Nevada Association of Counties, farm bureau sue feds over wild horse management

Two Nevada groups launched a lawsuit against the federal government, alleging mismanagement of wild horses has led to excessive damage on the land and to animals. The Nevada Association of Counties and the Nevada Farm Bureau Federation filed suit regarding wild horse management Dec. 30, naming as defendants the U.S. Department of Interior, the Bureau of Land Management, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, BLM Director Neil Kornze, BLM Assistant Director of Renewable Resources and Planning and BLM State Director Amy Leuders. The plaintiffs accuse the feds of failing to comply with the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971, which requires the BLM to “protect the natural ecological balance of all wildlife species which inhabit such lands, and to maintain a current inventory of wild free-roaming horses and burros on given areas of the public lands, and to remove excess animals,” the complaint states. The BLM agrees that wild horses are exceeding the designated appropriate management levels. On its website, the BLM indicates there were more than 20,000 wild horses and burros in the state last fiscal year, but the maximum management level is set at about 12,700...more