Taxpayers spend around $5 per day for a horse in short-term holding, so if he receives one AUM, enough to keep him on the range for a month, taxpayers save $150, or $1,800 per year.
The government loses the grazing value of that forage, equal to $1.35 per month or about $16 per year.
Now scale it up.
The BLM gave 48,964 AUMs per year to privately owned livestock in the Complex, thereby consigning 4,080 wild horses to off-range holding.
If the forage was shifted back to the horses, meaning they had principal use of the land as specified in the original law, taxpayers would save 4,080 × 1,800 = $7,344,000 per year, while the BLM forfeits 4,080 × 16 = $65,280 per year in grazing fees.
The net benefit exceeds $7 million per year, to be achieved by confining the ranchers to their base properties in a year-round off season.
RELATED: If Wild Horses Had Principal Use of North Lander Complex.
Western Horse Watchers Association 