Montana State Office
| Contacts: | Mary Apple 406-896-5258 |
Wild Horse Adoption in Vaughn June 11-12
The Bureau of Land Management will host a wild horse and burro adoption in Vaughn, Mont., on June 11 and 12. The adoption will take place at the JS Rodeo Arena, 200 US Highway 89. Vaughn is 11 miles west of Great Falls on Interstate 15. About 35 untrained wild horses and a few burrows from western rangelands will be available for adoption. None of the horses offered for adoption are Pryor Mountain wild horses.
The oral competitive bid adoption will be held at noon on Saturday, June 12. The doors will open that day at 7 a.m. for horse viewing and registration. Activities on Friday, June 11, include horse viewing and registration from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Dave Weeding will present training demonstrations at both 1 and 5 p.m. on Friday, June 11, and again on Saturday at 8 a.m. Weeding is a wild horse gentler and trainer from Pompey’s Pillar, Montanawho has competed in two Extreme Mustang Makeover Competitions and finished second in both events. He has a passion for working with horses and is eager to share his experience. Weeding will be working with the horses available at the adoption.
The minimum bid for each animal is $125. For more information on how to adopt or to receive an application, contact Nancy Bjelland, BLM adoption coordinator, at (406) 896-5222.
Under the authority of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the 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; toward that end, the BLM removes thousands of wild horses and burros from the range each year to control the size of herds, which have virtually no predators and can double in population about every four years. Many of the wild horses and burros are offered for adoption or sale to those individuals and groups willing and able to provide humane, long-term care.
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.
Montana State Office 5001 Southgate Drive Billings, MT 59101