{"id":32658,"date":"2023-05-10T14:39:58","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T21:39:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.endangered.org\/?p=32658"},"modified":"2023-05-11T10:46:13","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T14:46:13","slug":"groups-file-lawsuit-challenging-red-desert-wild-horse-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.endangered.org\/groups-file-lawsuit-challenging-red-desert-wild-horse-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Groups file lawsuit challenging Red Desert wild horse plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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For Immediate Release<\/span><\/div>
Media Contacts:<\/span><\/div>
Grace Kuhn, AWHC, <\/span>grace@americanwildhorseampaign.org<\/a>, (804) 218-4252<\/span><\/div>
Marjorie Fishman, Animal Welfare Institute, <\/span>margie@awionline.org<\/a>, (202) 446-2128<\/span><\/div>
Erik Molvar, Western Watersheds Project, <\/span>emolvar@westernwatersheds.org<\/a>, (307) 399-7910<\/span><\/div>
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Environmental\/Wild Horse Advocates File Lawsuit over Government Plan to Eradicate One-Third of Wyoming\u2019s Wild Horse Population\u00a0<\/span><\/div>
Bureau of Land Management plan amendment \u201czeroes out\u201d the Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide Basin Herd Management Areas in Wyoming Checkerboard, while slashing the size of protected habitat in Adobe Town<\/span><\/div>
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Washington, DC<\/strong> (May 10, 2023)\u2014Today, a coalition of wild horse advocates, environmentalists and academics <\/span>filed suit<\/span><\/a> in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming against the U.S. Department of the Interior over a federal plan that would result in the largest-ever eradication of federally protected wild horses and elimination of 43% of designated wild horse habitat in the Red Desert area of Wyoming.<\/span><\/div>
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The plaintiffs \u2014the American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC), Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), Western Watersheds Project, author and Casper College instructor Dr. Chad Hanson<\/span>,<\/span> and wildlife photographers Kimerlee Curyl and Carol Walker\u2014allege that a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan to decimate some of the state\u2019s most popular and iconic wild horse herds violates federal law.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>
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The lawsuit is the culmination of a <\/span>decade-long battle<\/span><\/a> to defend the wild horses of the <\/span>Wyoming Checkerboard against demands by the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA) <\/span>to remove these animals from more than 2 million acres of land in the southwestern part of the state. RSGA members graze private livestock on the public lands within the Checkerboard and wild horses are competition for cheap forage available through tax-subsidized grazing fees<\/span>.<\/span><\/div>
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\u201cThe decision threatens to undermine federal protections for wild horses across the West by setting a dangerous precedent for private landowners to dictate whether federally protected wild horses will be allowed to live in their designated habitats on public lands,\u201d <\/span>said William S. Eubanks II of Eubanks and Associates<\/span>, which filed the protest on behalf of the groups. Eubanks notes that the plan violates the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.<\/span><\/div>
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Even before the BLM\u2019s helicopter roundups of 2020 and 2021, which permanently removed 3,502 wild horses from the Red Desert, the agency determined through its environmental analysis that Red Desert wild horse habitats were already meeting the \u201cthriving natural ecological balance\u201d standard established under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.<\/span><\/div>
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The<\/span> Record of Decision<\/span><\/a> published yesterday approves a land use plan amendment that would eliminate 2.1 million acres of wild horse habitat in Wyoming and slash by one-third the allowed population of wild horses in the state by:<\/span><\/div>
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