Commissioners Give Feedback to BLM on Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range Management Plan

During the June 18 public hearing, the Board of Mesa County Commissioners ratified a letter to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) with comments regarding an Environmental Assessment (EA) for a multi-year wild horse gather plan in the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range (LBCWHR). The LBCWHR is a 36,113-acre Herd Management Area (HMA) located about 8 miles northeast of Grand Junction.

The BLM's proposed action would aim to achieve a thriving natural ecological balance (TNEB) in the LBCWHR by administering population control measures like gathering and removing excess wild horses and reducing annual population growth to allow for recovery of areas impacted by wild horse overpopulation. The plan would also manage drought and wildfire impacts. 

Population controls would reduce the wild horse population in the HMA from approximately 203 animals to be within the current Appropriate Management Level (AML) of 90 to 150. This would be accomplished through gathers, employing fertility treatments, returning of fertility treated and other selected wild horses to the HMA, and/or removal of excess wild horses from the HMA.

Wild horses removed from the range would be transported to a BLM short-term holding facility or a BLM-approved facility to be processed.

The Commissioners’ policy statements regarding the BLM’s plan include:

• Support for the removal of all excess wild horses from the LBCWHR, and encouragement for the immediate removal of all wild horses within Mesa County that are found outside the HMA.
• Belief that an inventory of wild horses should be completed at least every three years.
• Encouragement of the continued use of long-term fertility control such as spaying of mares but only as a last resort to other viable solutions, and if the numbers are already within AML.
• Support for the development and implementation of habitat management and/or monitoring plans to specifically determine the impacts of wild horses on natural resources and take action to manage the activity based on the specific results in the monitoring if necessary.

Mesa County believes that wild horses within the County should be managed to promote a healthy herd and ecosystem while maintaining the multiple-use relationship in the area.

We encourage residents to stay engaged and informed. Read the full letter here.