Wyoming lawmakers are drafting a set of bills to control wild horse and burro populations on nonfederal lands by billing the federal government for grazing costs or by issuing court orders to remove excess wild horses.
A draft measure would bill the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for the failure or refusal to remove wild horses and burros that stray from herd management areas (HMA) onto state, Tribal and nonfederal lands. It directs the Office of State Lands and Investments (OSI) to calculate the “grazing cost” of trespassing horses and submit that to the appropriate U.S. agencies.
The grazing costs would be determined by a formula based on the forage animal unit month (AUM), appropriate management levels and grazing rates for Wyoming trust land. If collected, funds would be split between the county or municipality affected and the common school permanent land fund.
The bill would also allow the Wyoming attorney general to file a writ of mandamus (an order from the court requiring the government to fulfill their official duties) to compel the federal government to take action to remove wild horses from affected nonfederal lands.
“Recognizing that wild horses roam without regard to political boundaries, the nonfederal lands for which a writ of mandamus is sought under this subsection may include private land,” the draft states.
Finally, the bill authorizes the governor to negotiate with the federal government, local and state agencies, Tribal nations, adjacent states and private entities to create a cooperative agreement to manage wild horses and burros. The cooperation agreement to manage wild horses can include population control measures, including permanent or temporary fertility control techniques, expanding wild horse training and adoption programs, and other removal techniques.
At a hearing in September, Arthur Lawson, director of Shoshone and Arapaho Fish and Game, told the committee horses are “starting to outnumber our wildlife,” causing environmental damage.
The Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands, and Water Resources Interim Committee on Oct. 21 discussed the measures with minor adjustments.
Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, told the committee that the association strongly supports the measure. Magagna asked the committee to add to the bill language the phrase “requesting reimbursement for those costs,” after “calculate the grazing cost.” Magagna also concurred with testimony provided by Jenifer Scoggin, director of Wyoming OSI, that the funds received should be deposited into the permanent land income fund, rather than the common school permanent land fund.
During the comment period, Scoggin asked for clarification in the bill on language concerning whether OSI or another agency would send a request to the federal government if they failed to remove wild horses. Scoggin also was concerned about the definition of “affected nonfederal lands” in the bill, which is defined as any state, municipal or county land “upon which the landowner has proof that wild horses have regularly grazed.” Scoggin’s concern was with the word “proof” and its definition and “whether to know exactly how many horses were on the property.”
Rock Springs gather
Consideration of the bill comes as BLM is in the midst of gathering 4,300 horses across 3.4 million acres of “checkerboard” land ownership encompassing five HMAs. BLM will house approximately 3,500 horses at its Rock Springs holding facility, where they will be available for adoption and training. The remaining horses will be returned to the HMAs after undergoing temporary fertility controls.
“The BLM considered a variety of factors in making this excess determination, including: current resource conditions; drought conditions; the requirements of applicable resource management plans; current population estimates relative to established appropriate management levels (AMLs); and existing obligations outlined in the 2013 Consent Decree,” BLM said in a decision record.
The 2013 Consent Decree followed a lawsuit filed by the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA) against BLM and then-Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. RSGA filed suit to compel the removal of wild horses from the private lands which the RSGA owns and leases within the “Wyoming Checkerboard.”
The Consent Decree states BLM agrees to remove all wild horses from RSGA’s private lands, including Wyoming Checkerboard lands, except for those wild horses found within the White Mountain HMA.
As of March 1, 2021, BLM estimated there were 7,741 horses on over 10.3 million acres of herd areas in Wyoming. BLM estimates 5,105 wild horses are in the vicinity of the five HMAs around Rock Springs, with an AML minimum of 1,550 horses, and maximum of 2,415 horses.
The decree stipulated BLM was to remove horses beginning in 2013 and change their resource management plans to maintain no more than 450 horses on the Adobe Town HMA, 205 horses on the White Mountain HMA and zero horses on the remaining HMAs. In January 2020, the Rock Springs and Rawlins BLM field offices issued a draft amendment and environmental impact statement to comply with the decree, but no action has been taken.
American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) stated BLM is “catering” to RSGA and ignoring the wishes of the public to view the horses as a part of “ecotourism.” The Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Loop north of Rock Springs was established to encourage tourism in the area.
“The iconic wild horses of the Wyoming Checkerboard belong to all Americans, not just to a handful of ranchers who view them as competition for cheap grazing on our public lands and want them gone from the landscape,” said Suzanne Roy, executive director of the AWHC.
“The BLM is legally mandated to protect and preserve wild horses, while livestock grazing occurs on our public lands entirely at the discretion of the government. What’s happening in Wyoming is a perversion of both the law and the public trust.”
RSGA Land Operations Manager Don Schramm told WyoFile the operation was “long overdue.” Blaming ranchers for wild horse roundups is “totally inaccurate,” Schramm said.
Kim Liebhauser, acting Wyoming state director for BLM, told the Agriculture Committee that 400 horses have been rounded up from the Great Divide Basin HMA as of Oct. 21, with delays due to weather. Once they are finished with that HMA, the BLM will move on to the remaining HMAs. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
