Officials Agree on Wild Horse Solution

CEDAR CITY — The Iron County Commissioners signed an agreement with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on Monday during their bi-weekly commission meeting. This agreement aims to combine efforts to trap feral horses on private property located on the western range.

The agreement, drawn up by the United States Department of the Interior, authorizes the two agencies to work together to water and bait trap the feral horses on the range adjacent to the Bible Springs Horse Management Area Complex. Here, the BLM has identified horse herds as “interfering with private land operations.”

“What this does is allows the county to offer some protection to these ranchers who would like to go out there and help with this project,” said Commissioner Dave Miller.

Under the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971, the BLM is authorized to enter into cooperative agreements with other landowners and state and local government agencies to further the law itself.

Officials used this part of the act to start removing the feral horses after the Iron County Commissioners sent a notice nearly two weeks ago to the BLM, threatening to begin the removal themselves if the BLM began taking cattle belonging to Bunkerville rancher Cliven Bundy grazing on Nevada’s public lands.

Immediately following the notice, representatives from the BLM met with the county commissioners where negotiations began on how to legally begin reducing the overpopulated horse herds on a range that has been greatly impacted by the lack of moisture last winter.

Last week, with the blessing of the BLM, Iron County Commissioners, along with private property owners, began putting up corrals around water troughs to lure the animals to the site and ultimately trap them. These actions are continuing this week with more corrals going up over the next few days.

The agreement between the two agencies lays out several responsibilities each side will have in this effort, including the expected treatment of the horses and procedures for appropriately handling them.

In terms of liability, the agreement states that the county will accept responsibility for all county employees and volunteers working on the project. However, it specifies all work will be done under the direction of Chad Hunter, the wild horse and burro specialist in the Cedar City Field Office.

“The intent of this agreement is not to bind the county to any kind of agreement with the BLM that would lose our position that we’ve already taken,” Miller said. “We expect them to follow the law that they themselves are governed by. (This agreement) does show their effort and interest in helping us achieve the goal we put forward.”

Originally Posted By The Spectrum