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BLM completes Colorado wild horse gather
MEEKER, Colo. – The Bureau of Land Management completed its wild horse gather operation in northwestern Colorado yesterday.
BLM gathered a total of 73 wild horses from outside the Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area southwest of Meeker, Colo. The majority of the wild horses gathered will be available for adoption through BLM’s wild horse and burro program.
The gathered wild horses will be sent to BLM’s wild horse facility at Canon City, Colo., following yesterday’s denial in District Court of a preliminary injunction filed against part of the gather.
The Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area is a 190,000-acre area managed for a healthy wild horse herd that is in balance with other resources and uses. BLM did not gather any of the estimated 318 wild horses currently within the Herd Management Area.
“We are dedicated to managing a healthy wild horse herd in the White River Field Office that is in balance with other public land uses and resources,” said White River Field Manager Kent Walter.
More information about this gather and the Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area is available at http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/wrfo.html.
Under the authority of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, BLM manages, protects, and controls wild horses and burros as part of its overall multiple-use mission. The Bureau works to ensure that population levels are in balance with rangeland resources and other uses of the public lands. Wild horses have virtually no predators and can double in population about every four years if not managed.
BLM manages four Herd Management Areas in western Colorado for wild horse herds: The Piceance-East Douglas Herd west of Meeker, the Little Bookcliffs Herd northeast of Grand Junction, the Sand Wash Herd west of Craig, and the Spring Creek Herd southwest of Montrose.
BLM encourages those who are interested in providing good homes to wild horses or burros to visit http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro.html for information about adoptions or sales.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.