed to roam and breed at will and that any capture for adoption should be returned to their range if not adopted within a given time frame. They also think that grazing permits for other livestock on public lands held by ranchers should be reduced to allow for all wild horses. Under no circumstances do they feel wild horses should be killed.
The Bureau of Land Management was designated by a 1971 law to oversee the management of the nation’s wild horse herd and its 20 million acres of habitat. They are also required to keep herd under certain population to protect the habitat of public lands and to keep the horses healthy. The 108th congress authorized the Bureau of Land Management to sell any wild horses caught and not adopted to be sold without restrictions.
The area of conflict is the Bureau of Land Management will remove excess horses to achieve a herd with the desired management level for an area. The wild horse herd grows at an annual rate of 20% therefore many horses must be removed and sent to holding pens for adoption, unfortunately many horses are not adopted and a General Accounting Office Report in 2008 found that the Bureau of Land Management had a budget of $64 million and spent $37 million of this to hold captured animals. This is not sustainable. It is also not possible to just reduce the number of other livestock grazing on a permit because they are not on the land year round and horses are which allows them to due greater harm to the habitat.
One can see that this is an issue that has no answer that will completely satisfy both sides. The wild horse activist has a vision of keeping most of these wild herds virtually untouched by outside forces. The Bureau of Land Management however, must face the reality of a limited amount of financial and physical resources.
I believe that the Bureau of Land Managements actions on this matter are the more realistic. Virtually no wild animal in the United Sates on public lands is allowed a population increase that damages its habitat. Horses running on land will do more damage then permitted grazing animals that are not there all through the season so decreasing these permits is not a long term solution. The wild horse activist needs to work with not against the Bureau of Land Management to ensure that Americas wild horse herds are sustained at a manageable level. Other options to control the herd need to be found. These wild horses are truly a link to Americas past and it’s really important to find a solution to manage them in a sustainable way.
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