Comments due April 25, 2021

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking public comments on a roundup and removal of wild horses from the Sulphur Herd Management Area (HMA) in Utah. 

In 2017, Beaver County, Utah Commissioners filed a complaint seeking to compel the BLM to remove all “excess” wild horses from the Sulphur HMA. The request sought to eliminate hundreds of federally-protected wild horses from their habitat in order to reduce the competition for resources for grazing domestic livestock.  AWHC, and our coalition, immediately filed a Motion to Intervene in order to protect wild horses on the range. Earlier this year, the case settled out of court. 

Adding insult to injury, in a parting shot to wild horses and burros, Bernhardt and Pendley appointed one of those commissioners, Tammy Pearson to represent the public interest on the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board. AWHC sent a letter in February addressed to the Deputy Solicitor and Committee Management Officer for the Interior Department charging that an appointment made in the final days of the Trump Administration violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

Now, the wild horses are back on the chopping block. The HMA is made up of roughly 265,711 acres of public and private land and is currently home to an estimated 414 wild horses. However, the BLM set the “Appropriate” Management Level for this HMA at just 165-250 wild horses. The plan calls for achieving the low AML, leaving just one horse per every 1,600 acres! At the same time, the BLM allows thousands of sheep and cattle to graze within the HMA. 

The one piece of good news is that the BLM's proposed action calls for the use of PZP-22 fertility control to be used over other, more experimental formulations.

We must continue to speak up for wild horses! Please take a moment to personalize and send the EA comment letter below.