BLM Budget Proposal: Increased Funding for Wild Horse Contraceptives

Wild-horsefertility controland sage-grouse habitat conservation are among the top priorities in the proposed $1.1 billion budget for the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The budget aims to enhance ecological balance and reduce the need for controversial roundups of wild horses on U.S. rangelands.

President Barack Obama's request for the 2015 fiscal year calls for an increase of $2.8 million in funding for the agency's wild horse and burro program. This funding would allow theBLMto continue studies to develop more effective contraceptive drugs and techniques.

TheBLMhas pledged to step up the use offertility controlas an alternative to controversial roundups of what it calls overpopulated mustang herds in the West. If approved by Congress, the request would further theBLM's implementation of recommendations made by an independent panel of the National Academy of Sciences in 2013, agency officials said.

In a report highly critical of theBLM, the panel said the agency should invest in widespreadfertility controlof the mustangs instead of spending millions to house them. It concluded that theBLM's removal of nearly 100,000 horses from the Western range over the past decade is probably having the opposite effect of its intention to ease ecological damage and reduce overpopulated herds.

TheBLMtreated about 1,000 mares in 2012 but only about half that last year, records show, far short of the annual goal of 2,000 then-BLMDirector Bob Abbey announced in 2011.

Anne Novak of California-based Protect Mustangs questioned the value offertility controland called on Congress to embrace "holistic" land management by keeping mustangs on the range to rebuild soil and reverse desertification. She believes the agency's horseroundupshave caused the herds to have an increased birthrate.

The budget also seeks to maintain funding for theBLM's initiative to conserve sage-grouse habitat across the West to avoid the bird's listing as an endangered or threatened species. The agency plans to complete the plan in the upcoming fiscal year. Such a listing would have economic consequences for ranching, mining, and alternative energy development across large swaths of land.

Another top budget priority is the authorization of a nonprofit foundation to help provide theBLMwith new ways to work with the public on landscapes and programs, including wild horse and burro management.

"TheBLMcarries a great responsibility in its stewardship of roughly 10 percent of the nation's land,"BLMPrincipal Deputy Director Neil Kornze said in a statement. "We strive each day to strike the right balance under our multiple use and sustained yield mandate."

Kornze testified on the budget at a hearing Friday before the House Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies.

Originally Posted By Associated Press