BLM proposes study on wild horse roundups

The Bureau of Land Management has commissioned an independent review of the Wild Horse and Burro Program to ensure that the BLM is using the best science available in managing wild horses and burros on Western rangelands, the BLM announced Friday.

In the proposed effort, the National Academy of Science, National Research Council report will include information on population estimation methods, annual herd growth rates, population control measures, and whether populations will self-limit, as well as other subjects needing new research.

"To sort through the many diverse and often conflicting opinions about how wild horses and burros should be managed, the BLM must continue to base its decisions on the best available science and involve the public in its decision-making process," a BLM news release states.

The National Academy of Science, National Research Council has previously reviewed the BLM's management of the Wild Horse and Burro Program and produced three separate reports; however, these reports are now 20 to 30 years old.

Those reports summarized what was known about wild horses and burros and made recommendations to the BLM for management, population estimation, and further research.

The reports will then be used to make recommendations about future wild horse management and needed research.

Both the BLM and NAS/NRC will negotiate the terms and outline for the research study, the release states.

The proposed study would tentatively begin about Jan. 1, 2011, and would cost the BLM about $1.5 million and take about two years to complete.

Congress created the NAS/NRC to be a non-federal, not-for-profit source of scientific advice.

The BLM manages more land - more than 245 million acres - than any other federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska.

Nevada, with its 84 Herd Management Areas on nearly 14.7 million acres of public land, is home to nearly half the nations wild horses and burros.

To bring wild horse and burro numbers in balance with the available food and water, BLM gathers hundreds of excess wild horses and burros from Nevada ranges every year.

Wild horse roundups have come under scrutiny in recent months from wild horse advocates who say the methods are cruel and inhumane.