Federal agencies sign agreement on wild horses

RENO -- The Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have signed an agreement designed to better coordinate the management of wild horses in a region covering northwest Nevada, northeast California and south-central Oregon.

Mustangs in the region move a lot between the three states as well as between BLM-managed lands and Fish and Wildlife Service-managed lands within the Sheldon-Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Complex, BLM spokeswoman Heather Emmons said.

The agreement calls for BLM offices in the three states and the Fish and Wildlife Service to improve how they count the animals and to share the information.

Plans also call for the agencies to work cooperatively on habitat and population monitoring, and removal of excess mustangs from the range.