According to a report by the U. S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), more than half of the nation’s wild horses and burros dwell on Nevada’s public lands, which is estimated to be 45,000 horses and 4,500 burros, despite the entire West being able to support around only 27,000 total.
At its regular meeting on June 20 the Commission approved the adoption of a resolution declaring
a state of emergency regarding the wild horse and burro population on From Page 1public lands. Commissioner Ron Cerri was absent from the meeting and Commission Chairman Ken Tipton tuned in via web-call and Vice Chair Jesse Hill led the meeting.
The resolution will hopefully alert the state’s congressional delegation of the situation and spur some kind of action from Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo, according to officials, and acknowledges the “persisting failure” of the BLM to properly manage the wild horses and burros on Nevada’s public lands within “appropriate management levels”.
The County’s Agenda Request Form explains that the request is intended to “[send] a unified message to the State Legislature and Congress (as well as federal and State resource management agencies) that wild horse overpopulation in Nevada is causing an environmental and economic crisis and that immediate action must be taken to remediate the problem.”
“[Supporting the resolution] continues to support momentum within the state to have all of the counties eventually apply enough pressure where it comes out in a resolution from the Governor’s Office representing a resolution on behalf of the state of Nevada. I think that would have a substantial impact,” said Commissioner Mark Evatz said during the meeting.
Lander adopted the resolution originally back in April of this year and Elko and Eureka followed suit with other counties also adopting similar resolutions, according to officials.
“In my opinion, it is becoming more and more important that [all Nevada counties] walk and step together on these issues because when we have that opportunity it does get the attention of our congressional delegation,” said Humboldt County Manager Dave Mendiola.
Former Commission Chair Jim French, who is the current chairman of the National Wild Horse & Burro Task Force, was present at the Commission’s regular meeting on June 5 and helped present the resolution to the Commission, explaining some of the dangers of doing nothing in regards to the wildhorse population, which doubles every four years, including the damage to topsoil in densely horse-populated areas that takes at least 100 years to build back up, animal welfare, and many other factors.
With Nevada having 48 million acres of public lands, the Commission has also recently approved the formation of a Natural Resource Management Advisory Board, which will help the Commission stay informed and give proper consideration to all issues involving natural resources and public lands that affect Humboldt County. French will also be spearheading the Board.
Mendiola said that the BLM is currently forging regulations that take “things out of our hands” and that that is “really frightening.” With resolutions such as this, Nevada counties have the opportunity to make a statement to the federal and state government.