Wild horse legislation ignites debate

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According to BLM’s latest figures, there about 33,000 wild horses out on the range in 10 western states, and more than 30,000 horses in holding pens. The agency spends about $100,000 per day caring for the horses in holding pens.

In testimony before a United States House of Representatives subcommittee last spring, Ed Roberson, BLM assistant director of Renewable Resources and Planning, said, “Herd populations have consistently exceeded appropriate management levels. Herd populations in the 1970s and 1980s surpassed 64,000 animals, more than twice what the rangelands could sustain.”

In his testimony, given in March, Roberson said the appropriate management level on the range is about 2,200 animals, and the estimated population of wild horses and burros was at 34,000.

“Because wild horses and burrows have virtually no natural predators, their herd sizes can double about ever four years,” he said.

According to Legislative Digest, the bill would authorize the government to acquire new rangelands through the purchase of grazing buyouts, land acquisitions or exchanges, conservation easements and agreements with private landowners.

The bill also requires research and implementation of new surgical sterilization to reduce reproductive rates of wild horses and burros, plus more aggressive marketing to get more horses adopted.

A key element in Secretary Salazar’s proposal is to create a new set of wild horse preserves across the nation, populating them with non-reproducing horses.

The idea is still not popular with some ranchers.

“It’s an exercise in futility,” Mike Hanley, Jordan Valley rancher said, during last week’s cattlemen’s meeting in Ontario. “There is no end in sight.”

While the bill — H.R. 1018 — has passed the House, it has not passed in the Senate, according to Malheur County Judge Dan Joyce.

Wild horses can be destructive to rangeland if not properly managed, he said.

“They can just decimate a field. They eat it right to the dirt,” Joyce said. Skinner said the impact from damage sparked by the wild mounts can hit the pocketbook of residents.

“The cost to the taxpayer is horrendous,” Skinner said. “The resource abuse is an issue, unadoptable horses are becoming more of an issue, not enough holding facilities — the list goes on,” he said. “There are no easy answers especially in the light of the fact that wild horses are such an emotional subject with so many people. People are emotional on both sides of the issue.”