Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range
Encyclopedia
The Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range is a refuge
for a historically signifcant herd of free-roaming Mustangs
, feral horse
s colloquially called "wild horse
s", located in the Pryor Mountains
of Montana
and Wyoming
in the United States. The range has an area of 39650 acres (160.5 km²) and was established in 1968 along the Montana–Wyoming border as the first protected refuge dedicated exclusively for Mustangs
. It was the second feral horse refuge in the United States. About a quarter of the refuge lies within the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
. A group of federal agencies, led by the Bureau of Land Management, administers the range.
Because of the unique genetic makeup of the Pryor Mountains Mustang herd, equine geneticist Dr. E. Gus Cothran concluded in 1992 that "the Pryor herd may be the most significant wild-horse herd remaining in the United States." Dr. D. Phillip Sponenberg, equine veterinarian
at Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine
, agreed, noting, "[These animals] don't exist anywhere else."
and the U.S. Grazing Service (the predecessor to the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM)) began to remove feral horses from federal land. The two agencies were concerned that there were too many horses on the land, which led to overgrazing and significant soil erosion. Ranchers wanted the feral horses removed because they were grazing on land ranchers wanted to use for their own livestock. Hunters were worried that as horses degraded range land, hunting species would also suffer. It was not clear that there were too many horses, or that the land was incurring damage due to the presence of the horses. Nonetheless, both agencies responded to political pressure to act, and they began to remove hundreds of thousands of feral horses from federal property. From 1934 to 1963, the Grazing Service (and from 1946 onward, the BLM) paid private contractors to kill Mustangs and permitted their carcasses to be used for pet food. Ranchers were often permitted to round up any horses they wanted, and the Forest Service shot any remaining animals.
Feral horse advocates were unhappy with the Forest Service and BLM's horse culling procedures. They argued that herding horses from the air or by motorized vehicle (such as motorcycles) terrorized the animals and caused numerous and cruel injuries. Led by Velma Bronn Johnston
—better known as "Wild Horse Annie," a secretary at an insurance firm in Reno
, Nevada—animal welfare
and horse advocates lobbied for passage of a federal law to prevent this kind of hunting. Their efforts were successful. On September 8, 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the Hunting Wild Horses and Burros on Public Lands Act (Public Law 86- 234, also known as the "Wild Horse Annie Act"), which banned the hunting of feral horses on federal land from aircraft or motorized vehicles.
However, in 1961 President John F. Kennedy ordered the United States Department of the Interior
to implement measures to stop soil erosion on federal land. On the Pryor Mountains range, where there were about 140 to 200 horses, BLM ordered in 1964 that the horses be removed. Fearful that the horses were not going to be stabled but that the roundup was a prelude to slaughter of the entire herd, in 1966 Johnston began a letter-writing and public relations campaign against the BLM. Johnston's goal was the establishment of a permanent refuge for the Pryor Mountains herd, but this was a daunting task. Hunting and ranching lobby groups had strongly opposed establishment of a feral horse refuge in Nevada, and only accepted creation of the Nevada Wild Horse Range in 1962 because it was within the Nellis Air Force Range area of 2200000 acres (8,903.1 km²) (renamed Nevada Test and Training Range
in 2001). In 1965, Johnston founded the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros (ISPMB), a nonprofit group dedicated to educating the public about the plight of feral horses and burro
s, which and lobbied Congress and the executive branch for their protection on public land. Johnston and her group had several local allies as well. They included Bessie Tillett (a widowed rancher's wife in her 80s) and her sons, Royce and Lloyd Tillett. The Tilletts tried to protect the feral horses beginning in 1964, claiming them as their own and threatening BLM officials who tried to remove the herd from land the Tilletts leased from BLM. (The Tilletts also kept feral horses from the herd on their private land, and began adopting them out.) BLM officials suspended the Tilletts' lease in 1966 (the reason was inadequate fencing), forcing the family to give up their claim to many horses. Others who wanted to protect the herd included ranchers and the people of nearby Lovell
, Wyoming, who saw the horses not only as part of Western
heritage but also a major tourist attraction. The ISPMB and its allies proved highly effective in raising public awareness of the issue and building political support for their efforts, and in 1966 BLM suspended its plans for the roundup.
In 1968, BLM proposed three new plans for dealing with the Pryor Mountains Mustang herd: Removing but not killing all but 30 to 35 animals and allowing the rest to remain on the range; killing all but 10 to 15 animals and allow the herd to recover to 30 animals; or allowing the state of Montana to remove all the animals and sell them. In response, Pryor Mountains horse advocates began pushing for a protected sanctuary for these animals. The group contacted ABC News
producer Hope Ryden and made her aware of BLM's plans. Ryden visited the range and filmed a news segment which aired on July 11, 1968, on ABC News
with Frank Reynolds
. ABC News and BLM were "deluged" with mail protesting the removal of the horses after the segment aired. On August 27, 1968, the Humane Society of the United States
successfully sued to stop trapping of the horses. The political landscape shifted dramatically toward protection rather than removal of the horses. On September 9, 1968, Secretary of the Interior
Stewart Udall
formally established a Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range of 33600 acres (136 km²). Montana's senior Senator
, Mike Mansfield
, was so elated that he published Udall's order scrapping the BLM plan in the Congressional Record
.
The size of the range was determined by law, which specified that the range could cover only those areas where feral horses existed in 1971 (but not necessarily historically). A boundary fence had been constructed between BLM and Forest Service land in the 1940s, which significantly affected feral horse distribution in the Pryor Mountains and restricted the horses to rangeland south, east, and west of the Custer National Forest
. By 1968, when the refuge was created, fences completely surrounded what became the refuge, limiting the horses' spread. Both BLM and the Forest Service interpreted the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971
as requiring protection of feral horses only on those lands where the horses existed as of 1971, not lands which they had historically used.
In October 1968, the Interior department established an Advisory Committee to report on the state of the herd, the status of forage on the range, and whether feral horses should continue to be kept on the range. The panel met a month later, and commissioned studies on whether branded
runaway horses should be allowed to mix with the herd, whether BLM should build artificial watering holes to encourage the animals to range more widely, whether BLM should manage the herd's bloodlines by introducing stallions to the herds, and how many horses should live on the range. At its February 1969 meeting, the committee proved sharply divided over horse management issues. Studies of the range proved highly inadequate. BLM presented a study to the committee which attempted to show that horses were grazing the land so heavily that extensive erosion was taking place, but a private study found that that the erosion was due to topography and drought and not because of the horses. Another study, conducted by a group which promoted hunting on the range, found that the horses were having a negative impact on edible plants in the Pryor Mountains and were having a detrimental impact on deer
fawn survival. But the committee discovered that this study hadn't even been conducted in the Pryor Mountains but at another location. Another BLM study concluded that the Pryor Mountains horses had changed from grazers
to browsers
and were consuming large mountain mahogany shrub, a critical deer food source. But an Advisory Committee analysis showed that the plants documented in the study were small mountain mahogany shrub variety, not the large mahogany shrub BLM claimed, and that the vegetation was in good shape, not deteriorated as the BLM claimed.
In June 1969, the Committee rendered its unanimous opinion that forage on the range was in good shape, herd health was good, and that the range should be managed solely for the protection of wild horses. The Advisory Committee did, however, recommend that the herd levels be reduced to no more than 100 horses; that branded, deformed, old, and sick animals be culled from the herd; that BLM should create new watering holes to encourage the herd to forage more widely; that the range be fenced; and that roads be constructed in the range's interior to improve access for tourists. In 1970, BLM built a 20000 gal catch-basin to help supply horses on the range with water.
singer Judy Lynn
, Gunsmoke
actress Amanda Blake
, and New Hampshire Union Leader
publisher and conservative William Loeb III.
On December 18, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon signed into law the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFRHBA), which made it a crime for anyone to harass or kill feral horses or burros on federal land, required the departments of the Interior and Agriculture
to protect the animals, required studies of the animals' habits and habitats, and permitted public land to be set aside for their use. In addition, the act required that feral horses be protected as "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West", and that management plans must "maintain a thriving natural ecological balance among wild horse populations, wildlife, livestock, and vegetation and to protect the range from the deterioration associated with overpopulation." Although feral horse ranges were principally for the protection of the horses, the land was required to be maintained for multiple use. BLM was also permitted to close public land to livestock grazing to protect feral horse and burro habitat.
The WFRHBA gave jurisdiction over challenges to BLM and Forest Service management of feral horses and how the act is implemented to the Department of the Interior's Board of Land Appeals. The act also contained provisions for the removal of excess animals; the destruction of lame, old, or sick animals; the private placement or adoption of excess animals; and even the destruction of healthy animals if range management required it.
In fact, the destruction of healthy or unhealthy horses almost never occurred. The WFRHBA left range management policy unresolved in many respects, although it did specify that BLM and the Forest Service consult with state wildlife agencies. In practice, BLM struggled to accommodate the needs of feral horses among its other priorities (which included livestock grazing, prevention of soil erosion, and accommodating big game hunting). In November 1971, BLM announced a major effort to save the Pryor Mountains herd from starvation after a poor summer growing season left vegetation on the range stunted. By 1974, the herd on the Pryor Mountain range had increased by 17 percent over the 1968 level. But there was strong disagreement over whether the population had actually increased as much as this, if at all.
that permitted the humane use of helicopters in capturing free-roaming horses on federal land, and for the use of motorized vehicles in transporting them to corrals. In 2009, a BLM official said that while many federally protected feral horse ranges have trouble adopting out all their horses, every horse from the Pryor Mountains herd put up for adoption was subsequently adopted by a private citizen.
There were, however, strong disagreements over the nature of the horses. Many ranchers and hunters considered feral horses to be an invasive species
, or at least an introduced species
. While conceding that federal law protects the animals, these individuals also argued that economic needs (like livestock grazing) should take precedence over the horses. But horse advocates argued that horses were native to North America and eliminated by paleolithic human beings, and as a native wild animal they should be protected like the grizzly bear
or bald eagle
. To test which definition applied to feral horses, in 1974 the New Mexico Livestock Board seized 19 free-roaming feral burros which were preventing cattle from using a watering hole on federal land. The United States District Court for the District of New Mexico held that, under the Property Clause of the U.S. Constitution, Congress could regulate wild animals only to protect public land from damage. The case went to the Supreme Court of the United States
. In Kleppe v. New Mexico
, 426 U.S. 529 (1976), the Supreme Court ruled that these free-roaming horses and burros were, in fact, wildlife, and it rejected New Mexico's narrow construction of the Property Clause. Ranchers continued to litigate the issue, however. In the early 1980s, ranching interests won a ruling from the Department of the Interior that feral horses who ate grass or drank water which ranchers had leased had "taken" these resources from the ranchers in violation of the "takings clause" of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But in Mountain States Legal Foundation v. Hodel, 799 F.2d 1423 (1986), cert. den'd. 480 U.S. 951 (1987), the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
said that a wild animal was not an "agent" of the federal government and hence could not be found guilty of "taking" the ranchers' leased grass or water.
Problems with the Adopt-a-Horse program also emerged. BLM was accused of allowing too many adoptions so as to deplete feral horse populations on federal land. Many private individuals were also accused of "adopting" horses only to later sell them for slaughter
as pet food. Responding to these problems, in 1978 Congress passed the Public Rangelands Improvement Act (PRIA). The PRIA limited adoptions to only four horses a year per individual and allowed BLM to relinquish title to the horse after one year (during which inspections regarding the animal's treatment were to occur). The law also required BLM to inventory all feral horse herds, scientifically determine what constituted "appropriate" herd levels, and determine through a public process whether "excess" animals should be removed. Congress further amended PRIA in 1978 to require updated herd counts. Pursuant to the 1978 amendments, BLM established 209 "herd management areas" (HMAs) where feral horses existed on federal land. The Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range was one of only three HMAs solely dedicated to feral horses. In January 1982, the director of BLM issued a moratorium on the destruction of excess adoptable animals. From 1988 to 2004, Congress also prohibited BLM from using any funds to destroy excess animals.
Most of the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range was designated a wilderness study area
in 1981. Wilderness study areas (WSAs) are authorized by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act
of 1976. The act directed the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) of the United States Department of the Interior
to inventory and study all federally owned roadless areas for possible designation as a Wilderness Area. Until the United States Congress
makes a final determination on the status of a wilderness study area, the BLM must manage the area as a protected national wilderness
. Three BLM areas entirely enclosed by the range and one National Park Service area only partially within the range were recommended for wilderness in August 1991 and December 1981. These areas are the Burnt Timber Canyon WSA, Pryor Mountain WSA, Big Horn Tack-On WSA, and Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area WSA.
In 2004, Republican
Senator from Montana Conrad Burns
inserted a rider
into the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005 (a 3,000-page omnibus appropriations bill) which permitted BLM to sell excess animals more than 10 years old or which have been offered for adoption three times. The amendment also required that excess, unadoptable horses "shall be made available for sale without limitation." Burns was reportedly acting on behalf of ranching interests, who wished more of the horses removed from federal land. Although the legislation (signed into law by President George W. Bush) was described by one media outlet as "undercut[ing] more than three decades of lobbying and legislative action aimed at protecting America's wild horses from slaughter", as of May 2011 it has not been repealed.
In early 2005, BLM discovered that some of the excess wild horses it had sold had been slaughtered. BLM suspended the sales program in April 2005 and resumed them in May 2005 after implementing new requirements to deter buyers from slaughtering the animals. In the fall of 2007, the last three horse slaughterhouses in the United States closed. However, BLM procedures do not ban the export of wild horses for sale and slaughter outside the United States.
In 2008, the Government Accountability Office
concluded BLM was not in compliance with the 2004 amendment. BLM had imposed limitations on the sale of excess horses to help ensure that they were not slaughtered (thus avoiding a public outcry).
and Early Tertiary
period (about 70 to 60 million years ago) when magma
welling up from below cracked a vast limestone plateau into four pieces and uplifted the northeast corner of each piece. The Bighorn River
flows north from Wyoming until it reaches the plateau between the Bighorn and Pryor mountains. The river flows along the fault line
between the two mountain ranges, and has cut the Bighorn Canyon deep into the limestone. The Crow
Native American tribe called the mountains Baahpuuo Isawaxaawuua ("Hitting the Rock Mountains"), because of the large amount of flint
found there (a type of rock which could be chipped into arrowheads and spear points). The mountains draw their current name from Sergeant
Nathaniel Hale Pryor
, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
who vainly pursued horses stolen from the expedition in the area.
Soil and water resources on the range are limited. Soil depth varies from less than 10 inches (25.4 cm) deep to 40 inches (101.6 cm) deep, and there are only five perennial water sources on the range. Livestock grazing occurred on the range until the late 1960s, and the area historically was severely overgrazed, which has created the limited forage conditions found on the range today.
The Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range is east of and adjacent to Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
. The range consists primarily of alpine meadows, high desert, rocky ridges, and steep, semi-alpine slopes. The average elevation is about 8700 feet (2,651.8 m). Rainfall varies from as little as 5 inches (127 mm) in the foothills to 20 inches (508 mm) in the mountains' upper reaches. Snowfall is generally about 3 foot (0.9144 m) a year, and occurs from September to May.
maintains that the horses were brought to the area by about 1725. Non-Indian explorers found native people in possession of large numbers of horses as early as 1743. Thousands of feral horses lived in the area by the time American pioneers began settling near the Pryor Mountains in the late 1800s.
It was widely believed that the Pryor Mountains horses were direct descendants of the Barb
horses brought to North America by Juan de Oñate
's expedition to explore America north of the Rio Grande
in the early 1600s. Their bloodlines may also include American Saddlebred
, Canadian
, Irish Hobby
, and Tennessee Walking horses, although this was in dispute for many years. Some people claimed that the horses were nothing more than local domestic horses which had escaped to the wild. In 1992, equine geneticist Dr. E. Gus Cothran ran genetic studies on the herd, and concluded that their primary bloodline descends from Spanish Barbs. Since no genetic variants were observed which were not also seen in domestic horse breeds, in 2010 Cothran concluded the horses were not a unique species which had survived from prehistoric times. Rather, they were linear descendants of the Spanish Barb, with some evidence of genetic similarity to light racing and riding breeds. The genetic tests also revealed that the Pryor Mountains horses carried a rare allele
variant known as "Qac" that only Spanish horses
brought to the Americas also carried. Dr. D. Phillip Sponenberg of the Virginia–Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, and an expert on horse breeds, observed that, physically, the horses conform to the Colonial Spanish Horse type. Genetic studies have also revealed that the herd exhibits a high degree of genetic diversity, and BLM has acknowledged the genetic uniqueness of the herd.
The Pryor Mountains feral horse conforms to a very specific type. The animal is generally 13 to 15 h (1.3 to 1.5 m) high, with an average of 14 to 14.2 h (1.4 to 1.4 m). The horses weigh 700 to 800 lb (317.5 to 362.9 kg) on the range, and more if raised in captivity. The animals exhibit a wide range of solid colors, including bay, black
, chestnut
, dun
, grullo
, and blue or red roan
. Buckskin coloring is rare but does occur, and pinto
coloring can be minimally expressed. However, the majority of colors are dun or grullo. Nearly all the horses on the range exhibit primitive markings
such as dorsal stripes, transverse stripes across the withers
, and horizontal "zebra" stripes on the back of the forelegs. The Pryor Mountains horse's body is heavy, with strong bones. Manes and tails tend to be long, and the horse's winter coat is very heavy and often curly. The head is convex or straight (the "Roman nose" identified by horse breeders), with wide-set eyes, hooked ears, and a broad forehead that tapers to well to the muzzle. The front teeth meet evenly, the upper lip is usually longer than the lower, and the nostrils are small and crescent shaped. The neck is medium in length, and most of the animals have only five lumbar vertebrae (an anatomical feature common in primitive horses)—although some have a fifth and sixth vertebrae which are fused. The horse's shoulders are long and sloping, the withers
are prominent, and chests are medium to narrow in width. The croup
is generally sloped, and tail-set is low. The hooves are ample and very hard.
Pryor Mountains Mustangs exhibit a natural paso gait. The horses are generally intelligent, strong, and sure-footed, and exhibit great stamina. Like all feral horses, they generally avoid human contact, are distrustful, and are easily spooked. However, once they are familiar with an individual, they can exhibit a strong social bond with that individual. Pryor Mountains horses can be broken and ridden, and trained to do any task a domesticated horse can perform. Trained Pryor Mountains horses have a calm temperament, and are alert on trails.
The horses form bands or "harems," in which a single stallion mates and controls a group of about six mares. Another eight to 10 "bachelor" stallions accompany the band at a distance, hoping to win control of it from the stallion or mate with mares.
Management of the Pryor Mountains horse herd has focused on fulfilling the Free-Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act's requirement that BLM maintain a "thriving natural ecological balance". In general, BLM initially focused on how many horses the range could support and in maintaining conformity to the Pryor Mountains standard. However, with the development of DNA
testing in the mid 1980s, the focus changed to maintaining the herd's genetic viability as well. In 1988, researchers at Washington State University
authored a paper which raised concern that the herd exhibited a lack of genetic diversity, and could be suffering from genetic drift
and/or a population bottleneck
. BLM contracted with veterinarian E. Gus Cothran (then at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Kentucky, but now at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
) to take random genetic samples of the herd in 1994, 1997, and 2001. Cothran's analysis found "no evidence of a bottleneck". Genetic diversity was actually above the mean for feral horse herds in the United States, and just below the mean for domesticated breeds. The BLM, however, interpreted these studies in 2009 to indicate that the genetic diversity of the Pryor Mountains herd is "well above" the mean for domestic breeds. Cothran considered the herd to be in genetic equilibrium, although he cautioned that a minimum of 120 breeding-age animals should be kept on the range to maintain the genetic health of the herd. Research by biologists and veterinarians at Colorado State University
, the University of Kentucky
, and other colleges found that there is little inbreeding
in bands, as the stallions tend to drive off colts
when they are about two years old.
In 1990, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report highly critical of BLM's wild horse management programs. The GAO concluded that the BLM had little scientific basis for deciding what the range carrying capacity was or how many horses should be removed to attain ecological equilibrium or restoration. Furthermore, the GAO found that the BLM had not reduced livestock grazing or engaged in range management activities to improve the carrying capacity of the land.
For years, BLM had also allowed any horse to be adopted from the range. Since adopters favored "pretty" horses, the genetics of the herd altered so that mostly bays and blacks were left on the range. This problem was quickly discovered and adoption procedures changed in 1994 so that now the original colors and patterns of the herd are returning. That same year, a private group calling itself the Pryor Mountains Mustang Breeders Association was formed to preserve the gene pool of the herd and establish a registry for Pryor Mountains horses in private hands. In order to be placed on the register, the horse must have a registered sire and dam, have a title issued either by BLM or the Tillett ranch, and have a certificate of blood typing from the Gluck Equine Research Center at the University of Kentucky. As of 2008, 209 horses in 16 U.S. states and one Canadian province were on the registry.
BLM undertook a roundup of the horse herd in 1997 to reduce its numbers, and BLM officials said that they expected to do another in late 2000 when the herd size reached 200. By August 1999, there were 180 adult horses and colts on the range.
In May 2009, after several long-term studies of the rangeland, BLM determined that the range's maximum carrying capacity was 179 feral horses. This assumed that all BLM land, as well as lands leased from other owners (public and private), would continue to be available to the animals, and that BLM would be able to manage the horses by using artificial watering sites to encourage the horses to utilize undergrazed portions of the range. BLM also said it would implement other range management techniques, including restoration of riparian vegetation
to enhance existing watering holes, use of controlled burn
s to reduce the amount of dead wood and brush on the range, noxious weed control, better fencing, and other methods. BLM also proposed purchasing 1467 acres (5.9 km²) of land from the state of Montana, and another 632 acres (2.6 km²) of private land, to add to the range.
At the same time, BLM said it would reduce the herd from its existing 195 adults to 120. The goal was to temporarily remove feral horses from the refuge to allow the range to recover from the historic overgrazing caused by livestock, not because BLM believed there were too many horses on the range. According to Jared Bybee, BLM wild horse and burro specialist, grass cover on the range was at just 18 percent of its historic average. Sixty percent of the remaining horses would be males, to reduce the rate of population growth. The agency said it would remove 30 horses a year from the herd and stable them at a yearly cost of $18,000 to $21,000 until the correct herd size and sex ratios had been reached. Horses to be removed from the herd included those which did not closely fit the conformity type; which were genetically well-represented; which were 11 to 15 years of age, had sired or foaled, and were not band stallions; and were between five and 10 years of age or 16 to 20 years of age. Genetic diversity would be measured by visual observation of the herd's conformity to type (using a visual system developed by Dr. Sponenberg), and measures taken to improve genetic diversity if signs of inbreeding occurred. The Cloud Foundation and Front Range Equine Rescue, both feral horse advocacy groups, challenged the roundup in federal court. A federal district court judge delayed the roundup three days to consider their request, but on September 2, 2009, rejected the injunction and allowed the roundup to proceed.
BLM began its roundup of feral horses on the Pryor Mountains range in early September 2009. After several days, 130 of 188 feral horses were rounded up. Forty-six horses were put up for adoption, while the freed mares were given a contraceptive vaccine to help keep the herd population down. The Forest Service also closed a portion of the Custer National Forest to livestock grazing after about 40 feral horses moved into the area, but rounded these up as well and returned them to the range.
At this time, BLM also placed "guzzlers" on the range. A guzzler is a precipitation (usually rainwater) collection device which traps water in a storage tank (ranging in size from a few to several thousand gallons/liters). The storage tank can be above-ground, partially buried, or below-ground. A mechanical valve releases water into a drinking trough from the storage tanks, allowing animals access to the water. When the valve senses that the water level in the trough is low, it opens and allows more water into the drinking area. Five guzzlers were placed in undergrazed areas to encourage the horses to better utilize this forage.
In the fall of 2010, BLM issued a set of draft strategy documents for operating its wild horse programs, and solicited public comment on the plans. After receiving numerous comments, BLM said in February 2011 it would quicken the pace at which it made revisions to its roundup procedures, use of fertility control drugs, and wild horse and burro range land management. The agency also commissioned a study from the National Academies of Science (NAS) on wild-horse management. Due for release in 2013, independent NAS experts will study a wide variety of issues, including the carrying capacity of wild horse and burro ranges, wild horse and burro population growth, and best practices in fertility control.
In September 2011, BLM announced it would begin working with the Humane Society of the United States
to develop new practices in herd management and roundup, and increase its emphasis on adoptions and the use of drugs as fertility control to help better manage its wild horse herds.
The range can be easily accessed via a paved road which parallels Bighorn Canyon, and which provides excellent viewing of the horses. The range can also be accessed from Laurel
, Montana, by traveling south on U.S. Route 310
and then taking the Forest Service gravel road to Dryhead Overlook. Those with four-wheel drive
vehicles can take the rutted dirt road through the forest to Penn's Cabin, which is another good horse viewing spot. Those interested in circumnavigating the range can take the dirt Burnt Timber Ridge Road from Penn's Cabin to the dirt Sykes Ridge Road, and follow Sykes Ridge Road to its terminus. (Sykes Ridge Road also offers the best viewing of the Bighorn Basin.) Roads around the range tend to be impassable in wet weather or snow. Some of the range may be accessed via the Crow Indian Reservation
. A trespass permit (obtainable from the Crow Nation) is required to cross tribal land or exit a vehicle while on tribal land.
Hiking on the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse range is good, but there are no maintained or marked trails and (as of 2000) no guidebooks to the area.
In addition to feral horses, the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Refuge is also a good place to see other wildlife and plant species. Among the species found there are Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep
, black bear
s, blue grouse, cougars, elk
, gray wolves
, mule deer
, ring-necked pheasant
, and sage grouse. The Pryor Mountains are also home to the most diverse bat populations in Montana, with 10 species identified (and potentially other species also present). The range is also home to several animals which BLM or the state of Montana considers sensitive to ecological change, such as Baird's sparrow
, long-eared Myotis
(a species of vesper bat
), pallid bat
, peregrine falcon
, spotted bat
, Townsend's big-eared bat
, and Yellowstone cutthroat trout
. There are also 15 species of plants on the range which have been granted special status by the state of Montana or the federal government.
This herd was the subject of the 1995 documentary film Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies and its sequel, the 2003 documentary film Cloud's Legacy: The Wild Stallion Returns.
Wildlife refuge
A wildlife refuge, also called a wildlife sanctuary, may be a naturally occurring sanctuary, such as an island, that provides protection for species from hunting, predation or competition, or it may refer to a protected area, a geographic territory within which wildlife is protected...
for a historically signifcant herd of free-roaming Mustangs
Mustang (horse)
A Mustang is a free-roaming horse of the North American west that first descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but there is intense debate over terminology...
, feral horse
Feral horse
A feral horse is a free-roaming horse of domesticated ancestry. As such, a feral horse is not a wild animal in the sense of an animal without domesticated ancestors. However, some populations of feral horses are managed as wildlife, and these horses often are popularly called "wild" horses...
s colloquially called "wild horse
Wild Horse
The wild horse is a species of the genus Equus, which includes as subspecies the domesticated horse as well as the undomesticated Tarpan and Przewalski's Horse. The Tarpan became extinct in the 19th century, and Przewalski's Horse was saved from the brink of extinction and reintroduced...
s", located in the Pryor Mountains
Pryor Mountains
The Pryor Mountains are a mountain range in Carbon County, Montana and Big Horn County, Montana. They are located on the Crow Indian Reservation and the Custer National Forest, and portions of them are on private land...
of Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
and Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
in the United States. The range has an area of 39650 acres (160.5 km²) and was established in 1968 along the Montana–Wyoming border as the first protected refuge dedicated exclusively for Mustangs
Mustang (horse)
A Mustang is a free-roaming horse of the North American west that first descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but there is intense debate over terminology...
. It was the second feral horse refuge in the United States. About a quarter of the refuge lies within the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, following the construction of the Yellowtail Dam by the Bureau of Reclamation. This dam, named after the famous Crow chairman Robert Yellowtail, harnessed the waters of the Bighorn River and turned...
. A group of federal agencies, led by the Bureau of Land Management, administers the range.
Because of the unique genetic makeup of the Pryor Mountains Mustang herd, equine geneticist Dr. E. Gus Cothran concluded in 1992 that "the Pryor herd may be the most significant wild-horse herd remaining in the United States." Dr. D. Phillip Sponenberg, equine veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
at Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine
Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine
The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine is a state-supported college of two states, Virginia and Maryland, filling the need for veterinary medicine education in both states. Students from both states are considered "in-state" students for admissions purposes.VMRCVM is one of...
, agreed, noting, "[These animals] don't exist anywhere else."
Establishing the range
In 1900, there were two to five million feral horses in the United States. However, their numbers were in steep decline as domestic cattle and sheep competed with them for resources. After the mid-1930s, their numbers fell even more drastically due to intervention by the U.S. government. The United States Forest ServiceUnited States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
and the U.S. Grazing Service (the predecessor to the Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...
(BLM)) began to remove feral horses from federal land. The two agencies were concerned that there were too many horses on the land, which led to overgrazing and significant soil erosion. Ranchers wanted the feral horses removed because they were grazing on land ranchers wanted to use for their own livestock. Hunters were worried that as horses degraded range land, hunting species would also suffer. It was not clear that there were too many horses, or that the land was incurring damage due to the presence of the horses. Nonetheless, both agencies responded to political pressure to act, and they began to remove hundreds of thousands of feral horses from federal property. From 1934 to 1963, the Grazing Service (and from 1946 onward, the BLM) paid private contractors to kill Mustangs and permitted their carcasses to be used for pet food. Ranchers were often permitted to round up any horses they wanted, and the Forest Service shot any remaining animals.
Feral horse advocates were unhappy with the Forest Service and BLM's horse culling procedures. They argued that herding horses from the air or by motorized vehicle (such as motorcycles) terrorized the animals and caused numerous and cruel injuries. Led by Velma Bronn Johnston
Velma Bronn Johnston
Velma Bronn Johnston , also known as Wild Horse Annie, was an animal rights activist. Johnston led a campaign to stop the removal of wild mustangs and burros from public lands. She was instrumental in passing legislation to stop using aircraft and land vehicles to capture wild horses and burros...
—better known as "Wild Horse Annie," a secretary at an insurance firm in Reno
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
, Nevada—animal welfare
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
and horse advocates lobbied for passage of a federal law to prevent this kind of hunting. Their efforts were successful. On September 8, 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the Hunting Wild Horses and Burros on Public Lands Act (Public Law 86- 234, also known as the "Wild Horse Annie Act"), which banned the hunting of feral horses on federal land from aircraft or motorized vehicles.
However, in 1961 President John F. Kennedy ordered the United States Department of the Interior
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native...
to implement measures to stop soil erosion on federal land. On the Pryor Mountains range, where there were about 140 to 200 horses, BLM ordered in 1964 that the horses be removed. Fearful that the horses were not going to be stabled but that the roundup was a prelude to slaughter of the entire herd, in 1966 Johnston began a letter-writing and public relations campaign against the BLM. Johnston's goal was the establishment of a permanent refuge for the Pryor Mountains herd, but this was a daunting task. Hunting and ranching lobby groups had strongly opposed establishment of a feral horse refuge in Nevada, and only accepted creation of the Nevada Wild Horse Range in 1962 because it was within the Nellis Air Force Range area of 2200000 acres (8,903.1 km²) (renamed Nevada Test and Training Range
Nevada Test and Training Range
The Nevada Test and Training Range is a training facility of the United States Air Force located in the desert of southern Nevada in the United States. It is the largest of its kind in the US, and is operated by the USAF Warfare Center's 98th Range Wing...
in 2001). In 1965, Johnston founded the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros (ISPMB), a nonprofit group dedicated to educating the public about the plight of feral horses and burro
Burro
The burro is a small donkey used primarily as a pack animal. In addition, significant numbers of feral burros live in the Southwestern United States, where they are protected by law, and in Mexico...
s, which and lobbied Congress and the executive branch for their protection on public land. Johnston and her group had several local allies as well. They included Bessie Tillett (a widowed rancher's wife in her 80s) and her sons, Royce and Lloyd Tillett. The Tilletts tried to protect the feral horses beginning in 1964, claiming them as their own and threatening BLM officials who tried to remove the herd from land the Tilletts leased from BLM. (The Tilletts also kept feral horses from the herd on their private land, and began adopting them out.) BLM officials suspended the Tilletts' lease in 1966 (the reason was inadequate fencing), forcing the family to give up their claim to many horses. Others who wanted to protect the herd included ranchers and the people of nearby Lovell
Lovell, Wyoming
Lovell is a town in Big Horn County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 2,281 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Lovell is located at ....
, Wyoming, who saw the horses not only as part of Western
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
heritage but also a major tourist attraction. The ISPMB and its allies proved highly effective in raising public awareness of the issue and building political support for their efforts, and in 1966 BLM suspended its plans for the roundup.
In 1968, BLM proposed three new plans for dealing with the Pryor Mountains Mustang herd: Removing but not killing all but 30 to 35 animals and allowing the rest to remain on the range; killing all but 10 to 15 animals and allow the herd to recover to 30 animals; or allowing the state of Montana to remove all the animals and sell them. In response, Pryor Mountains horse advocates began pushing for a protected sanctuary for these animals. The group contacted ABC News
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
producer Hope Ryden and made her aware of BLM's plans. Ryden visited the range and filmed a news segment which aired on July 11, 1968, on ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
with Frank Reynolds
Frank Reynolds
Frank James Reynolds was an American television journalist for ABC and CBS News.He was a New York-based anchor of the ABC Evening News from 1968 to 1970 and later as the Washington D.C.-based co-anchor of World News Tonight from 1978 until his death in 1983...
. ABC News and BLM were "deluged" with mail protesting the removal of the horses after the segment aired. On August 27, 1968, the Humane Society of the United States
Humane Society of the United States
The Humane Society of the United States , based in Washington, D.C., is the largest animal advocacy organization in the world. In 2009, HSUS reported assets of over US$160 million....
successfully sued to stop trapping of the horses. The political landscape shifted dramatically toward protection rather than removal of the horses. On September 9, 1968, Secretary of the Interior
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
Stewart Udall
Stewart Udall
Stewart Lee Udall was an American politician. After serving three terms as a congressman from Arizona, he served as Secretary of the Interior from 1961 to 1969, under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B...
formally established a Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range of 33600 acres (136 km²). Montana's senior Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
, Mike Mansfield
Mike Mansfield
Michael Joseph Mansfield was an American Democratic politician and the longest-serving Majority Leader of the United States Senate, serving from 1961 to 1977. He also served as United States Ambassador to Japan for over ten years...
, was so elated that he published Udall's order scrapping the BLM plan in the Congressional Record
Congressional Record
The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published by the United States Government Printing Office, and is issued daily when the United States Congress is in session. Indexes are issued approximately every two weeks...
.
The size of the range was determined by law, which specified that the range could cover only those areas where feral horses existed in 1971 (but not necessarily historically). A boundary fence had been constructed between BLM and Forest Service land in the 1940s, which significantly affected feral horse distribution in the Pryor Mountains and restricted the horses to rangeland south, east, and west of the Custer National Forest
Custer National Forest
Custer National Forest is located primarily in the southern part of the U.S. state of Montana but also has separate sections in northwestern South Dakota. With a total area of 1,278,279 acres , the forest comprises over 10 separate sections...
. By 1968, when the refuge was created, fences completely surrounded what became the refuge, limiting the horses' spread. Both BLM and the Forest Service interpreted the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971
Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971
The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 , is an Act of Congress , signed into law President Richard M. Nixon on December 18, 1971...
as requiring protection of feral horses only on those lands where the horses existed as of 1971, not lands which they had historically used.
Changing legal status of the range
Establishment of the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range did not end debate over the legal status of the horse herd, how they should be protected, or how many horses should be permitted to live on the range.In October 1968, the Interior department established an Advisory Committee to report on the state of the herd, the status of forage on the range, and whether feral horses should continue to be kept on the range. The panel met a month later, and commissioned studies on whether branded
Livestock branding
Livestock branding is a technique for marking livestock so as to identify the owner. Originally, livestock branding only referred to a hot brand for large stock, though the term is now also used to refer to other alternative techniques such as freeze branding...
runaway horses should be allowed to mix with the herd, whether BLM should build artificial watering holes to encourage the animals to range more widely, whether BLM should manage the herd's bloodlines by introducing stallions to the herds, and how many horses should live on the range. At its February 1969 meeting, the committee proved sharply divided over horse management issues. Studies of the range proved highly inadequate. BLM presented a study to the committee which attempted to show that horses were grazing the land so heavily that extensive erosion was taking place, but a private study found that that the erosion was due to topography and drought and not because of the horses. Another study, conducted by a group which promoted hunting on the range, found that the horses were having a negative impact on edible plants in the Pryor Mountains and were having a detrimental impact on deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
fawn survival. But the committee discovered that this study hadn't even been conducted in the Pryor Mountains but at another location. Another BLM study concluded that the Pryor Mountains horses had changed from grazers
Grazing
Grazing generally describes a type of feeding, in which a herbivore feeds on plants , and also on other multicellular autotrophs...
to browsers
Browsing (predation)
Browsing is a type of herbivory in which an herbivore feeds on leaves, soft shoots, or fruits of high growing, generally woody, plants such as shrubs. This is contrasted with grazing, usually associated with animals feeding on grass or other low vegetation...
and were consuming large mountain mahogany shrub, a critical deer food source. But an Advisory Committee analysis showed that the plants documented in the study were small mountain mahogany shrub variety, not the large mahogany shrub BLM claimed, and that the vegetation was in good shape, not deteriorated as the BLM claimed.
In June 1969, the Committee rendered its unanimous opinion that forage on the range was in good shape, herd health was good, and that the range should be managed solely for the protection of wild horses. The Advisory Committee did, however, recommend that the herd levels be reduced to no more than 100 horses; that branded, deformed, old, and sick animals be culled from the herd; that BLM should create new watering holes to encourage the herd to forage more widely; that the range be fenced; and that roads be constructed in the range's interior to improve access for tourists. In 1970, BLM built a 20000 gal catch-basin to help supply horses on the range with water.
Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971
Also at issue were BLM practices for managing horses in protected areas. Under BLM policy, ranchers could release a branded mare into a herd and then, the following year, round up the band the mare ran with for slaughter or sale. In Nevada, state law permitted ranchers to round up any unbranded horses on their private land and slaughter or sell them. Concerned about these practices, and about continuing horse hunts in unprotected areas, Johnston and her group began working to pass federal legislation to protect feral horses throughout the U.S. She was joined by a number of prominent people, including country musicCountry music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer Judy Lynn
Judy Lynn
Judy Lynn Kelly , who performed as Judy Lynn and was born Judy Lynn Voiten, was an American country music singer and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Idaho in 1955....
, Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
actress Amanda Blake
Amanda Blake
Amanda Blake was an American actress known for the role of the red-haired saloon proprietress "Miss Kitty Russell" on the television western Gunsmoke.-Early life and career:...
, and New Hampshire Union Leader
New Hampshire Union Leader
The New Hampshire Union Leader is the daily newspaper of Manchester, the largest city in the state of New Hampshire. As of September 2010 it had a daily circulation of 48,342 and the circulation of its Sunday paper, the New Hampshire Sunday News, was 63,991. It was founded in 1863.It was called...
publisher and conservative William Loeb III.
On December 18, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon signed into law the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 (WFRHBA), which made it a crime for anyone to harass or kill feral horses or burros on federal land, required the departments of the Interior and Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
to protect the animals, required studies of the animals' habits and habitats, and permitted public land to be set aside for their use. In addition, the act required that feral horses be protected as "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West", and that management plans must "maintain a thriving natural ecological balance among wild horse populations, wildlife, livestock, and vegetation and to protect the range from the deterioration associated with overpopulation." Although feral horse ranges were principally for the protection of the horses, the land was required to be maintained for multiple use. BLM was also permitted to close public land to livestock grazing to protect feral horse and burro habitat.
The WFRHBA gave jurisdiction over challenges to BLM and Forest Service management of feral horses and how the act is implemented to the Department of the Interior's Board of Land Appeals. The act also contained provisions for the removal of excess animals; the destruction of lame, old, or sick animals; the private placement or adoption of excess animals; and even the destruction of healthy animals if range management required it.
In fact, the destruction of healthy or unhealthy horses almost never occurred. The WFRHBA left range management policy unresolved in many respects, although it did specify that BLM and the Forest Service consult with state wildlife agencies. In practice, BLM struggled to accommodate the needs of feral horses among its other priorities (which included livestock grazing, prevention of soil erosion, and accommodating big game hunting). In November 1971, BLM announced a major effort to save the Pryor Mountains herd from starvation after a poor summer growing season left vegetation on the range stunted. By 1974, the herd on the Pryor Mountain range had increased by 17 percent over the 1968 level. But there was strong disagreement over whether the population had actually increased as much as this, if at all.
Adopt-a-Horse program
In 1973, BLM began a pilot project on the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range known as the Adopt-A-Horse initiative. The program took advantage of provisions in the WFRHBA to allow private "qualified" individuals to "adopt" as many horses as they wanted if they could show that they could provide adequate care for the animals. At the time, title to the horses remained permanently with the U.S. federal government. The pilot project was so successful that BLM allowed it to go nationwide in in 1976. (As of 2001, the Adopt-a-Horse program was the primary method of removing excess feral horses from BLM and Forest Service land.) In 1976, Congress included a provision in the Federal Land Policy and Management ActFederal Land Policy and Management Act
Federal Land Policy Management Act, or FLPMA , is a United States federal law that governs the way in which the public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management are managed. The law was enacted in 1976 by the 94th Congress. Congress recognized the value of the public lands, declaring...
that permitted the humane use of helicopters in capturing free-roaming horses on federal land, and for the use of motorized vehicles in transporting them to corrals. In 2009, a BLM official said that while many federally protected feral horse ranges have trouble adopting out all their horses, every horse from the Pryor Mountains herd put up for adoption was subsequently adopted by a private citizen.
There were, however, strong disagreements over the nature of the horses. Many ranchers and hunters considered feral horses to be an invasive species
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
, or at least an introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
. While conceding that federal law protects the animals, these individuals also argued that economic needs (like livestock grazing) should take precedence over the horses. But horse advocates argued that horses were native to North America and eliminated by paleolithic human beings, and as a native wild animal they should be protected like the grizzly bear
Grizzly Bear
The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...
or bald eagle
Bald Eagle
The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...
. To test which definition applied to feral horses, in 1974 the New Mexico Livestock Board seized 19 free-roaming feral burros which were preventing cattle from using a watering hole on federal land. The United States District Court for the District of New Mexico held that, under the Property Clause of the U.S. Constitution, Congress could regulate wild animals only to protect public land from damage. The case went to the Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
. In Kleppe v. New Mexico
Kleppe v. New Mexico
Kleppe v. New Mexico, 426 U.S. 529 , was a United States Supreme Court decision, which unanimously held that the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 , passed in 1971 by the United States Congress to protect these animals from “capture, branding, harassment, or death,” was a...
, 426 U.S. 529 (1976), the Supreme Court ruled that these free-roaming horses and burros were, in fact, wildlife, and it rejected New Mexico's narrow construction of the Property Clause. Ranchers continued to litigate the issue, however. In the early 1980s, ranching interests won a ruling from the Department of the Interior that feral horses who ate grass or drank water which ranchers had leased had "taken" these resources from the ranchers in violation of the "takings clause" of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But in Mountain States Legal Foundation v. Hodel, 799 F.2d 1423 (1986), cert. den'd. 480 U.S. 951 (1987), the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Colorado* District of Kansas...
said that a wild animal was not an "agent" of the federal government and hence could not be found guilty of "taking" the ranchers' leased grass or water.
Problems with the Adopt-a-Horse program also emerged. BLM was accused of allowing too many adoptions so as to deplete feral horse populations on federal land. Many private individuals were also accused of "adopting" horses only to later sell them for slaughter
Horse slaughter
Horse slaughter is the practice of slaughtering horses for meat. These animals come mainly from auctions, where they're sold by private sellers and breeders....
as pet food. Responding to these problems, in 1978 Congress passed the Public Rangelands Improvement Act (PRIA). The PRIA limited adoptions to only four horses a year per individual and allowed BLM to relinquish title to the horse after one year (during which inspections regarding the animal's treatment were to occur). The law also required BLM to inventory all feral horse herds, scientifically determine what constituted "appropriate" herd levels, and determine through a public process whether "excess" animals should be removed. Congress further amended PRIA in 1978 to require updated herd counts. Pursuant to the 1978 amendments, BLM established 209 "herd management areas" (HMAs) where feral horses existed on federal land. The Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range was one of only three HMAs solely dedicated to feral horses. In January 1982, the director of BLM issued a moratorium on the destruction of excess adoptable animals. From 1988 to 2004, Congress also prohibited BLM from using any funds to destroy excess animals.
Most of the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range was designated a wilderness study area
Wilderness study area
A wilderness study area contains undeveloped United States federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, and managed to preserve its natural conditions...
in 1981. Wilderness study areas (WSAs) are authorized by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act
Federal Land Policy and Management Act
Federal Land Policy Management Act, or FLPMA , is a United States federal law that governs the way in which the public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management are managed. The law was enacted in 1976 by the 94th Congress. Congress recognized the value of the public lands, declaring...
of 1976. The act directed the Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...
(BLM) of the United States Department of the Interior
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native...
to inventory and study all federally owned roadless areas for possible designation as a Wilderness Area. Until the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
makes a final determination on the status of a wilderness study area, the BLM must manage the area as a protected national wilderness
National Wilderness Preservation System
The National Wilderness Preservation System of the United States protects federally managed land areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. It was established by the Wilderness Act upon the signature of President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 3, 1964...
. Three BLM areas entirely enclosed by the range and one National Park Service area only partially within the range were recommended for wilderness in August 1991 and December 1981. These areas are the Burnt Timber Canyon WSA, Pryor Mountain WSA, Big Horn Tack-On WSA, and Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area WSA.
Further legal changes
In November 1996, Congress passed the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act, which authorized BLM and the Forest Service to use helicopters and motor vehicles to round up and transport feral horses on public lands.In 2004, Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Senator from Montana Conrad Burns
Conrad Burns
Conrad Ray Burns is a former United States Senator from Montana. He is only the second Republican to represent Montana in the Senate since the passage in 1913 of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and is the longest-serving Republican senator in Montana history.While in...
inserted a rider
Rider (legislation)
In legislative procedure, a rider is an additional provision added to a bill or other measure under the consideration by a legislature, having little connection with the subject matter of the bill. Riders are usually created as a tactic to pass a controversial provision that would not pass as its...
into the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005 (a 3,000-page omnibus appropriations bill) which permitted BLM to sell excess animals more than 10 years old or which have been offered for adoption three times. The amendment also required that excess, unadoptable horses "shall be made available for sale without limitation." Burns was reportedly acting on behalf of ranching interests, who wished more of the horses removed from federal land. Although the legislation (signed into law by President George W. Bush) was described by one media outlet as "undercut[ing] more than three decades of lobbying and legislative action aimed at protecting America's wild horses from slaughter", as of May 2011 it has not been repealed.
In early 2005, BLM discovered that some of the excess wild horses it had sold had been slaughtered. BLM suspended the sales program in April 2005 and resumed them in May 2005 after implementing new requirements to deter buyers from slaughtering the animals. In the fall of 2007, the last three horse slaughterhouses in the United States closed. However, BLM procedures do not ban the export of wild horses for sale and slaughter outside the United States.
In 2008, the Government Accountability Office
Government Accountability Office
The Government Accountability Office is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the United States Congress. It is located in the legislative branch of the United States government.-History:...
concluded BLM was not in compliance with the 2004 amendment. BLM had imposed limitations on the sale of excess horses to help ensure that they were not slaughtered (thus avoiding a public outcry).
Geographic and ecological description
The Pryor Mountains are a 145000 square miles (375,548.3 km²) region of Montana and Wyoming. They were formed in the late CretaceousCretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
and Early Tertiary
Paleogene
The Paleogene is a geologic period and system that began 65.5 ± 0.3 and ended 23.03 ± 0.05 million years ago and comprises the first part of the Cenozoic Era...
period (about 70 to 60 million years ago) when magma
Magma
Magma is a mixture of molten rock, volatiles and solids that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and is expected to exist on other terrestrial planets. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and dissolved gas and sometimes also gas bubbles. Magma often collects in...
welling up from below cracked a vast limestone plateau into four pieces and uplifted the northeast corner of each piece. The Bighorn River
Bighorn River
The Bighorn River is a tributary of the Yellowstone, approximately long, in the western United States in the states of Wyoming and Montana. The river was named in 1805 by fur trader François Larocque for the Bighorn Sheep he saw along its banks as he explored the Yellowstone River.The upper...
flows north from Wyoming until it reaches the plateau between the Bighorn and Pryor mountains. The river flows along the fault line
Fault line
In geology, fault line refers to the surface trace of a fault.Fault line, Fault Line, or faultline may also refer to:* "Faultline", a song from the 2008 studio album Versus by The Haunted...
between the two mountain ranges, and has cut the Bighorn Canyon deep into the limestone. The Crow
Crow Nation
The Crow, also called the Absaroka or Apsáalooke, are a Siouan people of Native Americans who historically lived in the Yellowstone River valley, which extends from present-day Wyoming, through Montana and into North Dakota. They now live on a reservation south of Billings, Montana and in several...
Native American tribe called the mountains Baahpuuo Isawaxaawuua ("Hitting the Rock Mountains"), because of the large amount of flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
found there (a type of rock which could be chipped into arrowheads and spear points). The mountains draw their current name from Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
Nathaniel Hale Pryor
Nathaniel Hale Pryor
Nathaniel Hale Pryor served as Sergeant in the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He was born in Virginia and was a cousin of fellow expedition member Charles Floyd. His family moved to Kentucky when he was eleven...
, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
who vainly pursued horses stolen from the expedition in the area.
Soil and water resources on the range are limited. Soil depth varies from less than 10 inches (25.4 cm) deep to 40 inches (101.6 cm) deep, and there are only five perennial water sources on the range. Livestock grazing occurred on the range until the late 1960s, and the area historically was severely overgrazed, which has created the limited forage conditions found on the range today.
The Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range is east of and adjacent to Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, following the construction of the Yellowtail Dam by the Bureau of Reclamation. This dam, named after the famous Crow chairman Robert Yellowtail, harnessed the waters of the Bighorn River and turned...
. The range consists primarily of alpine meadows, high desert, rocky ridges, and steep, semi-alpine slopes. The average elevation is about 8700 feet (2,651.8 m). Rainfall varies from as little as 5 inches (127 mm) in the foothills to 20 inches (508 mm) in the mountains' upper reaches. Snowfall is generally about 3 foot (0.9144 m) a year, and occurs from September to May.
About the herd
Historians and scientists speculate that feral horses have lived on and near Pryor Mountains since at least the late 1600s. Crow Indian traditionCrow Nation
The Crow, also called the Absaroka or Apsáalooke, are a Siouan people of Native Americans who historically lived in the Yellowstone River valley, which extends from present-day Wyoming, through Montana and into North Dakota. They now live on a reservation south of Billings, Montana and in several...
maintains that the horses were brought to the area by about 1725. Non-Indian explorers found native people in possession of large numbers of horses as early as 1743. Thousands of feral horses lived in the area by the time American pioneers began settling near the Pryor Mountains in the late 1800s.
It was widely believed that the Pryor Mountains horses were direct descendants of the Barb
Barb (horse)
Developed on the Barbary Coast of North Africa, the Barb horse is a desert breed with great hardiness and stamina. The Barb generally possesses a fiery temperament and an atypical sport-horse conformation, but nevertheless has influenced modern breeds....
horses brought to North America by Juan de Oñate
Juan de Oñate
Don Juan de Oñate y Salazar was a Spanish explorer, colonial governor of the New Spain province of New Mexico, and founder of various settlements in the present day Southwest of the United States.-Biography:...
's expedition to explore America north of the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
in the early 1600s. Their bloodlines may also include American Saddlebred
American Saddlebred
The American Saddlebred, formerly known as the American Saddle Horse, is a breed of horse that was developed in Kentucky by plantation owners. Today, in the horse show world, they are most commonly seen under saddle in Saddle seat style riding, and in various types of driving, including pleasure...
, Canadian
Canadian Horse
The Canadian Horse is a breed of horse developed in Canada. Although previously relatively unknown due to its rarity, the Canadian Horse has influenced many other North American breeds, including the Morgan, American Saddlebred, and Standardbred...
, Irish Hobby
Irish Hobby
The Irish Hobby is an extinct breed of horse native to the British Isles that developed prior to the 13th Century. The breed provided foundation bloodlines for several modern horse breeds, including breeds as diverse as the Connemara pony and the Irish Draught....
, and Tennessee Walking horses, although this was in dispute for many years. Some people claimed that the horses were nothing more than local domestic horses which had escaped to the wild. In 1992, equine geneticist Dr. E. Gus Cothran ran genetic studies on the herd, and concluded that their primary bloodline descends from Spanish Barbs. Since no genetic variants were observed which were not also seen in domestic horse breeds, in 2010 Cothran concluded the horses were not a unique species which had survived from prehistoric times. Rather, they were linear descendants of the Spanish Barb, with some evidence of genetic similarity to light racing and riding breeds. The genetic tests also revealed that the Pryor Mountains horses carried a rare allele
Allele
An allele is one of two or more forms of a gene or a genetic locus . "Allel" is an abbreviation of allelomorph. Sometimes, different alleles can result in different observable phenotypic traits, such as different pigmentation...
variant known as "Qac" that only Spanish horses
Iberian horse
The Iberian horse is a title given to a number of horse breeds native to the Iberian peninsula. At present, 17 horse breeds are recognized by FAO as characteristic of the Iberian Peninsula....
brought to the Americas also carried. Dr. D. Phillip Sponenberg of the Virginia–Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, and an expert on horse breeds, observed that, physically, the horses conform to the Colonial Spanish Horse type. Genetic studies have also revealed that the herd exhibits a high degree of genetic diversity, and BLM has acknowledged the genetic uniqueness of the herd.
The Pryor Mountains feral horse conforms to a very specific type. The animal is generally 13 to 15 h (1.3 to 1.5 m) high, with an average of 14 to 14.2 h (1.4 to 1.4 m). The horses weigh 700 to 800 lb (317.5 to 362.9 kg) on the range, and more if raised in captivity. The animals exhibit a wide range of solid colors, including bay, black
Black (horse)
Black is a hair coat color of horses in which the entire hair coat is black. Black is a relatively uncommon coat color, and novices frequently mistake dark chestnuts or bays for black. However, some breeds of horses, such as the Friesian horse, Murgese and Ariegeois are almost exclusively black...
, chestnut
Chestnut (coat)
Chestnut is a hair coat color of horses consisting of a reddish-to-brown coat with a mane and tail the same or lighter in color than the coat. Genetically and visually, chestnut is characterized by the absolute absence of true black hairs...
, dun
Dun gene
The dun gene is a dilution gene that affects both red and black pigments in the coat color of a horse. The dun gene has the ability to affect the appearance of all black, bay, or chestnut -based horses to some degree by lightening the base body coat and suppressing the underlying base color to the...
, grullo
Grullo
Grullo is a color of horses in the dun family, characterized by tan-gray or mouse-colored hairs on the body, often with shoulder and dorsal stripes and black barring on the lower legs. In this coloration each individual hair is mouse-colored, unlike a roan which is composed of a mixture of dark and...
, and blue or red roan
Roan (horse)
Roan is a horse coat color pattern characterized by an even mixture of colored and white hairs on the body, while the head and "points"—lower legs, mane and tail—are more solid-colored. The roan pattern is dominantly-inherited, and is found in many horse breeds...
. Buckskin coloring is rare but does occur, and pinto
Pinto horse
A pinto horse has a coat color that consists of large patches of white and any other color. The distinction between "pinto" and "solid" can be tenuous, as so-called "solid" horses frequently have areas of white hair. Various cultures throughout history appear to have selectively bred for pinto...
coloring can be minimally expressed. However, the majority of colors are dun or grullo. Nearly all the horses on the range exhibit primitive markings
Primitive markings
Primitive markings among domestic horses are a group of hair coat markings and qualities associated with primitive breeds, and the dun coat color family in particular. All dun horses possess at least the dorsal stripe but the presence of the other primitive markings varies...
such as dorsal stripes, transverse stripes across the withers
Withers
The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of a four-legged animal. In many species it is the tallest point of the body, and in horses and dogs it is the standard place to measure the animal's height .-Horses:The withers in horses are formed by the dorsal spinal processes of roughly the...
, and horizontal "zebra" stripes on the back of the forelegs. The Pryor Mountains horse's body is heavy, with strong bones. Manes and tails tend to be long, and the horse's winter coat is very heavy and often curly. The head is convex or straight (the "Roman nose" identified by horse breeders), with wide-set eyes, hooked ears, and a broad forehead that tapers to well to the muzzle. The front teeth meet evenly, the upper lip is usually longer than the lower, and the nostrils are small and crescent shaped. The neck is medium in length, and most of the animals have only five lumbar vertebrae (an anatomical feature common in primitive horses)—although some have a fifth and sixth vertebrae which are fused. The horse's shoulders are long and sloping, the withers
Withers
The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of a four-legged animal. In many species it is the tallest point of the body, and in horses and dogs it is the standard place to measure the animal's height .-Horses:The withers in horses are formed by the dorsal spinal processes of roughly the...
are prominent, and chests are medium to narrow in width. The croup
Rump (animal)
The rump or croup, in the external morphology of an animal, is the portion of the posterior dorsum that is posterior to the loins and anterior to the tail. Anatomically, the rump corresponds to the sacrum....
is generally sloped, and tail-set is low. The hooves are ample and very hard.
Pryor Mountains Mustangs exhibit a natural paso gait. The horses are generally intelligent, strong, and sure-footed, and exhibit great stamina. Like all feral horses, they generally avoid human contact, are distrustful, and are easily spooked. However, once they are familiar with an individual, they can exhibit a strong social bond with that individual. Pryor Mountains horses can be broken and ridden, and trained to do any task a domesticated horse can perform. Trained Pryor Mountains horses have a calm temperament, and are alert on trails.
The horses form bands or "harems," in which a single stallion mates and controls a group of about six mares. Another eight to 10 "bachelor" stallions accompany the band at a distance, hoping to win control of it from the stallion or mate with mares.
Herd management
BLM counts the herd visually about every four years by flying over the range, reporting on each animal found, and using statistical methods to correct for historic undercounting and other problems. In 1984, BLM set the maximum carrying capacity of the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range at 121 adult animals, and revised this to 95 adult animals in 1992.Management of the Pryor Mountains horse herd has focused on fulfilling the Free-Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act's requirement that BLM maintain a "thriving natural ecological balance". In general, BLM initially focused on how many horses the range could support and in maintaining conformity to the Pryor Mountains standard. However, with the development of DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
testing in the mid 1980s, the focus changed to maintaining the herd's genetic viability as well. In 1988, researchers at Washington State University
Washington State University
Washington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...
authored a paper which raised concern that the herd exhibited a lack of genetic diversity, and could be suffering from genetic drift
Genetic drift
Genetic drift or allelic drift is the change in the frequency of a gene variant in a population due to random sampling.The alleles in the offspring are a sample of those in the parents, and chance has a role in determining whether a given individual survives and reproduces...
and/or a population bottleneck
Population bottleneck
A population bottleneck is an evolutionary event in which a significant percentage of a population or species is killed or otherwise prevented from reproducing....
. BLM contracted with veterinarian E. Gus Cothran (then at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Kentucky, but now at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
The Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences is a college of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.Founded in 1916, the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences is one of only 31 colleges of veterinary medicine in the United States and Canada. It...
) to take random genetic samples of the herd in 1994, 1997, and 2001. Cothran's analysis found "no evidence of a bottleneck". Genetic diversity was actually above the mean for feral horse herds in the United States, and just below the mean for domesticated breeds. The BLM, however, interpreted these studies in 2009 to indicate that the genetic diversity of the Pryor Mountains herd is "well above" the mean for domestic breeds. Cothran considered the herd to be in genetic equilibrium, although he cautioned that a minimum of 120 breeding-age animals should be kept on the range to maintain the genetic health of the herd. Research by biologists and veterinarians at Colorado State University
Colorado State University
Colorado State University is a public research university located in Fort Collins, Colorado. The university is the state's land grant university, and the flagship university of the Colorado State University System.The enrollment is approximately 29,932 students, including resident and...
, the University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...
, and other colleges found that there is little inbreeding
Inbreeding
Inbreeding is the reproduction from the mating of two genetically related parents. Inbreeding results in increased homozygosity, which can increase the chances of offspring being affected by recessive or deleterious traits. This generally leads to a decreased fitness of a population, which is...
in bands, as the stallions tend to drive off colts
Colt (horse)
A colt is a young male horse, under the age of four. The term "colt" is often confused with foal, which refers to a horse of either sex under one year of age....
when they are about two years old.
In 1990, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report highly critical of BLM's wild horse management programs. The GAO concluded that the BLM had little scientific basis for deciding what the range carrying capacity was or how many horses should be removed to attain ecological equilibrium or restoration. Furthermore, the GAO found that the BLM had not reduced livestock grazing or engaged in range management activities to improve the carrying capacity of the land.
For years, BLM had also allowed any horse to be adopted from the range. Since adopters favored "pretty" horses, the genetics of the herd altered so that mostly bays and blacks were left on the range. This problem was quickly discovered and adoption procedures changed in 1994 so that now the original colors and patterns of the herd are returning. That same year, a private group calling itself the Pryor Mountains Mustang Breeders Association was formed to preserve the gene pool of the herd and establish a registry for Pryor Mountains horses in private hands. In order to be placed on the register, the horse must have a registered sire and dam, have a title issued either by BLM or the Tillett ranch, and have a certificate of blood typing from the Gluck Equine Research Center at the University of Kentucky. As of 2008, 209 horses in 16 U.S. states and one Canadian province were on the registry.
BLM undertook a roundup of the horse herd in 1997 to reduce its numbers, and BLM officials said that they expected to do another in late 2000 when the herd size reached 200. By August 1999, there were 180 adult horses and colts on the range.
In May 2009, after several long-term studies of the rangeland, BLM determined that the range's maximum carrying capacity was 179 feral horses. This assumed that all BLM land, as well as lands leased from other owners (public and private), would continue to be available to the animals, and that BLM would be able to manage the horses by using artificial watering sites to encourage the horses to utilize undergrazed portions of the range. BLM also said it would implement other range management techniques, including restoration of riparian vegetation
Riparian zone restoration
Riparian zone restoration is the ecological restoration of riparian zone habitats of streams, rivers, springs, lakes, floodplains, and other hydrologic ecologies.Riparian zones have been degraded throughout much of the world...
to enhance existing watering holes, use of controlled burn
Controlled burn
Controlled or prescribed burning, also known as hazard reduction burning or Swailing is a technique sometimes used in forest management, farming, prairie restoration or greenhouse gas abatement. Fire is a natural part of both forest and grassland ecology and controlled fire can be a tool for...
s to reduce the amount of dead wood and brush on the range, noxious weed control, better fencing, and other methods. BLM also proposed purchasing 1467 acres (5.9 km²) of land from the state of Montana, and another 632 acres (2.6 km²) of private land, to add to the range.
At the same time, BLM said it would reduce the herd from its existing 195 adults to 120. The goal was to temporarily remove feral horses from the refuge to allow the range to recover from the historic overgrazing caused by livestock, not because BLM believed there were too many horses on the range. According to Jared Bybee, BLM wild horse and burro specialist, grass cover on the range was at just 18 percent of its historic average. Sixty percent of the remaining horses would be males, to reduce the rate of population growth. The agency said it would remove 30 horses a year from the herd and stable them at a yearly cost of $18,000 to $21,000 until the correct herd size and sex ratios had been reached. Horses to be removed from the herd included those which did not closely fit the conformity type; which were genetically well-represented; which were 11 to 15 years of age, had sired or foaled, and were not band stallions; and were between five and 10 years of age or 16 to 20 years of age. Genetic diversity would be measured by visual observation of the herd's conformity to type (using a visual system developed by Dr. Sponenberg), and measures taken to improve genetic diversity if signs of inbreeding occurred. The Cloud Foundation and Front Range Equine Rescue, both feral horse advocacy groups, challenged the roundup in federal court. A federal district court judge delayed the roundup three days to consider their request, but on September 2, 2009, rejected the injunction and allowed the roundup to proceed.
BLM began its roundup of feral horses on the Pryor Mountains range in early September 2009. After several days, 130 of 188 feral horses were rounded up. Forty-six horses were put up for adoption, while the freed mares were given a contraceptive vaccine to help keep the herd population down. The Forest Service also closed a portion of the Custer National Forest to livestock grazing after about 40 feral horses moved into the area, but rounded these up as well and returned them to the range.
At this time, BLM also placed "guzzlers" on the range. A guzzler is a precipitation (usually rainwater) collection device which traps water in a storage tank (ranging in size from a few to several thousand gallons/liters). The storage tank can be above-ground, partially buried, or below-ground. A mechanical valve releases water into a drinking trough from the storage tanks, allowing animals access to the water. When the valve senses that the water level in the trough is low, it opens and allows more water into the drinking area. Five guzzlers were placed in undergrazed areas to encourage the horses to better utilize this forage.
In the fall of 2010, BLM issued a set of draft strategy documents for operating its wild horse programs, and solicited public comment on the plans. After receiving numerous comments, BLM said in February 2011 it would quicken the pace at which it made revisions to its roundup procedures, use of fertility control drugs, and wild horse and burro range land management. The agency also commissioned a study from the National Academies of Science (NAS) on wild-horse management. Due for release in 2013, independent NAS experts will study a wide variety of issues, including the carrying capacity of wild horse and burro ranges, wild horse and burro population growth, and best practices in fertility control.
In September 2011, BLM announced it would begin working with the Humane Society of the United States
Humane Society of the United States
The Humane Society of the United States , based in Washington, D.C., is the largest animal advocacy organization in the world. In 2009, HSUS reported assets of over US$160 million....
to develop new practices in herd management and roundup, and increase its emphasis on adoptions and the use of drugs as fertility control to help better manage its wild horse herds.
Sightseeing on the range
The Pryor Mountains feral horse herd is one of the most accessible feral horse herds in the United States. Tourism to the range increased steadily in the mid to late 2000s.The range can be easily accessed via a paved road which parallels Bighorn Canyon, and which provides excellent viewing of the horses. The range can also be accessed from Laurel
Laurel, Montana
Laurel is a city in Yellowstone County, Montana, United States. It is part of the Billings, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is located in the Yellowstone Valley, as an east-west terminal division point of the Burlington-Northern Railroad.. The population was 6,781 at the 2010 census.Both...
, Montana, by traveling south on U.S. Route 310
U.S. Route 310
U.S. Route 310 is a spur of U.S. Route 10. It runs for from Laurel, Montana to Greybull, Wyoming. It passes through the states of Montana and Wyoming. Near the town of Lovell, Wyoming, US 310 is concurrent with U.S. Route 14A for approximately three miles....
and then taking the Forest Service gravel road to Dryhead Overlook. Those with four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4×4 is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...
vehicles can take the rutted dirt road through the forest to Penn's Cabin, which is another good horse viewing spot. Those interested in circumnavigating the range can take the dirt Burnt Timber Ridge Road from Penn's Cabin to the dirt Sykes Ridge Road, and follow Sykes Ridge Road to its terminus. (Sykes Ridge Road also offers the best viewing of the Bighorn Basin.) Roads around the range tend to be impassable in wet weather or snow. Some of the range may be accessed via the Crow Indian Reservation
Crow Indian Reservation
The Crow Indian Reservation is the homeland of the Crow Tribe of Indians of the State of Montana in the United States. The reservation is located in parts of Big Horn, Yellowstone, and Treasure counties in southern Montana...
. A trespass permit (obtainable from the Crow Nation) is required to cross tribal land or exit a vehicle while on tribal land.
Hiking on the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse range is good, but there are no maintained or marked trails and (as of 2000) no guidebooks to the area.
In addition to feral horses, the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Refuge is also a good place to see other wildlife and plant species. Among the species found there are Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep
Bighorn Sheep
The bighorn sheep is a species of sheep in North America named for its large horns. These horns can weigh up to , while the sheep themselves weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates that there are three distinct subspecies of Ovis canadensis, one of which is endangered: Ovis canadensis sierrae...
, black bear
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
s, blue grouse, cougars, elk
Elk
The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
, gray wolves
Gray Wolf
The gray wolf , also known as the wolf, is the largest extant wild member of the Canidae family...
, mule deer
Mule Deer
The mule deer is a deer indigenous to western North America. The Mule Deer gets its name from its large mule-like ears. There are believed to be several subspecies, including the black-tailed deer...
, ring-necked pheasant
Common Pheasant
The Common Pheasant , is a bird in the pheasant family . It is native to Georgia and has been widely introduced elsewhere as a game bird. In parts of its range, namely in places where none of its relatives occur such as in Europe , it is simply known as the "pheasant"...
, and sage grouse. The Pryor Mountains are also home to the most diverse bat populations in Montana, with 10 species identified (and potentially other species also present). The range is also home to several animals which BLM or the state of Montana considers sensitive to ecological change, such as Baird's sparrow
Baird's Sparrow
The Baird's Sparrow, Ammodramus bairdii, is a small North American sparrow.-Overview:These birds have a large bill, a large flat head, and a short forked tail. They have brown upper parts and white underparts, with streaking on the back, breast, and flanks...
, long-eared Myotis
Long-eared Myotis
The Long-eared Myotis is a species of vesper bat. It can be found in western Canada, the western United States, and Baja California in Mexico....
(a species of vesper bat
Vesper bat
Vesper bats , also known as Evening bats or Common bats, are the largest and best-known family of bats. They belong to the suborder Microchiroptera . There are over three hundred species distributed all over the world, on every continent except Antarctica...
), pallid bat
Pallid bat
The Pallid Bat is a species of bat that ranges from western Canada to central Mexico. It is the sole species of its genus and is closely related to Van Gelder's Bat , which is sometimes included in Antrozous...
, peregrine falcon
Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"...
, spotted bat
Spotted bat
The Spotted bat , is a bat species from the family of vesper bats.-Description:The spotted bat was first described by zoologist Joel Asaph Allen from the American Museum of Natural History in 1891. It can reach a length of 12 cm and a wingspan of 35 cm. The weight is about 15 g. It has...
, Townsend's big-eared bat
Townsend's big-eared bat
Townsend's Big-Eared Bat is a species of vesper bat in the Vespertilionidae family.- Description :The Townsend's Big-Eared Bat is a medium-sized bat with extremely long, flexible ears and small yet noticeable lumps on each side of the snout. Its upperparts are similar to dark brown on the back,...
, and Yellowstone cutthroat trout
Yellowstone cutthroat trout
The Yellowstone cutthroat trout is a subspecies of the cutthroat trout and is a freshwater fish in the salmon family of the order Salmoniformes. Native only to a few U.S...
. There are also 15 species of plants on the range which have been granted special status by the state of Montana or the federal government.
This herd was the subject of the 1995 documentary film Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies and its sequel, the 2003 documentary film Cloud's Legacy: The Wild Stallion Returns.
External links
- Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range Web site maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management
- Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range Web page maintained by VisitMontana (a Montana state tourism agency)