V_Key
Well-known member
December 2008
Bureau of Land Management
Public Affairs Office,
Washington, D.C.;
Contact:
Tom Gorey (202-452-5137)
Factsheet on Challenges Facing the;in its Management of Wild Horses and Burros
The BLM's goal is to manage healthy herds of wild horses and burros on healthy Western rangelands. To do that, we must confront a number of tough challenges.
Wild horses and burros, of which more than 33,000 freely roam BLM-managed lands, have virtually no natural predators and their herd sizes can double about every four years. As a result, the agency must remove thousands of animals from Western public rangelands each year to ensure that herd sizes are consistent with the land's capacity to support them.
Off the range, there are more than 30,000 (more like 32,000 removed ( that more than 65,000) (or "excess") wild horses and burros that are fed and cared for at short-term (corral) and long-term (pasture) holding facilities. Currently, animals placed in long-term holding live out the rest of their lives there, which can be from 10 to 25 years depending on the age at which they enter long-term holding.
Each year the BLM attempts to place as many of the removed animals as possible into private care through public adoptions or sales, but adoptions have been declining in recent years because of higher fuel and feed costs. (Adoptions fell from 5,701 in Fiscal Year 2005 to 3,706 in FY 2008.) The BLM's direct sales program, which primarily affects older animals, has met with limited success as currently implemented.
The BLM would like to bring the number of animals placed through adoption or sold each year into balance with the number that must be removed annually from the range. As a result, fewer animals will need to be maintained in holding facilities.
It is essential to keep the BLM's wild horse and burro program in balance. The cost of keeping animals removed from Western rangelands in holding facilities is spiraling out of control and preventing the agency from successfully managing other parts of the program, such as gathers and adoptions.
In Fiscal Year 2007, the BLM spent $38.8 million on its wild horse and burro program; the cost for holding wild horses and burros in short- and long-term facilities was $21.9 million, meaning holding costs accounted for more than half of what the BLM spent in Fiscal Year 2007 on its total wild horse and burro program.
In Fiscal Year 2008, holding costs exceeded $27 million, accounting for three-fourths of the FY 2008 enacted funding level of $36.2 million for the BLM's total wild horse and burro program. This level of funding is not sufficient to support necessary removals from the range while maintaining lifetime holding for older unadopted animals. To continue its current removal, holding, and restrictive sales practices, the BLM would need approximately $85 million in 2012.
The BLM faces difficult choices in the West's wild horse and burro program. Rising energy prices have increased feed and transportation costs (by $4 million from Fiscal Year 2007 to FY 2008), and it is clear that the Bureau cannot continue its current removal and holding practices under existing and projected budgets. Neither can the BLM allow horses to multiply unchecked on the range without causing an environmental disaster. The BLM is looking at all options at this point to manage through the situation. We have not made any decisions about which option to pursue, but we are in discussions with humane groups to find an appropriate legal solution.
The BLM is authorized under a December 2004 amendment to the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act to sell "without limitation" wild horses and burros that are either over 10 years old or have been passed over for adoption at least three times. The BLM has thus far focused on sales only to those buyers whose intention is to provide long-term care. As amended in 1978, the 1971 wild horse law also authorizes the BLM to euthanize excess wild horses and burros for which an adoption demand by qualified individuals does not exist.
If the BLM were to try to hold down budget costs by not removing excess horses from the range, the result would be an ecological disaster for Western public rangelands: overpopulation of herds, overgrazing of forage, eventual malnutrition and starvation of horses and burros, damage to native vegetation and riparian areas, damage to wildlife habitat, increased soil erosion, and lower water quality.
Bureau of Land Management
Public Affairs Office,
Washington, D.C.;
Contact:
Tom Gorey (202-452-5137)
Factsheet on Challenges Facing the;in its Management of Wild Horses and Burros
The BLM's goal is to manage healthy herds of wild horses and burros on healthy Western rangelands. To do that, we must confront a number of tough challenges.
Wild horses and burros, of which more than 33,000 freely roam BLM-managed lands, have virtually no natural predators and their herd sizes can double about every four years. As a result, the agency must remove thousands of animals from Western public rangelands each year to ensure that herd sizes are consistent with the land's capacity to support them.
Off the range, there are more than 30,000 (more like 32,000 removed ( that more than 65,000) (or "excess") wild horses and burros that are fed and cared for at short-term (corral) and long-term (pasture) holding facilities. Currently, animals placed in long-term holding live out the rest of their lives there, which can be from 10 to 25 years depending on the age at which they enter long-term holding.
Each year the BLM attempts to place as many of the removed animals as possible into private care through public adoptions or sales, but adoptions have been declining in recent years because of higher fuel and feed costs. (Adoptions fell from 5,701 in Fiscal Year 2005 to 3,706 in FY 2008.) The BLM's direct sales program, which primarily affects older animals, has met with limited success as currently implemented.
The BLM would like to bring the number of animals placed through adoption or sold each year into balance with the number that must be removed annually from the range. As a result, fewer animals will need to be maintained in holding facilities.
It is essential to keep the BLM's wild horse and burro program in balance. The cost of keeping animals removed from Western rangelands in holding facilities is spiraling out of control and preventing the agency from successfully managing other parts of the program, such as gathers and adoptions.
In Fiscal Year 2007, the BLM spent $38.8 million on its wild horse and burro program; the cost for holding wild horses and burros in short- and long-term facilities was $21.9 million, meaning holding costs accounted for more than half of what the BLM spent in Fiscal Year 2007 on its total wild horse and burro program.
In Fiscal Year 2008, holding costs exceeded $27 million, accounting for three-fourths of the FY 2008 enacted funding level of $36.2 million for the BLM's total wild horse and burro program. This level of funding is not sufficient to support necessary removals from the range while maintaining lifetime holding for older unadopted animals. To continue its current removal, holding, and restrictive sales practices, the BLM would need approximately $85 million in 2012.
The BLM faces difficult choices in the West's wild horse and burro program. Rising energy prices have increased feed and transportation costs (by $4 million from Fiscal Year 2007 to FY 2008), and it is clear that the Bureau cannot continue its current removal and holding practices under existing and projected budgets. Neither can the BLM allow horses to multiply unchecked on the range without causing an environmental disaster. The BLM is looking at all options at this point to manage through the situation. We have not made any decisions about which option to pursue, but we are in discussions with humane groups to find an appropriate legal solution.
The BLM is authorized under a December 2004 amendment to the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act to sell "without limitation" wild horses and burros that are either over 10 years old or have been passed over for adoption at least three times. The BLM has thus far focused on sales only to those buyers whose intention is to provide long-term care. As amended in 1978, the 1971 wild horse law also authorizes the BLM to euthanize excess wild horses and burros for which an adoption demand by qualified individuals does not exist.
If the BLM were to try to hold down budget costs by not removing excess horses from the range, the result would be an ecological disaster for Western public rangelands: overpopulation of herds, overgrazing of forage, eventual malnutrition and starvation of horses and burros, damage to native vegetation and riparian areas, damage to wildlife habitat, increased soil erosion, and lower water quality.