Lawsuit Seeks to Halt BLM's Removal of Lincoln County Wild Horses

Wild horse advocates and conservationists have launched a legal battle against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to prevent the removal of wild horses from Lincoln County. The lawsuit challenges theBLM's decision to eliminate all herds from a significant area of public land, citing violations of federal laws.

In April, theBLMfinalized a 10-year plan to “zero out” all herds within 40 miles of the Lincoln County town of Caliente. This decision was based on a decade-old analysis indicating insufficient water and forage to sustain healthy wild horses across the nearly 912,000-acre area.

The conservation group Western Watersheds Project, along with horse groups The Cloud Foundation and the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign), filed a federal lawsuit last week. They accuse theBLMof violating the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act and other federal laws.

TheBLM’s Caliente Complex extends from the town of Panaca south to the Clark County line and includes nine separate herd areas. According to the agency’s 2008 resource management plan, none of these areas can support wild horses on a long-term basis.

Bureau officials estimate there are 1,744 wild horses living within the complex, excluding this year’s foals. Over the next decade, the agency plans to gather and remove all horses in and around the complex boundaries “to improve watershed health and make significant progress towards achieving (recommended) range health standards.”

However, the groups suing theBLMargue that the real threat to the range comes from the 4,500 cows and sheep that also use the complex.

Chris Hanefeld, spokesman for theBLM’s Ely District office, stated he couldn’t comment on pendinglitigation.

TheBLMalso plans to remove all wild horses from the Seaman and White River herd areas to the west of the Caliente Complex. These areas in Lincoln and Nye counties currently host about 365 horses across 475,100 acres, including parts of Basin and Range National Monument.

TheBLMstated that horses removed from the targeted areas will be adopted out, sold, or kept for the rest of their lives in off-range pastures. Hanefeld mentioned that no start date has been set for theroundupsin eastern Nevada.

Originally posted by Las Vegas Review-Journal