Appeal could complicate plan to move wild horses to Butte County

The federal government's planned release of 1,000 wild horses onto private land near Belle Fourche was made more complicated Friday after a formal appeal was filed, challenging the environmental assessment of the horse relocation. The federal Bureau of Land Management plan is to move the wild horses from a grazing lease at a ranch near Ft. Pierre to a similar lease on a private ranch in southeast Butte County. The move is part of a larger effort to save America's wild horses. The appeal was received on the deadline day on Friday by the federal BLM station in Belle Fourche. Chip Kimball, South Dakota field manager for the bureau, said Friday that the appeal came in the 30-day time period following her signing of the environmental assessment for the project. The BLM had planned to move the horses around the end of September. Kimball would not comment on how the appeal might affect the project timeline. But earlier, she indicated the appeal will require more evaluation...more