Huge public pressure and 54 congress people finally get the BLM to blink.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has asked the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council (NAS/NRC), an independent, nonprofit group that advises government agencies on scientific issues, to review the agency’s Wild Horse and Burro Program management operations.
The NAS/NRC would review technical aspects of the program, including science-based animal population estimation methods, annual herd growth rates, and population control measures, and would make recommendations for future wild horse and burro management techniques.
The agency last reviewed BLM wild horse and burro management practices more than 20 years ago. In a July 30 letter to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, U.S. Representative Nick Rahall (D-WV), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, and 53 other House members called for an up-to-date review to take place. However, BLM spokesman Tom Gorey said the agency considered requesting such a study before the Rahall letter was issued.
“There was discussion about the need for sound science at the BLM’s public meeting in Denver on June 14,” Gorey said. “The report we commissioned last fall from the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution (the Udall Institute) also underscored the need for updated scientific information.”
Wild horse advocate and Cloud Foundation director Ginger Kathrens supports the study, but only if the BLM suspends wild horse and burro roundups during the review period.
“Otherwise, there will be few viable herds on western lands to study,” she said. The terms and outline for the $1.5 million study will be determined by the BLM and the NAS/NRC. The review is tentatively slated to begin Jan. 1, 2011, and is expected to take two years to complete.