BLM Wyoming Celebrates Day of the American West at Cheyenne Frontier Days

As thousands of visitors from across the country gathered for the 130th Cheyenne Frontier Days, the Bureau of Land Management joined the Department of the Interior in celebrating its Day of the American West on July 23, connecting the public with America's public lands, western heritage and the Bureau's multiple-use mission during the nation's largest outdoor rodeo and Western celebration. 

Known as the "Daddy of 'Em All," Cheyenne Frontier Days draws visitors from across the globe every July to experience rodeo, Western art, live music and a celebration of frontier history that has defined the region for well over a century. This year's milestone 130th celebration carried extra significance, arriving during America's 250th anniversary and offering BLM a natural stage to share its mission with a crowd already primed to celebrate the landscapes and legacy of the American West. 

Leading up to Day of the American West and celebrating America's 250th anniversary, BLM Wyoming continued its partnership with the Mantle Wild Horse Adoption and Training Facility to showcase the Wild Horse and Burro Program through daily demonstrations and a competitive adoption event. This year marked the 28th year of the Mantle family's partnership with BLM, training and gentling wild horses for adoption while educating the public about responsible stewardship of America's wild horses and burros. Over nearly three decades, that partnership has become one of the most visible and enduring examples of how BLM works with local communities to advance its mission of managing wild horse and burro populations responsibly. It also gives visitors a rare and personal window into a program many only hear about from a distance. 

From July 20-22, visitors watched daily demonstrations featuring 13 wild horses and two wild burros available for adoption. The Mantle family demonstrated the patience, skill and trust required to prepare wild horses for successful adoption while highlighting BLM's work to maintain healthy wild horse and burro populations on public lands. Each session offered a behind-the-scenes look at the gentling process, showing how animals recently gathered from the range can be transformed into calm, trusting partners ready for adoption. Spectators lined the arena fence each day, watching in real time as trainers built trust with animals that, just weeks earlier, had never interacted with people. 

Throughout the week, BLM employees welcomed visitors at the DOI booth, answering questions about public lands and introducing families to the program. Staff fielded a steady stream of questions about wild horse adoption, land management and the many ways BLM balances recreation, conservation, energy development and grazing across millions of acres of public land in Wyoming and beyond. For many visitors, the booth offered a first introduction to an agency whose work often unfolds quietly, far from population centers, but whose decisions touch nearly every corner of daily life in the West. 

On July 23, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum joined federal leaders and dignitaries as grand marshals in the Cheyenne Frontier Days parade. At the rodeo, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon welcomed Burgum and introduced the visiting dignitaries. Burgum then toured the DOI booth, the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum and the newly opened Morning Star American Indian Village. There, Burgum met with tribal performers and volunteers and attended a cultural performance celebrating Native American traditions and their enduring connection to the land. The visit to Morning Star Village underscored a broader theme of the day: that the story of the American West is inseparable from the traditions and history of the tribal nations who have called it home for generations. 

Later that day, BLM held its competitive wild horse adoption auction. Before bidding began, Burgum told attendees, "When you come here today and adopt one of these incredible animals, you're not just finding a forever home for a beautiful horse. You are also helping our environment and our landscapes. You are helping our ranchers. You are helping everybody when you do that. So, we appreciate everyone for being here." His remarks tied the day's celebration directly to the practical, on-the-ground impact of the adoption program, framing every successful bid as a small but meaningful contribution to healthier rangelands. 

By the end of the auction, all 15 trained wild horses and burros had found new homes with qualified adopters, a result that speaks both to the quality of the Mantle family's training and to the public's growing enthusiasm for wild horse and burro adoption. Gordon closed the day by hosting Burgum and other federal and state leaders at an evening reception at the Wyoming Governor's Residence, bringing state and federal leadership together to mark the occasion. 

The celebration also marked three significant milestones: America's 250th anniversary, BLM's 80th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, reflecting the Bureau's continued responsibility to manage public lands while conserving the natural, cultural and historical resources that define the American West. Each of these anniversaries tells part of the same story, one of a nation continually redefining its relationship with the land, and an agency built to steward that relationship responsibly for the benefit of current and future generations. 

Through the efforts of BLM employees and partners, the Bureau connected thousands of visitors with the Department of the Interior's mission while showcasing the work taking place across Wyoming's public lands, from wild horse and burro stewardship to recreation, wildlife habitat, grazing and cultural resources. Cheyenne Frontier Days may last only 10 days each summer, but the connections made there, between visitors and public lands, and between the agency and the communities it serves, reflect the everyday work BLM carries out year-round across millions of acres of the American West.