Dear BLM Director Culver:
Please listen to the majority of American citizens and direct the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to abandon its plan to roundup and remove the majority of wild horses from the Onaqui Herd Management Area (HMA) in Utah. The public lands -- and the wild horses and burros that inhabit them -- belong to all Americans and all Americans should have a say in their management.
The overwhelming support in this country for wild horse protection and opposition to the BLM's continuation of “business as usual” of mass roundup and stockpiling is made evident by the outreach your office has received in the weeks following BLM's announcement that it would be conducting this removal.
As such an important herd, efforts are already underway to ensure their permanence on the range. In fact, consistent with the recommendations of the 2013 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report on the BLM Wild Horse & Burro Program, this HMA has a comprehensive PZP program in place - an action that is not only humane for the horses but fiscally responsible for the American taxpayers. The program has already proven effective at decreasing the population growth of this herd and should be allowed to continue as the primary management tool.
If removals are absolutely necessary, they should be incremental, over time, and only when there is adoption demand. Further, if the BLM does move forward with its plan to reduce the population from about 500 individuals to about 121, the herd will undoubtedly be genetically compromised - especially with many of the mares of breeding age currently vaccinated with fertility control. Thus it is imperative that a larger population be allowed to remain in the HMA.
Additionally, I ask that you direct the BLM to reduce livestock grazing in the HMA pursuant to CFR 4710.5, which allows BLM to reduce or eliminate livestock grazing in order to provide habitat and protection for wild horses and burros. Thousands of cattle and sheep graze within this HMA each year, even on a portion of the HMA that has been fenced off from horses in order to recover from fire damage. Now recovered, and currently being grazed by cattle, the BLM should, at the very least restore the full range to the wild horses and not just cattle.
Finally, I ask that you remind the BLM that the public lands belong to all Americans and all Americans must have a say in the management of wild horses. As exemplified by recent public polls, 80 percent of Americans – who cross both party and geographic boundaries – want wild horse populations to be managed humanely and cost-effectively on their public lands.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,