Interior Budget Scapegoats Wild Horses for Climate Change on Public Lands

Interior Budget Scapegoats Wild Horses onPublic Landsfor Climate Change

Biden budget justification calls for the mass roundup and removal of thousands of federally protected wild horses and burros

WASHINGTON (June 25, 2021) — Today, the nation's leading wild horse advocacy group, the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign), harshly criticized the Biden Administration for continuing a Trump-era plan to eradicate federally-protected wild horses and burros from westernpublic lands, citing climate change in its latest proposed budget.

The renewed push came in the administration’s Fiscal Year (FY)2022 budget justification, which asks Congress for an additional $35 million in taxpayer funds for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to conduct mass helicopterroundupsand removals of up to 20,000 wild horses and burros, to be stockpiled in over-burdened government holding facilities where thethreat of slaughterlooms large.

The President’s budget justification reads, “Excess wild horse and burro populations undermine the health of public rangelands, undoing years ofBLMinvestments and making thepublic landsless resilient to other stressors such as climate change. Such degraded landscapes can also directly contribute to climate change, as they are more susceptible to wildfire occurrence and accompanying carbon release."

“The Biden Administration cannot live up to its commitment toscienceand environmental protection by funding more wild horse roundups and not addressing one of the single most significant contributors to climate change: cows,” said Holly Gann Bice, Director of Government Relations for the AWHC. “The agency should instead take action today to adopt humane, scientifically-based on-range wild horse management strategies, including implementing fertility control and reducinglivestockgrazing in federally-designated wild horse habitat.”

Livestocksignificantly outnumber wild horses and burros onBLMland. Of the 155 million acres grazed by privatelivestock, only 27 million are shared with federally-protected wild horses and burros. Yet even on the 27 million acres of wild horse and burro habitat, the BLM allocates 3 out of every 4 units of forage tolivestock. The BLM’s arbitrarily low population limits for wild horses and burros (AML) are not transparent nor are they based on science,according tothe National Academy of Sciences.

"Polls show that over 80% of Americans support wild horse and burro protection and oppose their slaughter,” continued Gann Bice. “By prioritizing thelivestockindustry, the Administration is not only ignoring the American people but also abandoningscienceand its commitment to environmental protections."

According to the AWHC, as a member of Congress, Interior Secretary Haalandopposed additional fundingfor wild horse and burroroundups, advocating instead for humane birth control, but her budget justification reflects a prioritization oflivestockindustry interests over the protection of wild horses and burros.

AWHC is urging the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to adopt the Interior Appropriations language that has been proposed by U.S. Reps. Dina Titus (D-NV), Steve Cohen (D-TN), and over 40 other U.S. Representatives and 11 Senators urging the agency to prioritize humane management usingfertility controland other on-range methods over costly and inhumane roundup and removals.

About the American Wild Horse Conservation

TheAmerican Wild Horse Conservation(formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) is the nation’s leading wild horse protection organization, with more than 700,000 supporters and followers nationwide. AWHC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse and burros in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. In addition to advocating for the protection and preservation of America’s wild herds, AWHC implements the largest wild horsefertility controlprogram in the world through a partnership with the State of Nevada for wild horses that live in the Virginia Range near Reno.

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