Last Updated on June 26, 2026 by adminahb
Photo – Sophia and little Autry. © TCF June 2026
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is preparing a nationwide Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) that will influence how wild horses and burros are managed across the West for years to come.
This is not a management proposal affecting a single herd.
This is a PROGRAMMATIC review — something BLM has never done before — concerning management activities such as roundups, removals, fertility control, and population growth suppression methods.
Notably, BLM’s preliminary proposal specifically contemplates managing herds to the low end of AML while using fertility control, sex-ratio adjustments, and gelding to suppress population growth.
While this PEA does not directly authorize on-the-ground actions, it is intended to serve as the foundation for future site-specific decisions throughout the Wild Horse and Burro Program. The analyses and conclusions adopted here could be incorporated into future roundups, removals, sterilization proposals, and population management plans nationwide.
We need thousands of comments on the public record.
Please TAKE ACTION and tell BLM that the PEA must disclose and analyze the following:
- Compare AMLs to livestock grazing allocations in EVERY Herd Management Area and Herd Area — including areas with AMLs of zero — and comply with the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act requirement that wild horse and burro habitats be “devoted principally” to their welfare.
- Reevaluate BLM’s reliance on a “metapopulation” theory to justify managing herds at population levels that increase the risk of inbreeding and loss of genetic diversity.
- Analyze the long-term biological, behavioral, social, and genetic impacts of sterilization, fertility control, sex-ratio manipulation, and managing herds at the low end of AML.
- Require cameras on helicopters, at trap sites, and at temporary holding facilities to ensure transparency, humane treatment, and accountability.
This is our opportunity to demand science-based management, genetic viability, transparency, and compliance with the law.
Please submit your comments today and help us build the strongest public record possible.
The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org