Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board recommendations to BLM

The Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board have finalized their recommendations for the Bureau of Land Management after a meeting Thursday night in Grand Junction.

The group is tasked with deciding how to manage thousands of wild horses across the country. They toured the Little Book Cliff Wild Horse area to see our local herd, and better understand how the BLM successfully uses hormones to manage their population.

The management recommendations approved include phasing out long-term holding facilities over the next three years and applying that budget to on-range management and adoptions, come up with funding for more adoptions or sales and to include international adoptions or sales of wild horses.

They'll also suggest increasing funding for hormonal population management, or birth control, by $3 million, and lowering the number of animals allowed to roam freely.

Groups like Friends of the Mustangs are concerned proposed budget cuts would lead to the animals being sold for slaughter.

The advisory board would like to have their next meeting in Washington DC in early 2018, to present these recommendations.