Billings Field Office
| Contacts: | Greg Albright 406-896-5260 |
Update on Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Gather
As of Monday night, the Bureau of Land Management had gathered 131 wild horses from the Pryor Mountains. The gather began last Thursday and should end later this week.
The BLM plans to gather as many of the 190 Pryor horses as possible. The horses being retained for adoption are vaccinated, wormed, and freeze branded at the corrals. The BLM takes a hair sample for genetic testing of all the horses being returned to the range. Most mares being returned to the range receive a fertility control injection. So far, 27 of the captured horses have been returned to the horse range. The horses are being held at BLM’s Britton Springs corrals north of Lovell, Wyo.
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