Court Corrals BLM’s Wild Horse Removal Plan

We are delighted to report that on July 15, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled in our favor in our lawsuit to protect thousands of wild horses in Wyoming and preserve millions of acres of their designated habitat. Represented by the public interest law firm Eubanks & Associates, AWI, American Wild Horse Conservation, Western Watersheds Project, and private individuals Carol Walker, Kimerlee Curyl, and Chad Hanson, filed suit in May 2023 against the Bureau of Land Management challenging the agency’s management plan to eliminate designated wild horse habitat in Wyoming’s Checkerboard region. In planning documents, the BLM repeatedly acknowledged that this area could sustain healthy wild horse herds and that environmental degradation was not at issue; rather, the management plan came in response to pressure from the Rock Springs Grazing Association, a livestock group that wanted the wild horses removed.

The BLM’s plan called for the permanent removal of more than 3,000 wild horses protected under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act (WFRHBA). In its opinion, the Tenth Circuit found serious failings with the BLM’s management plan under the tenets of the law. The court held that the agency acted arbitrarily and capriciously and violated the WFRHBA by failing to consider its responsibility to manage wild equines as part of a thriving natural ecological balance on public lands.

The ruling marks a significant victory for the preservation of wild horses in the United States, as the BLM’s management plan for the Checkerboard amounted to eliminating wild horse habitat and removing these iconic animals from the landscape because they posed an inconvenience to the agency. The Tenth Circuit has remanded the case to the district court to determine an appropriate remedy, and we anticipate the legal battle will continue in that venue; we will provide updates on future legal developments.

Program Terms: Equines, Terrestrial Wildlife

AWI Quarterly Terms: Government/Legal, Quick Read