Facing the complex problem of too many wild horses

In Nevada, there are more wild horses than all game animals combined. (Photo by Melissa Farlow, Sierra Club)

"Wild horses couldn't keep me away" is a saying, but in real life, plenty of people would like to keep wild horses--otherwise known as mustangs--further away. "The number of horses—along with all the cattle grazing on public lands—has led to a calamity on the rangeland. Wild horses are reproducing at unsustainable rates; between 2007 and 2021, their numbers more than tripled," reports Heather Hansman of Sierra magazine. "In their search for forage, wild horses are tearing up high-desert vegetation, degrading riparian areas, and trampling fragile native plants. . . . As climate change makes the West hotter and drier, the animals are struggling to find water too. In some places, horses have been known to die of starvation and dehydration."

Solutions have proved difficult to find between land stakeholders and horse advocates. Hansman explains, "Roundups for slaughter are off the table—as a matter of humane treatment and U.S. law. Birth-control programs have shown promise, but they are difficult to carry out and are opposed by some horse advocates who express worries about horse health, genetic diversity, and unintentional sterilization. Some horse advocates complain that the Bureau of Land Management's annual roundups can be inhumane."

"One thing that horse people and ecologists agree on is that this situation is a mess. The system is so broken that Congress has called it a 'national crisis,'" Hansman writes. "... the magic and myth of the mustangs seem to collide with the realities of landscape management, policy tussles, and laws that haven't been meaningfully updated since the 1970s."

What does everyone want? "Healthy horses on healthy landscapes is what they say," Hansman reports. "But how can we reach that goal? Especially in the era of climate chaos, especially with an animal that sparks such intense emotions. . . .The story of wild horses is also the story of water and space and the ideal of wildness—the hope that the American West is still big enough for everyone who wants a slice and that last century's laws are adequate for 21st-century complexities. But on the range today, there is not enough to go around, and our ideas about wildness must be constrained by reality. How can we know what the reality is when we've been operating on stories for so long?"

Congress is nixing protections for the lesser prairie-chicken, but won't be able to override a veto promised by Biden

A lesser prairie-chicken performs a mating display. (Getty Images photo via States Newsroom)

Which comes first, the land or the bird? In the case of the South Plains' lesser prairie chicken, it's become a back-and-forth in Washington, D.C. In a rare move, the U.S. Senate voted 50-48 Wednesday to overturn a Biden administration rule that listed one population of the lesser prairie-chicken as an endangered species and the rest as threatened. The House is expected to do likewise and send the legislation to the president, who has said he would veto it. A veto override, which requires a two-thirds vote of both houses, looks impossible.

"Lesser prairie-chickens thrive in native grasses, and conservation groups' efforts to preserve habitat for the birds," reports Ariana Figueroa of States Newsroom. Republican lawmakers who argue the Biden policy is a threat to farmers, ranchers and energy producers."

Map from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service species assessment report

In November, the Fish and Wildlife Service put the southernmost population of the lesser prairie chicken back on the endangered-species list, citing "fairly drastic" differences in the outlook for survival of the species in different areas of the Great Plains. The rule has been particularly unpopular in Kansas, which has three populations now listed as threatened, and the Congressional Review Act resolution was filed by Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas. "Congress can use a CRA to block rules recently promulgated by federal agencies, and in specific other circumstances, by submitting a joint resolution of disapproval," Figueroa explains. "Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas said the rule threatens ranchers and farmers. 'I am confident there are ways to conserve the species without hindering economic opportunity in rural communities. . . . He said what Kansas needs is 'more rainfall, not more regulations.'"

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Tom Carper, D-Delaware, said the game bird "has long been considered an indicator for healthy grasslands and prairies upon which hundreds of species depend. So, if the lesser prairie-chicken is in peril — in time, other species could be in peril as well." Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said the designation "is holding American farms, ranches, and other small businesses hostage to an animal called the lesser prairie-chicken." McConnell "argued that local landowners and officials already set aside millions of acres of potential habitat for the bird," Figueroa reports.

The bird's numbers have drastically declined. "Its population is now estimated to be about 30,000, according to FWS. The habitat for the lesser prairie chicken has diminished by about 90%," Figueroa reports. Mike Leahy, the senior director of wildlife policy for the National Wildlife Federation, told her, "A Congressional Review Act vote is not the right approach because it would not only overturn this particular listing, it would mean this bird could never be listed again no matter how bad things get."