Two Days Left to Tell BLM to Protect Wild Horses & Burros in Sage Grouse Conservation Plans

[teaser]The following is a post by the American Wild Horse Preservation.[/teaser]

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking public comments on plans in Idaho and Utah to protect sage grouse habitat. The plans will impact wild horses in 19 Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in Utah and six HMAs in Idaho – including the Challis Mountains HMA, home to the gorgeous horses pictured at left in a photo by Elissa Kline. The BLM hopes to avert the federal listing of the sage grouse as endangered, thus protecting the industries – livestock grazing, energy extraction and commercial development – that are destroying the sagebrush habitat on which the sage grouse depend. As expected, the BLM’s plan would allow the agency to reduce wild horse and burro populations and habitat, even though mustangs and burros are federally protected and their numbers are dwarfed by the massive numbers of cattle and sheep grazing on BLM lands.

The comment period ends on Jan. 29, so let’s get as many comments in as possible to tell the tell the BLM that the public will not let the agency get away with using the sage grouse as an excuse to get rid of or reduce wild horses and burros in Utah and Idaho!