The appropriate management level (AML) for wild horses is 27,000 animals, current population on the range exceeds 70,000. The 43,000 animals above objective are stressing the landscape and creating conflicts with other wildlife and domestic animals through degraded rangelands. Additionally, 46,000 horses and burros are housed in long term holding facilities at a cost of $48,000.00 per animal for its lifetime. When combined with the excess animals on the Rangte this is a potential 2.2 billion dollar expense. As Wild Horse and Burro populations increase on average 20 percent per year, this issue has potential for significant negative impacts on rangeland, wildlife, ecosystems, taxpayers and local economies. To assist policy makers and program managers this SRM symposium will address the ecological threshold of range, grazing habits equine and other species, potential conflicts with sensitive and endangered species, economic challenges to local economies and families and political realities of this challenging issue.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.