Eastward the wild horses, federal officials propose

WASHINGTON -- Thousands of wild horses that now roam the West would be moved to preserves in the Midwest and East under a new Interior Department plan to protect wild horse herds and the rangelands that support them.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday the plan would not require killing any wild horses. Interior Department officials had warned in recent months that slaughtering some of the 69,000 wild horses and burros under federal control might be necessary to combat rising costs of maintaining them.

Nearly 37,000 wild horses and burros roam in Nevada, California, Wyoming and other Western states, and another 32,000 horses and burros are cared for in corrals and pastures in Kansas, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Salazar said the current program is not sustainable for the animals, the environment or taxpayers.

The wild horse program, run by the Bureau of Land Management, cost about $50 million this year, officials said, up from $36 million last year. Costs for the current program are expected to rise to at least $85 million by 2012.

The bureau rounds up thousands of the animals annually but has had a hard time finding buyers in recent years.

In a conference call with reporters, Salazar and bureau director Bob Abbey urged Congress to authorize seven wild horse preserves, including two owned and operated by the BLM. It would work with private groups on the remaining reserves, which would be in states in the Midwest and East.

Water and forage are limited in the West, Salazar said, and drought and wildfires threaten both rangeland and animal health in many Western states.

"Unfortunately, arid Western lands and watersheds cannot support a population this large without significant damage to the environment," he said.

The seven preserves would hold about 25,000 horses. Many of the horses remaining on the range would be neutered, and reproduction in Western herds would be limited, Salazar said.