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sitaangelWho should wrangle Utah's wild horse herds?
A state legislator says the feds have created a stampede
By Joe Baird
The Salt Lake Tribune
Running free across the vast, desolate lands of the Great Basin and
beyond, wild horses conjure up images of the old, iconic West.
They also provoke a visceral response - both among those who seek to
protect them and those who consider them a nuisance.
Now, a prominent legislator is suggesting that the state get into
the business of overseeing wild horse herds in Utah.
Unhappy with what he calls perennial under-counts of Utah's wild
horse population by the Bureau of Land Management, Sen. Tom Hatch,
R-Panguitch, says the state could do a better job of managing the herds.
Hatch is considering making a proposal to the BLM to allow Utah to do
just that.
"I believe we could do it better and I don't think I'm alone," says
Hatch, a businessman and rancher. "The [BLM] has a commitment to manage
for certain populations in certain areas. Regardless of the excuse, it
hasn't happened. In many instances, the wild horses have greatly
exceeded their range and gone into areas they're not supposed to."
Hatch cautions that his proposal is "very preliminary," and that
further research could yet scuttle the whole idea. But the chairman of
the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee says
he has the backing of Department of Natural Resources Director Michael
Styler, who informally pitched the idea recently to state BLM Director
Sally Wisely, suggesting the state - with the cooperation of the agency
- implement a pilot program. Many of Hatch's fellow rural legislators
likely will climb on board.
But there are some clear obstacles to the proposal. For one, it would
probably take a repeal of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act to do it.
"It seems like a very lofty goal, but the law is pretty
straightforward," says Gus Ware, the BLM's state wild horse program
coordinator. "Whether they were pioneer horses or cavalry horses, they
were let go on to federal land at some point, and our mandate under the
'71 act is to manage wild horses and burros on federal land. I'm not
even sure we could do a pilot program with the way law is written."
The other discouraging factor for any state contemplating the idea is
what Ware calls "the intricacies" of managing the herds and the effort
and resources it would take.
"It's pretty monumental," he says.
Wild horse advocates, meanwhile, express horror at Hatch's proposal.
Already fiercely critical of the way the BLM has managed wild horses -
they claim the agency is overestimating the size of the herds by half -
they call any state control of wild horses and burros a virtual death
sentence for the animals.
"Would you allow a fox to guard a henhouse?" says Karen Sussman,
president of the Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros,
based in South Dakota. "You turn management over to the states and we
won't have any wild horses left in the country."
The irony of the Hatch proposal: It comes at a time when BLM
officials say Utah's current count of 2,605 wild horses and 140 burros
is right about what the agency calls an appropriate management level for
the state. Utah had about 5,000 wild horses and burros in 1998; the
agency began removing animals shortly after in response to the drought,
which dried up forage and water sources.
But Hatch, like other ranchers holding grazing permits on BLM land,
is convinced that those numbers are low. And too many horses, they say,
mean their cattle are competing with the horses for forage and water.
"There is a dispute about the numbers," Hatch says. "It's like the
elk numbers.
Wildlife people give you one number, ranchers give another. I think
history reflected that the numbers were higher than what the division
[of Wildlife Resources] reported.
"But the question is really much bigger than that," he adds. "It goes
to, who should control these numbers? The state controls all other
wildlife. If these horses are feral animals that have gone astray, they
belong to the state."
Whether Hatch and others are contemplating a battle with the feds
over control of the horse and burro herds is unclear - but they may want
to be careful what they wish for.
The emotions generated by wild horse issues have been on full display
since last last year, when Congress passed an amendment to the 1971 law
that allowed for the sale of horses and burros 10 years old that have
unsuccessfully been put up for adoption three times. Previously, all
wild horses taken off the range were relocated to adoption centers -
Utah has two, in Herriman and Delta - with the unwanteds being moved to
regional, long-term pasture facilities. Overall in the West, the BLM
says there are still 9,000 more wild horses and burros than the range
can sustain.
Wild horse advocates argued that the amendment would lead to horses
being slaughtered for overseas diners.
And they ratcheted up the heat considerably following the removal of
41 animals from the range for sale to an Illinois slaughterhouse -
despite requirements that the horses be treated humanely.
The Interior Department responded by imposing tougher standards on
buyers, holding them to a promise that they will not process the animals
for commercial purposes, and threatening criminal penalties for
violations. But the House of Representatives last week voted to repeal
the sale amendment. The Senate is now being pressed to do likewise.
"I know wild horses are an emotional issue, almost like wolves," says
Hatch. "And like I said, I could be dead wrong about this.
"But my experience with things like this is that the state can
probably manage it more effectively and at less cost than what the feds
are doing it for."
But that, says wild horse advocate Sussman, is beside the point.
"These horses belong to all of the people of the United States," she
says. "The public lands belong to all of us. If we forget this, we'll
lose our heritage. And the wild horses are a big part of our heritage."
A state legislator says the feds have created a stampede
By Joe Baird
The Salt Lake Tribune
Running free across the vast, desolate lands of the Great Basin and
beyond, wild horses conjure up images of the old, iconic West.
They also provoke a visceral response - both among those who seek to
protect them and those who consider them a nuisance.
Now, a prominent legislator is suggesting that the state get into
the business of overseeing wild horse herds in Utah.
Unhappy with what he calls perennial under-counts of Utah's wild
horse population by the Bureau of Land Management, Sen. Tom Hatch,
R-Panguitch, says the state could do a better job of managing the herds.
Hatch is considering making a proposal to the BLM to allow Utah to do
just that.
"I believe we could do it better and I don't think I'm alone," says
Hatch, a businessman and rancher. "The [BLM] has a commitment to manage
for certain populations in certain areas. Regardless of the excuse, it
hasn't happened. In many instances, the wild horses have greatly
exceeded their range and gone into areas they're not supposed to."
Hatch cautions that his proposal is "very preliminary," and that
further research could yet scuttle the whole idea. But the chairman of
the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee says
he has the backing of Department of Natural Resources Director Michael
Styler, who informally pitched the idea recently to state BLM Director
Sally Wisely, suggesting the state - with the cooperation of the agency
- implement a pilot program. Many of Hatch's fellow rural legislators
likely will climb on board.
But there are some clear obstacles to the proposal. For one, it would
probably take a repeal of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act to do it.
"It seems like a very lofty goal, but the law is pretty
straightforward," says Gus Ware, the BLM's state wild horse program
coordinator. "Whether they were pioneer horses or cavalry horses, they
were let go on to federal land at some point, and our mandate under the
'71 act is to manage wild horses and burros on federal land. I'm not
even sure we could do a pilot program with the way law is written."
The other discouraging factor for any state contemplating the idea is
what Ware calls "the intricacies" of managing the herds and the effort
and resources it would take.
"It's pretty monumental," he says.
Wild horse advocates, meanwhile, express horror at Hatch's proposal.
Already fiercely critical of the way the BLM has managed wild horses -
they claim the agency is overestimating the size of the herds by half -
they call any state control of wild horses and burros a virtual death
sentence for the animals.
"Would you allow a fox to guard a henhouse?" says Karen Sussman,
president of the Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros,
based in South Dakota. "You turn management over to the states and we
won't have any wild horses left in the country."
The irony of the Hatch proposal: It comes at a time when BLM
officials say Utah's current count of 2,605 wild horses and 140 burros
is right about what the agency calls an appropriate management level for
the state. Utah had about 5,000 wild horses and burros in 1998; the
agency began removing animals shortly after in response to the drought,
which dried up forage and water sources.
But Hatch, like other ranchers holding grazing permits on BLM land,
is convinced that those numbers are low. And too many horses, they say,
mean their cattle are competing with the horses for forage and water.
"There is a dispute about the numbers," Hatch says. "It's like the
elk numbers.
Wildlife people give you one number, ranchers give another. I think
history reflected that the numbers were higher than what the division
[of Wildlife Resources] reported.
"But the question is really much bigger than that," he adds. "It goes
to, who should control these numbers? The state controls all other
wildlife. If these horses are feral animals that have gone astray, they
belong to the state."
Whether Hatch and others are contemplating a battle with the feds
over control of the horse and burro herds is unclear - but they may want
to be careful what they wish for.
The emotions generated by wild horse issues have been on full display
since last last year, when Congress passed an amendment to the 1971 law
that allowed for the sale of horses and burros 10 years old that have
unsuccessfully been put up for adoption three times. Previously, all
wild horses taken off the range were relocated to adoption centers -
Utah has two, in Herriman and Delta - with the unwanteds being moved to
regional, long-term pasture facilities. Overall in the West, the BLM
says there are still 9,000 more wild horses and burros than the range
can sustain.
Wild horse advocates argued that the amendment would lead to horses
being slaughtered for overseas diners.
And they ratcheted up the heat considerably following the removal of
41 animals from the range for sale to an Illinois slaughterhouse -
despite requirements that the horses be treated humanely.
The Interior Department responded by imposing tougher standards on
buyers, holding them to a promise that they will not process the animals
for commercial purposes, and threatening criminal penalties for
violations. But the House of Representatives last week voted to repeal
the sale amendment. The Senate is now being pressed to do likewise.
"I know wild horses are an emotional issue, almost like wolves," says
Hatch. "And like I said, I could be dead wrong about this.
"But my experience with things like this is that the state can
probably manage it more effectively and at less cost than what the feds
are doing it for."
But that, says wild horse advocate Sussman, is beside the point.
"These horses belong to all of the people of the United States," she
says. "The public lands belong to all of us. If we forget this, we'll
lose our heritage. And the wild horses are a big part of our heritage."
