PLC Renews Call for Wild Horse Management

Last week, the Public Lands Council renewed its call for responsible, proactive management of horses and burros managed by the Bureau of Land Management. PLC said recent activist efforts seek to exploit political transitions and undermine progress toward improved management of wild horse and burro populations on federal lands. PLC adds the recent flurry of misinformation, and inflammatory rhetoric is simply an attempt to hide the truth, being, "there are too many horses and burros on the land, and ecosystems, wildlife, and multiple uses pay the price."

Based on environmental analysis that examines forage conditions, water availability and other factors on the landscape, BLM set a nationwide “Appropriate Management Level” of approximately 26,690 horses. Conservative estimates place the number of horses actually on the range at 95,114, which is more than three times the environmentally driven stocking rate set by the federal agency. Estimates from on-the-ground monitoring suggests the population far exceeds 100,000 horses.

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