Utah Roundup Targets Wild Horses on State Land

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is launching a new roundup to remove wild horses from Utah's open range, specifically targeting Blawn Wash in Beaver County. This action comes in response to complaints from ranchers about free-roaming horses degrading the range.

The roundup fulfills a legalsettlementwith state officials who previously took theBLMto court over the proliferation of wild horses on state trust lands in the West Desert. The settlement requires cooperation between federal and state authorities to manage horse populations. These animals, protected under federal law, have become a contentious issue for ranchers and county commissioners who argue that theBLMis not adequately controlling horse numbers.

TheBLMspends millions gathering horses from the range and housing them in contract corrals for life. Starting Wednesday, theBLM will deploy helicoptersto drive up to 150 horses into traps. The public is invited to observe the operation each day, with interested parties meetingBLMstaff at the KB Express, 238 S. Main in Milford, by 5 a.m. For more details, call 801-539-4050.

Last month, theBLMremoved 370 horses from the Conger and Frisco herd-management areas, with about 60 returned to the range as part of a population-control research project.

Under a 2001 land exchange, the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration acquired a 26,000-acre block of land about 35 miles southwest of Milford at Blawn Wash. This area represents 43 percent of what was then a federal herd-management area and more than two-thirds of its forage.

The state has routinely pressured theBLMto remove horses from these lands, but their numbers have rebounded after each of the previous fourroundups. Since 2000, theBLMhas removed 550 horses from Blawn, including 143 as recently as two years ago.

Some of the gathered animals are adopted out, but most join thousands of other formerly free-roaming horses living in captivity at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. Federal law prohibits the killing of wild horses except for humanitarian purposes.

Horseadvocacygroups, which attempted to intervene in the lawsuit, were displeased with theBLMcourtsettlement, arguing it prioritizes ranchers' interests over the broader public's.

Originally posted by The Salt Lake Tribune