Terri Farley

Sunday, August 03, 2014

BLM Cowed into Eliminating Wyoming's Checkerboard Horses

WHO: The Bureau of Land Management

WHAT: hopes to bypass the National Environmental Policy Act to roundup nearly 1,000 wild horses as part of a plan to eliminate ALL wild horses from two million acres of land

WHEN: August 20, 2014

WHERE: Wyoming Checkerboard lands

WHY: request from Rock Springs Grazing Association of Wyoming

What are Checkerboard lands?

Though Congress mandated the protection of wild free-roaming horses and burros “in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public land,” BLM declared millions of acres “unsuitable for management."

The largest percentage of these “unmanageable” lands – 7,522,00 acres according to BLM’s most recent (2011) statistics – were dubbed checkerboard lands. This meant that private and public lands shared boundaries that BLM found “infeasible” to manage. (read more here: BLM Myths & Facts)

Checkerboard lands may also include treaty lands which have not yet been transferred to Native American tribal holdings.