Billings Field Office
| Contacts: | Mary Apple 406-896-5258 |
Billings Field Office Schedules Helicopter Hearing
The Bureau of Land Management’s Billings Field Office is hosting a hearing on the use of helicopters and motor vehicles in wild horse management operations.
The hearing will begin at 6:00 p.m. Wed, July 15, at the Hampton Inn, 5110 Southgate Dr. in Billings. Comments made during the formal public hearing will be recorded.
BLM plans to use motorized vehicles for transport of wild horses and helicopters to help gather, monitor and inventory wild free roaming horses from the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range and adjacent lands managed by the Custer National Forest in 2009 and 2010.
Most of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range is located in southern Carbon County, Montana, but a small portion extends into Big Horn County, Wyoming. The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range is managed primarily for the benefit of wild horses in a partnership among the Forest Service, National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management.
For more information regarding the hearing contact Jared Bybee at 406-896-5223.
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.
Billings Field Office 5001 Southgate Drive Billings, MT 59101