Wild horse and burro overpopulation on the range is not easily managed, and can influence the potential success of conservation and restoration projects. Wild horses can routinely move many miles per day for water and forage. At high densities, both horses and burros can have negative influences on vegetation, soils, and native wildlife. The BLM and USFS manage wild horses and burros on designated public lands in ten western States. Constraints on the agencies� abilities to manage wild horses and burros can limit habitat conservation and vegetation restoration. As of March 1, 2017, BLM estimated that there were nearly 73,000 wild horses and burros on BLM lands, while the appropriate management levels were approximately 27,000. Roughly 7,100 more wild horses and burros live on USFS lands. Approximately 45,000 to 47,000 unadopted animals are currently maintained off-range by BLM at an annual cost of $49 million. Because of the high cost of holding animals off-range, the number of animals that can be removed from the range is limited, and the on-range population continues to grow exponentially, at rates up to 20% per year. We will present a spatial analysis, examining wild horse and burro densities with respect to three resistance and resilience categories, and with respect to Greater Sage-grouse breeding habitat probabilities. We will share insights from this analysis that can be useful for managers who are considering where and how to make rangeland conservation and restoration efforts.�
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.