BLM land purchase rankles Wyoming Republicans as wild horse population grows

Wild or feral horses and burros on public lands and Indian reservations number well over 100,000 — four times what the landscape can sustain without damaging habitat. In Nevada, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and six other states the Bureau of Land Management adopts out, seeks private pastures for, and feeds some 58,000 horses at an annual cost to taxpayers of at least $49 million.

BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning has called nearly every Trump era ruling "illegal" including its failure to manage mustangs safely while blows to morale and an exodus of employees have contributed to horse mortalities during gathers. The BLM wants to remove almost 20,000 broncos permanently and chemically neuter 2,300 more this year.

The Bureau of Land Management is kicking off Great Outdoors Month by finalizing two land acquisitions in Colorado and Wyoming that will unlock over 40,000 acres of previously inaccessible public land. The BLM Wyoming acquisition is the largest land purchase that the BLM has undertaken in Wyoming, creating a 118-square-mile contiguous block of public land and improving public access to the North Platte River. These projects support the America the Beautiful initiative, a decade-long challenge to pursue locally led and voluntary efforts nationwide to conserve 30 percent of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030. [press release, BLM]

Ironic that in a country that exports more weapons of mass destruction than all others combined and relentlessly hunts nearly anything that moves, in parts of the Mountain West and even in bright red Wyoming Equus ferus is still seen as a pet. Wyoming has the second-highest feral horse population in the country with at least 7,144 of these critters plus another 5000 on the Wind River Reservation in conflict with livestock grazing permit holders.

Gov. Mark Gordon will challenge the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s recent purchase of the Marton Ranch spanning 35,670 acres in Natrona and Carbon counties, claiming the agency showed a “cavalier disregard” for soliciting input from the state, local governments and the public. The BLM’s acquisition of the Marton Ranch followed years of negotiations spearheaded by The Conservation Fund and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, according to the BLM. The Marton family’s voluntary sale — for $21 million paid for by the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund — was announced June 2 and touted as a critical gain for land and wildlife conservation and public access for hunting and fishing. [Wyofile]

Wyoming Republicans have apparently forgotten that the ground they live on was seized from aboriginal cultures by President Thomas Jefferson through an executive order that even he believed was unconstitutional.

In an era when western states are scrambling to preserve habitat for bison, wapiti, bighorn sheep, pronghorns, deer, the threatened greater sage grouse and all the other wildlife at risk to the Republican Party how is running nurseries for introduced species like horses and burros either conservative or sustainable?

ip photo: descendants of Spanish Equus graze the Kewa Pueblo.

BLM is seeking public input on a proposed land exchange in northern Campbell County, that if approved, would create a +10k acre contiguous block of public lands. The 45-day comment period ends Aug. 8.
Learn more 👉 https://t.co/kP0enpBisT pic.twitter.com/MLFHP6mpKf

— BLMWyoming (@BLMWyoming) June 22, 2022