6. APPROPRIATE MANAGEMENT LEVELS

Appropriate Management Levels (AMLs) of wild horses and burros on the range are the optimum number of animals that ensure a thriving natural ecological balance. The process of establishing AMLs has become a focal point among competing interests for their share of the forage base. Current practices have evolved during the past 25 years since the Act was enacted. Following is a brief timeline:

1971-80 Identification of Herd Areas and the historic population levels as required by the Act.

1980-88 Land Use Planning processes and decisions establishing Herd Management Areas and Appropriate Management Levels.

1989 The Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) ruled that numbers could not be set solely through the LUP process but had to be based on monitoring.

1990- The determination and implementation of "monitoring based" AMLs, utilizing the full range of established monitoring techniques, multiple use decisions, environmental analysis, etc.

Findings:

The Team found:

• Disagreement among BLM jurisdictions as to whether AMLs should be defined and expressed as a single number (i.e., 100) or as a range (i.e., 95-105).
• Where AMLs have been established, conflicting policies and events prevented some offices from achieving their AMLs in herds (i.e., budget restrictions, selective removal policies, etc.).
• Some HMAs are without established AMLs.
• Perceived divergence among BLM offices in their interpretation of the 1989 IBLA ruling has created an apparent adversarial atmosphere surrounding the process.
• Adversarial atmospheres and relationships among the BLM, livestock groups and horse advocacy groups exist due to prolonged uncertainty surrounding the recurrent examination of the basic land use allocation. Regardless how AMLs are defined, most groups want an AML set.

Recommendations:

The Team recommends:

• As AMLs are revisited on a case by case basis, they should be defined for HMAs as a single number with an acceptable range. The breadth of this range should consider the need to reach a thriving ecological balance, the biological/social needs of the herds, economics, cycles of gathering, genetic diversity, and the population at which resource deterioration would be expected to begin.
• Establish AMLs using the best available data (including monitoring data as required by the 1989 IBLA decision) and include them in the LUP process as Land Use Allocations. Full disclosure and public participation through the NEPA process should be part of the decision process. Establishing AMLs communicates a commitment by BLM to manage viable populations of wild, free-roaming horses and burros on the public lands within defined population levels.
• Increased emphasis be given to the completion of all related environmental evaluations and analyses to enable the BLM to establish AMLs in areas where horses exist and share range resources with other users.