Plains Indians meet U.S. Calvary . Digital Image. Wikipedia.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plains_Indians
An Evaluation of the Bureau of Land Management’s Methods of Wild Horse and Burro Control by Hannah Stokes
A Brief History of Wild Horses and Burros in America When you think about the American West, the most common image that appears in your mind is that of cowboys, Indians, pioneers, explorers, and the one thing they all had in common - they road atop horses. History class in high school taught us that horses were an integral part of American culture, whether it was the pioneers traveling across the country to new lands, or the native American’s way of hunting and traveling through the deserts and plains. It would come as a surprise to most Americans to learn that horses are not native to America, and that they are actually an invasive species to the land. Horses were brought to the American land by the Spanish, during Christopher Columbus’s 2nd Transatlantic Expedition in 1493 (Visser 686). Despite the issues that the wild horses have caused on the land and tax dollars, many Americans still agree that the horses are ingrained in the culture and history, and deserve to roam the American lands as much as any other citizen.
Because most Americans agree that the wild horses are an iconic symbol of the West, the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros act was declared by the United States Congress in 1971, which gave the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) the job of managing the wild horses and burros of the western states. This act was passed in order to protect the horses and the land alike, stating that the wild horses and burros “…shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death;” and that the animals may be placed in designated ranges on public lands in order to maintain ecological balance of the land (“THE WILD FREE-ROAMING HORSES AND BURROS ACT OF 1971”). Since the enactment of this law, the overpopulation of wild horses has only gotten worse, and the BLM has continued to struggle with management of the horses in many ways - including overspending and issues with animal cruelty. Animal advocates, scientists, and citizens alike are now calling the BLM’s methods into question, and many are wondering if reforms to procedures are necessary to fix the issues that the wild horses have caused.
This review aims to evaluate the BLM’s methods of wild horse management, including both the successes and failures of their tactics.
BLM’s Management of Wild Horses and Burros The BLM utilizes various methods to manage the wild horse population numbers. When a population of horses becomes too large for the land to sustain, the BLM can then take action to gather, remove, and relocate those wild horses. This method requires horse population estimates and ecosystem evaluation in order to understand when a population has exceeded the limit that the ecosystem can contain. The BLM estimates what’s called an Appropriate Management Level (AML) that determines the maximum number of wild horses and burros that the land can sustain with maintaining the ecosystem’s balance (“Maintaining Range and Herd Health”). While these methods are incredibly crucial to management of the wild horses, advocates have called into question the BLM’s method of these estimates, claiming that scientific methods of population estimates were not used. Methods used for population estimates were obscure, data was inconsistent, and methods and results were poorly documented, found the Committee to Review the Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse and Burro Management Program. Having proper procedures of population estimates is key to fixing the overpopulation, and experts agree that BLM must adopt more effective methods of population estimate in order to fix this issue. The BLM has recently teamed with the U.S. Geological Survey in order to “…develop rigorous, practical, and cost-effective survey methods” of population control (“Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program”). Officials are advocating for the continuation of that partnership, in hopes that it improves the accuracy of the population estimates.
BLM’s Gather and Removal Method When the BLM has determined that a population of wild horses has exceeded the AML, they will conduct a gather and removal, which consists of setting up strategic corals and traps, then surrounding the horses via helicopter, and herding them into the traps (“Maintaining Range and Herd Health”). The gathers are done when the population has been deemed too large for the land to handle, before there is significant damage to the land. The horses are then removed and relocated to a BLM-managed range, where they can either be adopted, or spend the remainder of their life on that holding range. Experts agree that the gathers and removals are a necessary action, not only for protection of the land, but also the horses’ health. Many animal advocates oppose the gathers and removals however, citing brutality towards the horses during the gathers, in particular. The American Wild Horse Campaign has observers at many of the gathers, and the observers have reported brutalities such as “…stampeding young foals with helicopters to the point of exhaustion and death, flying helicopters too close to horses, and causing horses to crash into barbed wire” (Koncel 2019). The helicopter round-ups are dangerous in nature, though the BLM has claimed that they conduct the round-ups as safely and humanely as possible (“Maintaining Range and Herd Health”). So while injuries to horses is a possibility during gathers, the round-ups and removals have become an integral part of wild horse management, being one of the only ways to prevent land, soil, and plant degradation from wild horse grazing. Actions can and should be taken to make sure that the round-ups are being conducted as humanely as possible, and advocates and scientists alike agree that strict guidelines should be put in place to make sure that the wild horses are treated gently and not injured or killed.
BLM’s Adoption Methods While the wild horses live on BLM-managed ranges, some are available for adoption, and although the amount of wild horse adoptions that occur are small, it’s still an important part of fixing the overpopulation issue. The BLM holds regular adoption events across all the western states, where the public can view and visit with the wild horses that are up for adoption. BLM has also recently enacted an adoption incentive program, which would reward wild horse adopters up to $1,000 (“Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Incentive Program”). Incentive programs like this are imperative to fix the quickly-overpopulating holding ranges, as adoption is the only way to get wild horses off of said ranges. Many people are fearful of adopting a wild horse, as they aren’t trained, and can be aggressive and difficult to tame. It’s likely that if BLM was able to offer more incentives to adopters, whether it be money, training for the horse, supplies, or other benefits, many more adoptions would happen, and more wild horses could find loving homes outside of holding ranges.
The BLM's Adoption Incentive Program Website
Conclusion Since the BLM has been appointed by congress to manage the wild horse situation in 1971, many policies and methods have been put into place in order to control the wild horse population. The wild horse herds are quickly overpopulating the lands, and studies have shown that the oversized groups of horses can have disastrous effects to horse health as well as on the land. Due to that, gathers and removals have become a necessary action enacted to relocate the horses before too much damage can be done to the land. While the gathers and removals are highly necessary to avoid plant and soil degradation, further actions can and should be taken to conduct the gathers and removals less harmful to the horses’ welfare. The BLM is also tasked with estimating wild horse populations and determining when the population becomes too large for the land to handle, and then taking action from there. Through many reviews of the BLM’s population estimate methods, it has been determined that the BLM’s methods are illegitimate and unscientific. Actions need to be taken to ensure that estimation methods are scientifically backed, correctly documented, and legitimate. The BLM has also put an adoption program in place, with events and incentive programs to push for more adoptions. This method is a great way to reduce the overpopulation in holding ranges, and more incentives should be pushed to increase adoptions. Wild horses and burros, despite not being a native species to America, have become an integral part of the culture and history, and their presence on the Western lands has and continues to have a positive and valuable impact on the lives of Americans.
VISSER, ELSPETH. “The Continuing Saga of Wild Horse Management: Finding a Balance in the Case of One of America’s Iconic Symbols.” William & Mary Environmental Law & Policy Review, vol. 41, no. 3, Spring 2017, pp. 683–709. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lgh&AN=123666275&site=eds-live.