BLM Selects Wild Horse Ecosanctuary Location for Analysis

The proposal was submitted by Saving America’s Mustangs, a nonprofit organization formed by Madeleine Pickens.
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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced today (April 19) that it has selected for environmental analysis a public-private land wild horse ecosanctuary proposal submitted by Saving America’s Mustangs (SAM), a non-profit organization formed by Madeleine Pickens. The BLM will conduct an environmental analysis of the proposal under the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 to assess the environmental, economic, social, and other effects of the proposed ecosanctuary. The BLM expects its NEPA analysis–which will include extensive public inputo be completed in approximately two years, after which the agency will make a decision about whether to enter into a formal partnership with SAM.

SAM’s proposed non-reproductive 900-head ecosanctuary would help the BLM care for the horses while ensuring healthy rangeland conditions. Under the proposal, SAM would improve and maintain fencing and water wells, and oversee management of the ecosanctuary horses, which would remain under Federal ownership. SAM would also provide Western history- and wild horse-related education and promote ecotourism.

The BLM-managed public lands that would be part of the proposed ecosanctuary–530,000 acres known as the Spruce grazing allotment–would continue to be publicly accessible for a variety of outdoor activities, such as big game hunting. The proposed ecosanctuary also includes SAM’s private land–approximately 14,000 acres located in northeastern Nevada (south of Wells)–that serves as "base property" for the Spruce grazing allotment and which overlays portions of three wild horse Herd Management Areas. (Base property is private land to which preference for obtaining a BLM grazing permit is attached; the base property is required for a permit, which authorizes grazing on public land.) SAM holds the allotment’s livestock grazing privileges, which it would relinquish to the BLM for intended use by wild horses.

SAM was the only party that submitted a potentially viable proposal to the BLM in response to the agency’s Request for Applications posted on www.grants.gov on March 25, 2011. Other proposals were not selected for environmental review because they did not meet the BLM’s minimum requirements, including ownership or control of the necessary private land and a proven ability to provide humane care for at least 200 wild horses

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