Bureau of Land Management: Effective Long-Term Options Needed to Manage Unadoptable Wild Horses
GAO-09-77
Published: Oct 09, 2008. Publicly Released: Nov 10, 2008.
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Highlights
The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages about 33,100 wild horses and burros on 199 Herd Management Areas (HMA) in 10 western states. Under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, as amended, BLM is to protect wild horses and burros, set appropriate management levels (AML), maintain current inventory counts, and remove excess animals to prevent overpopulation and rangeland damage. Over the years, various stakeholders have raised issues about BLM's management of the animals on and off the range. GAO examined (1) BLM's progress in setting and meeting AML; (2) BLM's management of animals off the range through adoptions, sales, and holding facilities; (3) BLM's controls to help ensure the humane treatment of animals; and (4) what challenges, if any, BLM faces in managing for the long-term sustainability of the program. GAO surveyed and analyzed documents from 26 of the 44 BLM offices that manage wild horses and burros.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of the Interior | To improve the management of BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program, the Secretary of the Interior should direct BLM to finalize and issue the new Wild Horse and Burro Program Handbook that establishes a policy for setting AML to ensure that AML is determined based on consistent factors across HMAs into the future. | In our October 2008 report on the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program, we found that BLM had not provided specific formal guidance to its field offices on how to set appropriate management levels for wild horses and burros. Furthermore, we reported that since 2006 BLM had been working on revising the program's handbook that would provide such guidance. To improve the management of BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program, we recommended that the Secretary of the Interior direct BLM to finalize and issue the new Wild Horse and Burro Program Handbook that established a policy for setting appropriate management levels to ensure that they are... determined based on consistent factors across herd management areas into the future. The Department of the Interior concurred with the report's findings and recommendations. Based on our finding and recommendation, BLM has taken action to implement our recommendation. Specifically, in June 2010, BLM issued the new Wild Horse and Burro Management Handbook which provides specific formal guidance on how to set appropriate management levels for wild horses and burros. The guidance is provided in section 4.2 and appendix 3 of the new handbook.
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| Department of the Interior | To improve the management of BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program, the Secretary of the Interior should direct BLM to continue to adopt and employ statistically based methods to estimate animal populations across HMAs, such as those being evaluated by animal population researchers, to improve the accuracy of population estimates integral to BLM's management of wild horses and burros on the range and in planning for capacity needed for excess animals once they are removed from the range. | In our October 2008 report on the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program, we found that 19 of the 26 field offices that we surveyed used a counting method which, researchers say, consistently undercounts animals and does not provide a statistical range of population estimates. Furthermore, we reported that undercounting can put animals at risk and lead to increased program costs. To improve the management of BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program, we recommended that the Secretary of the Interior direct BLM to continue to adopt and employ statistically based methods to estimate animal populations across herd management areas. The...
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| Department of the Interior | To improve the management of BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program, the Secretary of the Interior should direct BLM to continue to track the number of animals harmed or killed during the gather process in a centralized database system and determine what information on the treatment of gathered animals, short-term and long-term holding animals, and adopted animals could easily be provided to the public to help inform them about the treatment of wild horses and burros. | In our October 2008 report on the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program, we found that while BLM state offices sometimes collected data on animals that die during gathers, the information was not complied by BLM headquarters in its centralized database, nor was it reported to the public. We concluded that consistently tracking and reporting this information could help inform the public about the treatment of wild horses and burros and improve transparency. To improve the management of BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program, we recommended that the Secretary of the Interior direct BLM to track the number of animals harmed or killed during...
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| Department of the Interior | To improve the management of BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program, the Secretary of the Interior should direct BLM to develop cost-effective alternatives to the process of caring for wild horses removed from the range in long-term holding facilities and seek the legislative changes that may be necessary to implement those alternatives. | In our October 2008 report on the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program, we found that the long-term sustainability of the program was threatened by the continued escalation of off-the-range holding costs. We reported that the Wild Horse and Burro Program's spending for off-the-range holding increased from $7 million in 2000--46 percent of the program's direct costs--to $21 million in 2007--67 percent of the program's direct costs. To improve the management of BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program, we recommended that the Secretary of the Interior direct BLM to develop cost-effective alternatives to the process of caring for wild horses...
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| Department of the Interior | To address BLM's noncompliance with the act, as amended, the Secretary of the Interior should direct BLM to discuss with Congress and other stakeholders how best to comply with the act or amend it so that BLM would be able to comply. As part of this discussion, BLM should inform Congress of its concerns with (1) the act's requirement for the humane destruction of excess animals and (2) the possible slaughter of healthy horses if excess animals are sold without limitation, under certain circumstances, as the act requires. | In our October 2008 report on the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program, we found that BLM was out of compliance with the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, as amended, by not destroying or selling without limitation excess wild horses and burros. Furthermore, we noted BLM's concerns about the possible public and congressional reaction to the large-scale slaughter of thousands of healthy horses. To address BLM's noncompliance with the act, as amended, we recommended that the Secretary of the Interior direct BLM to discuss with Congress and other stakeholders how best to comply with the act or amend it so that BLM would...
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