A well-defined problem is half solved. That may be true in some cases, but the other 50% comes from identification of causes, a concept that eludes the wild horse advocates.
For example, a column in today’s edition of The Nevada Independent indicates that tens of thousands of privately owned livestock graze on allotments overlapping the Pancake Complex in Nevada, an area identified for wild horses, yet only 638 such animals are allowed to live there.
This pattern occurs throughout the western U.S. not because the BLM failed to create HMAPs, as suggested by the author, but because it’s specified in the land-use plans.
HMAPs must comply with LUPs. If the LUP assigns 84% of the authorized forage to privately owned livestock in an area set aside for wild horses, so will the HMAP.
Drilling and mining affect anywhere from a few acres to a few thousand acres, not mentioned by the writer, while public-lands ranching devours entire HMAs and beyond. There’s no comparison.
As for the advocates, articles like this keep their base fired up and the donations rolling in, while accomplishing nothing useful for America’s wild horses.
RELATED: The Truth About HMAPs.
Western Horse Watchers Association 