Winter's wild horse resolution fails, talks likely to continue

by Stephen Dow

Cody Enterprise

Via Wyoming News Exchange

CODY — A resolution from a Park/Hot Springs County legislator asking Wyoming’s Congressional delegation to rethink national policies on wild horse management is dead, but the conversation could continue in the coming months.

House Joint Resolution 3 — sponsored by Rep. John Winter (R-Thermopolis) — died on a split 2-2 vote during a Senate Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources Committee meeting Feb. 16.

Sens. Tim French (R-Powell) and Bob Ide (R-Casper) voted for the resolution, and Sens. Larry Hicks (R-Baggs) and John Kolb (R-Rock Springs) voted against it. A fifth committee member — Sen. Cheri Steinmetz (R-Lingle) — was absent from the Feb. 16 meeting.

While Hicks voted against the resolution,  he applauded Winter for his efforts to fix a complicated issue and encouraged the agriculture committee to take up the topic of wild horse management during the coming interim session.

“I applaud your enthusiasm,” Hicks told Winter. “I just think that, if we’re going to do this, let’s go after it (and do something substantial).”

House Joint Resolution 3 called on the federal government to amend the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 and other policies so that wild horses could be gathered, slaughtered, processed and shipped to market domestically or abroad.

The resolution would primarily address the wild horses living in Wyoming’s southwestern high desert on a combination of federal Bureau of Land Management property and private lands.

While populations of smaller herds in the Big Horn Basin have been held in check, those in the Red Desert and Green River Basin have exceeded herd management area objectives and triggered large roundups, Winter said.

On Feb. 16, Winter told the committee that wild horses have a negative ecological impact on the state’s rangelands.

“If we don’t reduce these numbers, the range resource is going to be destroyed for good,” he said.

Winter’s concerns were echoed by many in the audience, including representatives from Wyoming Game and Fish and the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association.

“In the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, the Secretary of the Interior is directed to maintain ‘a thriving natural ecological balance,’” said Angi Bruce, deputy director of Wyoming Game and Fish. “This is not happening, and there are consequences. The research of unmanaged feral horses shows that they can have a substantial negative impact on wildlife population and rangeland health.”

Winter further said that the current management practices of sending wild horses to feedlots came at great expense to taxpayers — over $77 million a year nationwide.

Members of the Senate Agriculture Committee all agreed wild horses are a major management problem that needs to be fixed. But they were split on whether a resolution sent to the state’s congressional delegation would have any impact.

“Having sat through wild horse battles for 30 years or so, this is not the most effective thing I think the state can do,” Hicks said. “... I don’t think sending resolutions back to our congressional delegations that are well aware of the problem are going to make a darn bit of difference in Congress. This is going to be solved by science and lawsuits and, to a certain degree, education. If we’re going to be serious about wild horse management, we need to put some time and effort into it.”

Kolb agreed.

“Trying the same thing over and over again is something we ought not do anymore,” Kolb said. “I do recognize this to be a very serious problem, and look forward to doing something different and more substantive.”

Prior to being considered by the Senate Agriculture Committee, Winter’s resolution was widely supported by the House, passing on third reading with a 57-5 vote.