On July 16th, our decade-long legal battle continues against the demands of the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA) to remove wild horses from over 2 million acres in the southwestern area of the state known as the “Wyoming Checkerboard.” Our Lawyers will deliver oral arguments on two critical lawsuits pending against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
1. Striking Back Against Unprecedented Eradication Measures
In 2023, the BLM adopted amendments to a Resource Management Plan (RMP) that would authorize the federal government to eliminate more than 1 million acres of habitat across federal public lands in Wyoming and fully or partially eradicate multiple wild herds. Under these amendments, the wild horses of Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide Basin would face total elimination. These unconscionable amendments are detrimental to the Checkerboard's natural ecosystem. Moreover, they represent the first time in the 53-year history of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act that the BLM has eliminated entire wild horse herds where sufficient habitat characteristics (i.e., forage, water, space, and cover) exist on public lands.
2. Protecting Public Lands from Private Interests
Last March, the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA) filed a suit compelling the BLM to remove wild horses not only from private lands used by RSGA members to graze livestock but also from federal public lands (also used by RSGA members' livestock) throughout the Wyoming Checkerboard. AWHC immediately intervened against this preposterous lawsuit. Clearly, we're up against very powerful interests who view wild horses as competitors to their private livestock on our public lands. A huge legal principle is at stake: Will private interests be allowed to dictate the use of public lands and decide whether our federally protected wild horses and burros can live on them?
Will you take a moment to support our lawyers and tell Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Director of the BLM Tracy Stone-Manning to support humane conservation solutions?