Utah State Office
| Contacts: | Jared Redington | , 801-561-4632 |
BLM to Host Public Hearing for 2010-2011 Utah Wild Horse Gathers
Salt Lake City, Utah — The BLM Utah will host a public hearing at the West Desert District Office to discuss the use of helicopters and motorized vehicles in the management of wild horses and burros on Utah’s public lands. The hearing will be held on, June 9 at 6:30 p.m., at 2370 South 2300 West, Salt Lake City, Utah. An annual public hearing for comments on this issue is required by federal regulation. The Salt Lake City hearing will be the only one held this year in Utah.
“Using helicopters and other advanced equipment is crucial in our efficiency and maintaining safety in wild horse management,” said Jared Redington, Salt Lake Wild Horse and Burro Facility Manager. “We have found the use of helicopters is the most humane method in gathering horses from the open range and remote mountain areas where they live.”
Utah’s current wild horse population is about 2,700. Drought conditions and increased wild horse numbers cause limited forage and water availability, which reduces the number of animals that can be supported on the land. BLM Utah gathers an average of 300-400 horses annually from public lands to help control horse populations. Horse populations can increase 15 to 25 percent every year.
BLM and its contractors plan to start gathering excess wild horses from various herd areas across the state in August. Gather locations may change due to available funding, water and forage conditions or wildfires. Herd areas scheduled for wild horse population reduction include: Winter Ridge (Unitah County), Confusion and Conger (Millard and Juab Counties), Sulphur (Iron and Millard Counties), North Hills (Iron and Washington Counties), and Chokecherry and Mt.Elinor (Beaver and Iron Counties).
The BLM has removed more than 14,000 wild horses and 500 burros from Utah’s rangelands since government round-ups began in 1975. More than 6,700 of these wild horses and burros have been adopted locally, and the remainder was sent east for adoption. Adoptions are set for Cedar City and Spanish Fork in August. Daily adoptions are ongoing at the Delta Wild Horse and Burro Facility and the Salt Lake Regional Wild Horse and Burro Center near Herriman. Monthly adoptions are held on the first Tuesday of each month June 1 through Sept. 7, at the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison.
For additional information about the upcoming public hearing contact Jared Redington at (801) 561-4632, or the BLM Utah State Office at (801) 539-4057. For information on future wild horse and burro adoptions, visit www.ut.blm.gov , or contact the Delta Wild Horse and Burro Facility 435-864-4068, 600 N. 350 W., Delta, Utah, or the Salt Lake Wild Horse and Burro Center 877-224-3956, 8605 W. 12600 S., Herriman, Utah.
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.
Utah State Office 440 West 200 South, Suite 500 Salt Lake City, UT 84101