The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced May 12 that it has extended the deadlines for private-sector wild horse and burro sanctuary development proposal submissions.

In March the BLM issued a pair of solicitations seeking proposals from private-sector individuals and organizations interested in partnering with the agency to develop eco-sanctuaries for wild horses and burros. 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 first solicitation sought private sector partners to establish sanctuaries on private lands for wild mustangs and burros currently residing in agency-managed long-term holding facilities. Under the program, individual land owners, Indian tribes, and state and local governments can submit proposals for eco-sanctuary development. The sanctuaries would sustain at least 200 animals and must be designed to provide a variety of public access opportunities. The BLM extended the deadline for private land sanctuary proposal submissions from May 14 to June 7.

The agency later reached out to potentialprivate-sector partners 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 agency extended the deadline for submitting those proposals from May 24 to June 21