The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking new proposals from private-sector individuals and organizations interested in developing eco-sanctuaries for wild horses and burros on combined private and public lands located within herd management areas in Western states. The eco-sanctuaries would help the BLM feed and care for excess wild horses that have been removed from Western public rangelands and would be publicly accessible with a potential for ecotourism.

The proposal solicitation is the second issued by the agency this month. On March 15 the BLM announced that it was seeking private sector partners to establish eco-sanctuaries on private lands for wild mustangs and burros currently residing in agency-managed long-term holding facilities.

Agency Spokesman Derrick Henry said the new solicitation seeks proposals similar to the one previously put forward by Madeleine Pickens.

The wife of Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens first offered to establish the sanctuary for horses in BLM long-term holding facilities in 2008. Under the plan, 10,000 animals currently residing in BLM long-term holding pastures would be relocated to the sanctuary. The plan requests a $500 per horse per year BLM stipend to fund the nonprofit Save America’s Mustangs Foundation to oversee the horses’ care. Last year, Pickens acquired the property necessary to create the 500,000-acre sanctuary in Nevada