LOVELOCK -After a non-committal response from Nevada Bureau of Land Management Director Amy Lueders regarding the local wild horse issue, Pershing County District Attorney Jim Shirley recently recommended litigation as the next logical step for county officials. If a forthcoming mustang removal agreement cannot be reached, Shirley said he's ready to file a federal complaint against the agency.
"The hope was that the BLM would authorize the Duncan Ranch and Pershing County to provide some service in rounding up the wild horses on that allotment," he said in a letter to commissioners. "The BLM has not rejected that option but also has not endorsed that option. There were other options addressed in the letter. One of the other options was to pursue a legal remedy through the courts."
At issue are the hundreds of wild horses roaming the Humboldt Herd Area (HA) where none are permitted, according to the BLM's own wild horse management rules. The animals are consuming forage and water on rancher Dan Duncan's eastern cattle grazing allotment. According to Duncan, his requests for mustang removal by the BLM have apparently been ignored for more than 20 years.
In compliance with BLM requests for grazing reductions due to the county's extreme drought, Duncan has already reduced his cattle herd. He and other local cattlemen say further livestock reductions caused by the dry weather and excess wild horses could force them out of the ranching business.
Shirley defended ranching as insurance against wildfires and as a benefit to wildlife while attacking federal bureaucracy that "overwhelms common sense and reasonable local regulatory management."
"One of the deep concerns I have is that the ranchers have no viable way to deal with the horses," Shirley wrote to Lueders. "Despite (ranchers) willingness to try and comply with onerous rules and regulations, they seem to be thwarted at every angle by the bureaucracy created in Washington."
In her response dated May 7, Lueders told Shirley the BLM is working on a 2014 gather schedule and that an Environmental Assessment is ready for possible wild horse removals to proceed this year in Pershing County. Shirley's proposed cooperative agreement for county assistance with trapping and temporarily holding wild horses under BLM supervision and funding "is being researched by staff."
As for Shirley's threat of litigation by the county, Lueders implied that a lawsuit against her agency might indefinitely delay wild horse round-ups. "I realize the permittees and stakeholders feel the need to take immediate action, however, this alternative is not likely to advance the gather process for 2014."
Lueders advised county officials and anyone else against violating the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act by undertaking their own wild horse round-ups. Violators can fined and/or imprisoned.
"Through the WFRHBA, Congress declared wild horses to be under the jurisdiction of the Secretary (of the Interior) and that wild horses shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment or death," Lueders reminded Shirley in her letter.
Contrary to that, Pershing County rancher Mike Stremler has informed county officials and fellow cattlemen that wild horses on private land can be legally "detained" for later removal by the BLM.
Meanwhile, a cooperative agreement authorized by the WFRHBA was signed earlier this year by Iron County and BLM officials in Cedar City, Utah. The letter of agreement permits mustang gathers on private land under BLM supervision assisted by county employees and volunteers. The letter was signed by County Commission Chairman David Miller and Cedar City BLM Field Office Manager Elizabeth Burghard. BLM Wild Horse and Burro Specialist Chad Hunter is in charge of the operation.
"Iron County and BLM propose to work together to water and bait trap wild horses in order to remove them from private lands. Multiple areas adjacent to the Bible Springs HMA complex have been identified where wild horses are interfering with private land operations" the letter states.
As of May 5, however, the BLM had managed to corral only eight wild horses since the traps were set April 10. Miller told The Spectrum & Daily News that the number of animals captured was insufficient to prevent the county from joining a lawsuit filed by local ranchers against the federal agency. He called the wild horse gather operation "a drop in the bucket compared to what's left."
"It is absolutely not enough for us not to attach the county to the lawsuit," Miller told reporter Tracie Sullivan in Cedar City last week. "While we appreciate the BLM's efforts trapping horses, reducing the numbers to the tune of ten at a time will not get the job done."
According to Sullivan, the lawsuit filed a week earlier in Salt Lake City U.S. District Court asks the court to force a reduction by the BLM of the estimated 1,500 to 2,000 wild horses "overpopulating" Iron County. The lawsuit names Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, BLM Director Neil Kornze and Utah BLM Director Juan Palma as defendants.
Pershing County Commission Chairman Darin Bloyed said he's ready to file litigation against the BLM and has asked Shirley to research county ordinances regarding the public safety issues presented by wild horses trespassing on private property and on public roads.
"He's researching the ordinances pertaining to the animals on private property that allow the sheriff to enforce public safety issue," he said. "There are people losing their livelihoods at this very moment and all those false promises by the federal government are not putting bread and butter on anyone's table."
In recent Associated Press story out of Reno, Martin Griffith reports the BLM is seeking bids for additional temporary holding facilities to accommodate wild horses rounded up in the future.
Bids will be accepted from contractors until June 2 for corrals capable of holding at least 200 animals
in the 17 Western and Midwestern states, according to the AP story. After they are rounded up, the animals are held for adoption before shipment to permanent wild horse facilities in the Midwest.
Wild horse advocates say mustang round-ups may be contributing to excessive wild horse breeding and overpopulation. Suzanne Roy, director of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, told AP the BLM could save many taxpayer dollars by managing wild horses on the range with fertility control.
Although mustang sterilization drugs already exist, they are expensive to administer and temporary at best according to BLM wild horse specialists. The BLM has extended the application deadline to May 28 for research projects to develop more efficient birth control for mustangs according to the AP story.
[[In-content Ad]]
