Lummis Works to Improve Wild Horse and Burro Bill

Press Release

Lummis Works to Improve Wild Horse and Burro Bill

U.S. Representative Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., worked to improve a bill that would dramatically change wild horse and burro management on federal lands. The bill, H.R. 1018, seeks to expand the areas where wild horses and burros will be allowed to roam, restricts the round-ups of wild horse populations, and unreasonably elevates the status of wild horses in the balance of rangeland management.

Lummis' efforts came during a House Natural Resources Committee markup of the bill today.

"Our public rangelands are a very important part of our ecosystem," Lummis said. "Careful and balanced management of the rangeland is the only way to ensure our ranges remain a healthy habitat for native plants, wildlife, livestock and wild horses. Unfortunately, H.R. 1018, as it is currently written, fails to live up to that careful and balanced approach."

"This bill would greatly expand the rangelands in the west, create wild horse specific sanctuaries, and would allow for the transfer of wild horses to federal lands which they do not currently roam. I am sure that the supporters of this bill are well intentioned. However, if the bill becomes law, the outcome will be quite different than supporters of the bill expect - for the horses themselves, and for the ecosystem that is already carefully managed to achieve a balanced, healthy rangeland."

Working with Wyoming's agricultural community, Lummis identified several portions of the bill that needed to be improved in order to protect Wyoming's pristine rangeland and native species. Lummis successfully added two amendments to the bill during the Committee markup.

Lummis' first successful amendment specifies that any effects of the bill's proposed expansion of rangelands available to wild horses be studied to determine the impacts on rangeland health, riparian zones, water quality, soil compaction, native wildlife, and endangered or threatened species.

"Successful rangeland management should be based on sound science, not emotion. Wild horses can be beautiful, and deserve a place on the range, but we should not contemplate the sweeping reforms of this legislation without a full understanding of the outcomes. I would have preferred to study the detrimental effects of expanding the wild horse range before taking any action. My amendment requires a study only after expansion takes place. In the end, I'm pleased that my colleagues on the Committee accepted my proposal."

In addition to expansion of the range, H.R. 1018 makes it nearly impossible to remove excess horses from the range. Currently, the BLM manages wild horse herd numbers by accounting for the needs of livestock, wildlife, and the health of the range. Lummis' second successful amendment would allow the removal of horses if the health of native plant or wildlife species is threatened. Under the provisions of H.R.1018 wild horses can only be removed in the narrowest of circumstances, and cannot be removed even if a wild horse contracts an infectious disease that threatens native wildlife. This constitutes special protection for a non-native species, and greatly disturbs any efforts toward a balanced, scientific approach to rangeland management.

"I am not opposed to the presence of wild horses where they are currently found," Lummis continued. "The truth of the matter is that wild horses destroy rangeland and chase off wildlife; they ruin endangered species habitats and compact soils and seed beds. The only tool we have to manage these animals and to protect the ecosystems in which they live is to control their numbers, and control the area they can roam. Simply expanding the range, and elevating the protection of wild horses above every other species on the range as this legislation contemplates will only serve to exacerbate the problem, and make any reasonable efforts to manage the wild horse population exponentially more difficult and expensive."

The bill is also opposed by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

The BLM currently manages over 34,000 horses and burros in 181 herd management areas (HMA) in 10 western states. Nationally the appropriate management level is about 27,200 animals. Wild horses and burros have virtually no natural predators and their herd sizes can double about every four years. As a result, the BLM must remove thousands of animals from Western public rangelands each year to ensure that herd sizes are consistent with the land's capacity to support them.

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