The Bureau of Land Management is spending over $600,000 in northwest Colorado to "better manage" the overpopulated herds of wild horses in the Sand Wash Basin, the agency announced on Feb. 6.
“BLM Colorado is committed to managing healthy wild horses on healthy public lands," BLM Colorado State Director Doug Vilsack said in the announcement, "and this additional funding will help us achieve that goal in Sand Wash Basin."
Wild horses, iconic symbol of the American west, are causing problems in the basin for greater sage grouse and other wildlife by overgrazing habitat, the BLM reported in the announcement. The 157,730-acre Sand Wash Basin, located approximately 45 west of Craig, Colo., is the natural habitat for greater sage grouse, elk, mule deer, white-tailed prairie dogs, pronghorn antelopes and others, according to the BLM.
The BLM states that the suitable number of horses for Sand Wash Basin is between 163 and 363 horses. In 2021, 684 horses were removed from the Sand Wash Basin Herd Management Area to bring the number to an acceptable management level, "but horse populations are estimated to have since climbed above that level.”
The funding will be used to create fixed bait-and-trap sites to capture fewer horses in small-scale gathers, increase investments and efforts in fertility treatments for mares, and monitor range health for improvements, the BLM reports.
“Balancing the health and safety of wild horses, range health, and wildlife species is a priority for the Bureau of Land Management" Vilsack said in the report, "as we continue to improve our stewardship of wild horses and their habitat with the help of wild horse advocates and conservation groups."
