Public Comment Period Open for Wild Horse Removal in Checkerboard Lands

Public comments are now open for the proposed removal of wild horses from checkerboard lands in Wyoming. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking input on their Environmental Assessment, which outlines plans to gather and remove approximately 550 wild horses from private lands within the Salt Wells Creek, Great Divide Basin, and Adobe Townherd management areas.

The Bureau of Land Management’s Rock Springs Field Office has released an Environmental Assessment proposing to remove all wild horses from the checkerboard lands in threeHerd Management Areasnear Rock Springs.

According to a press release issued earlier this week, about 550 horses will be gathered and removed from private lands within the checkerboard in the Salt Wells Creek, Great Divide Basin, and Adobe Townherd management areas.

The removal will be conducted in accordance with a 2013 consent decree agreement with the Rock Springs Grazing Association, which requires the removal of all wild horses from private lands within the checkerboard.

The comment period on the Environmental Assessment is currently open and will close on September 9.

Roundupson the checkerboard lands have been especially controversial because horses move around on the landscape, and the checkerboard lands are not fenced. Therefore, it is difficult to determine when wild horses are onpublic lands.

Because the consent decree requires theBLMto keep wild horses off of the checkerboard, Foster said that theBLMis now considering if it is necessary to redraw the boundaries of the wild horseHerd Management Areas(HMA) adjoining the checkerboard — portions of which are made up of checkerboard lands.

TheBLMmay decide to exclude checkerboard lands from the HMAs. That decision would likely lead to a reduction in the number of wild horses considered viable for those HMAs, a number known as Appropriate Management Levels.

The boundaries of the HMAs and number for herd levels will be part of theBLM’s Resource Management Plan (RMP), which is currently in the process of updating. The last RMP was issued in 1997; theBLMbegan work on updating the plan in 2011. The draft RMP is expected to be released sometime next year.

A total of approximately 480-580 wild horses will be removed from primarily the Great Divide Basin and Salt Wells Creek HMA; only about 25 horses are expected to be removed from theAdobe Town HMAas part of the gather.

In 2013, over 600 wild horses were removed from checkerboard lands as a result of the consent decree. The Rock Springs Grazing Association responded in 2014, saying that all wild horses in the checkerboard should be removed in order for theBLMto comply with the consent decree, and theBLMagreed.

The Rock Springs Field Office will be hosting an open house on August 24 from 4-7 p.m. to provide a status update on the development of the RMP.

The public can review and comment on the Checkerboard Wild Horse Removal Environmental Assessment (EA) online. The EA can be accessed athttp://bit.ly/2bj4PzJ.

Comments on the EA can be made at:blm_wy_checkerboard_hmas@blm.gov.

The wild horse round-up on checkerboard lands is expected to begin in October.

Originally posted by Wyoming Business Report