Paragraph 5(b)(1) should direct the Secretary of the Interior to maintain a genetically diverse herd in the South Unit with a population of at least 150 horses untouched by fertility control pesticides.
Breeding, not mass sterilization, assures genetic diversity.
What about a provision for returning the original wild horses to the park?
The South Unit covers 46,158 acres according to park statistics.
The proposed stocking rate would be 3.2 wild horses per thousand acres.
Has anybody looked at forage supply to see if that’s feasible?
The land would need to produce 3.2 × 12 × 2 = 76.8 AUMs per year per thousand acres to support the herd, at 50% utilization (safety factor of two).
RELATED: TRNP Wild Horse Protection Act Cannot Achieve Stated Goals.
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