BLM rounds up thousands of wild horses in Wyoming

Southwest Wyoming's wild horses galloped into the headlines on both a state and national level this year. Federal officials in 2010 embarked on a new, nationwide management strategy and also funded increased contraceptive research, while wranglers on the ground in Wyoming gathered thousands of wild horse from public rangelands. Bureau of Land Management cowboys completed one of the largest wild horse roundups in Wyoming history this year and gathered more horses from public lands than has been done in a decade, according to agency figures. "It was a long month and a half, I'll tell you .... more than 2,000 horses captured," BLM wild horse and burro specialist Jay D'Ewart said about the historic gathering operation in the Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek herd management areas. On the national front, federal officials began work on a broader strategy that aims to better manage and reduce wild horse numbers in 10 Western states. BLM Director Bob Abbey announced in June the agency was beginning work on a new, long-term national strategy that he said will take the program in an "unprecedented, new direction." At the same time, federal lawmakers pushed for a two-year, independent review of the national wild horse and burro program by the esteemed National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council...more