Columnist Dan Abernathy.

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As the stage is being set for what’s happening to wild, free-running horses we need to revisit some definitions. Protection is the action of protecting, or preservation, the action of preserving something in its original or existing state. Annihilation is the destruction or the action or fact of being obliterated.

A federal judge has given the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) the ‘OK’ to proceed with plans to fully remove two wild horse herds from the landscape in southwest Wyoming. The Salt Wells and Great Divide Basin herds are slated for elimination.

The BLM has won two lawsuits, clearing the way for annihilation of these two wild horse herds. The BLM did not win, for it is just a pawn for manipulation of a Congressional declaration of policy for the real winners, The Wyoming Stock Growers Association and The Rock Springs Grazing Association.

The Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA) is an American cattle organization started in 1872 by Wyoming cattle ranchers to standardize and organize the cattle industry. It quickly grew into a political force that has been called, “the de facto territorial government.”

A de facto government is a government wherein all the attributes of sovereignty have, by usurpation, been transferred from those who had been legally invested with them to others, who, sustained by a power above the forms of law, claim to act and do act in their stead.

The WSGA is best known for its rich history and is perhaps most famous for its role with Tom Horn and Wyoming’s Johnson County War, which is still active to this day.

The Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA) is one of the nation’s largest grazing associations whose powerful members dominate land use policy in this area of southeastern Wyoming. There are four wild horse management areas in the Rock Springs District that rely on the habitat found on the checkerboard. 

RSGA has always supported sound scientific management of wild horses and cooperated with interest groups to allow these herd areas on RSGA lands. Now, however, they are seemingly supporting the complete eradication of wild horses

U.S. District Court of Wyoming, Judge Kelly Rankin, ruled in the BLM's favor. Rankin agreed with Rock Springs Grazing Association's complaint that wild horses are improperly maintained on private lands. “However, this maintenance, although improper, does not necessarily require an immediate remedy,” he added.

Rankin also sided with the BLM on the claims brought by wild horse advocates, who argued the BLM arbitrarily and capriciously violated the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 and several other federal laws.

The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was established in 1971 to protect wild horses and burros on federal land, placing them under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service. This made it a federal crime for anyone to harass or kill “wild” horses or burros on federal land.

It also requires that herd management plans maintain a thriving natural ecological balance among wild horse populations, wildlife, livestock, and vegetation and to protect the range from the deterioration associated with overpopulation. This allows for public lands to be utilized for multiple purposes while improving the health and stability of wild horse and burro populations.

During the 1950s, Velma B. Johnston, later known as “Wild Horse Annie,” became aware of the ruthless and indiscriminate manner in which wild horses were being treated on western rangelands. Wild Horse Annie led a grassroots campaign, which famously involved many school-aged children.  

In January 1959, Nevada Rep. Walter Baring introduced a bill prohibiting the use of motorized vehicles to hunt wild horses and burros on public lands. The “Wild Horse Annie Act,” became Public Law 86-234 on Sept. 8, 1959, but it did not include Annie’s recommendation that Congress initiate a program to protect, manage and control wild horses and burros. 

By 1971, the population of wild horses on public lands had declined significantly because of the encroachment of man and the impact of mustangs. In response to public outcry, Congress unanimously passed the “Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act” (Public Law 92-195) to provide for the necessary management, protection and control of wild horses and burros on public lands.  President Richard M. Nixon signed the bill into law on December 18, 1971. 

THE WILD FREE-ROAMING HORSES AND BURROS ACT OF 1971 (PUBLIC LAW 92-195).

Congressional findings and declaration of policy Congress finds and declares that wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these horses and burros are fast disappearing from the American scene. It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.

In 1976, Congress included a provision in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act that permitted the humane use of helicopters in capturing free-roaming horses on federal land, and for the use of motorized vehicles in transporting them to corrals.

After the BLM finalized an environmental impact statement calling for trimming the two herds and eliminating two others in Spring 2023, a coalition of wild horse advocates, represented by Eubanks and Associates, from Washington, D.C., filed a suit challenging the decision.

Because of the extended legal battle, it’s unlikely that the BLM will immediately remove the entire Salt Wells and Great Divide Basin herds. Although the agency completed a revision to its Resource Management Plan for wild horses, Judge Rankin upheld the plan. There is still a requirement to study the action of eliminating a herd under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Nationally, the BLM has planned to remove 20,000 wild horses off the landscape in 2024 so the federal contractors will stop rounding up horses. Numbers have decreased, but the current population of about 74,000 horses and wild burros nationwide, is still nearly three times the so-called “appropriate” management level. This belief holds true in southwest Wyoming as well. There are thousands more horses than the agency, BLM and many residents (namely members of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and The Rock Springs Grazing Association) desire.

I am not anti-cattle or sheep. I have spent most of my life in or close to the ranching community. I am pro-ranching. I am also a proponent of wild horses and I also believe that they must be managed. I firmly believe the rights of the wild horses should not be overlooked while the BLM uses the open range as an Airbnb for grazing livestock.

Wild horses across the West, under the law, are supposed to be protected by our government. Removing wild horses and eliminating them simply because they pose an inconvenience to the BLM and private ranchers is a relinquishment of the federal government’s responsibility to humanely manage these herds. Humanely managing is to protect and to preserve, not to initiate the act of total obliteration. - dbA

You can find more of the unfiltered insight and the Art of Dan Abernathy at www.contributechaos.com.