The lawsuit filed by the Nevada Association of Counties and the Nevada Farm Bureau Federation against the U.S. Department of the Interior asks the court to require Interior to comply with the requirements of the Wild Free-Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971.
On the NACO website, an article on the wild horse lawsuit explains the specific actions they believe are needed to comply with the Wild Horse and Burro Act:
Gather excess animals from public lands in Nevada where the herds exceed appropriate management level.
Monitor populations every two months and conduct additional gathers whenever AML is exceeded.
Stop the long-term warehousing of horses and burros removed from public lands and sell or otherwise dispose of the animals, as required by the act.
Adhere to multiple use principles in managing the horses and burros including complying with Nevada water rights laws.
Cease interfering with Nevada water rights owned by third parties by preventing owner's access to and use of waters and cease favoring horses and burros, particularly excess animals, over other users of the lands including wildlife.
The NACO website cites efforts by the organization to engage Interior at the national level regarding wild horse and burro management and says lack of appropriate response led to filing of the lawsuit.
A representative from each of Nevada's 17 counties sits on the NACO board and those leaders have acknowledged that local and state public land managers are following policies set at the national level and any improvement in wild horse and burro management required a change in national policy.
The Nevada Farm Bureau Federation is a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit.
"The Nevada Farm Bureau policy advocates for the proper management of wild horses and burros. The overpopulation of wild horses and burros in Nevada has severe impacts on both the health of the horses and the ecological health and sustainability of Nevada's rangelands," the organization said in a statement.
Head of communications for BLM Nevada, Erica Szlosek said "yes and no" when asked whether Nevada's BLM office will be involved with the lawsuit.
"We will be responsible for putting documents together for the response," she said, adding she hasn't yet seen any specific direction from attorneys.
BLM Winnemucca District Manager Gene Seidlitz said to his knowledge the government's lawyers haven't yet contacted the district level managers to request any action, but that it's likely they will be involved to some extent in gathering information and documentation for response to the lawsuit.
NACO Executive Director Jeff Fontaine said the organization will not pay the costs for litigation.
"When the NACO board approved moving forward with the lawsuit, they made it clear all expenses will come from the counties themselves, or other interested stakeholders," Fontaine said. "NACO is not actively recruiting other organizations to support the lawsuit but we're getting financial support from several grazing boards, wildlife groups and Elko County."[[In-content Ad]]
