The BLM said today in a news release that it seeks new contract services to gather wild horses and burros, treat them with fertility control and return them to the range.
Overpopulated herds are at risk of starvation and thirst, and they can overuse food and water that are important for other wildlife species that share public lands.
Not mentioned in the announcement are the herds of privately owned cattle and sheep that also occupy those lands and receive the lion’s share of the resources, as indicated in this example from the Warm Springs HMA in Oregon.
That’s what the contractors will be protecting.
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Captivity is killing our Heritage wildlife. Suggest that your Congressmen include “protected” wild equids as a RESOURCE to amend fatally flawed Resource Management plans. Wild Equids by operation of law are a special status native American species (RESOURCE) under ESA criteria. Wild equids are also a historic cultural Resource under Sec 106 of the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act criteria. As a Resource, they and sufficient habitat must be included in Resource Management Plans, a NEPA requisite. These conditions are in addition to and supersede some of the 1971 Free-Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act stipulations which are noncompliant with NEPA.
https://www.blm.gov › sites › blm.gov › files › uploads › Media_Library_BLM_Policy_H-4700-1.pdf
PDF Wild Horses and Burros Management Handbook – Bureau of Land Management
Under 43 CFR 4700.0-6(b), WH&B shall be considered comparably with other resource values in the formulation of LUPs. This means WH&B are to be considered in the same manner as other resource values (e.g., cultural, historic, scenic, rangelands, timber, and minerals)