PERC scholars published research in 2016 that proposed using incentive payments to achieve sustainable wild horse and burro populations. This is a unique scenario, however, and implementing the approach in the West would require changing certain rules governing grazing permits. Fish and Wildlife Service to graze the horses on a public island. Each year the fire company purchases a grazing permit from the U.S. A similar approach is used in Virginia with the Chincoteague ponies, a wild herd that is owned by a local volunteer fire company. Allowing wild horse advocates to acquire public-land grazing permits for the animals would help accomplish this end without upsetting revenue streams generated from such permits. PERC believes that another worthwhile strategy would be to harness markets to increase the space available to wild horses and burros on the range. Solving the wild horses crisis will allow vegetation to regrow and land to recover from overgrazing, reducing competition for forage and water among other wildlife. Furthermore, taking horses and burros off public rangelands can alleviate major pressures on western ecosystems. Spending $1,000 to find a mustang a good home is approximately 98 percent cheaper for the agency-and likely much more humane-than caring for it in a government holding facility for the rest of its life. For taxpayers, the per-horse savings is undeniable. PERC scholars have researched the idea of incentive payments for wild horse and burro adoptions over recent years, and we are excited about how this program’s implementation can benefit wild horses and burros, our rangelands, and taxpayers.Īdoption is clearly a better outcome for a wild horse than starving on the range or living out the rest of its days in an overcrowded corral. Rather than charging for horse adoptions, the agency now pays qualified adopters $1,000 to help cover the expenses associated with caring for horses and burros. In 2019, the Bureau of Land Management implemented a new incentive program to encourage adoptions. A simple way to ensure horses neither starve on the range nor cost taxpayers in off-range facilities is to get more of them adopted into private homes. PERC believes in the merits of market-based solutions to manage wild horses and burros. PERC’s approach to conservation relies on voluntary exchange that results in positive environmental outcomes for both private and public resources. The agency has explored using permanent sterilization or even euthanasia as alternatives to wrangle the horse populations, but political divisions on the issue have prevented implementing these techniques. Roughly 50,000 horses and burros remain in off-range government facilities, costing taxpayers about $50 million a year-more than half of the program’s total budget. But in a typical year only a few thousand horses are adopted. The agency offers these horses and burros up for adoption to good homes through auctions, which has traditionally required a minimum bid of $125. In an effort to lessen the toll of wild horses on the range, the Bureau of Land Management has resorted to gathering excess animals and moving them into corrals and pastures. Wild horses have depleted vegetation and water sources from Oregon to Arizona, and native species such as elk and sage grouse are increasingly being displaced in many areas. In many areas, mustangs overgraze to the point that there is no forage left, meaning they literally face the prospect of starving to death on public rangelands. With federal protections and no natural predators, populations of the free-roaming animals have skyrocketed. Even more challenging, due to the high fertility of the wild equines, the population is on pace to double every four years. Today, there are an estimated 95,000 wild horses and burros on public rangelands-more than three times the designated level. The Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency charged with managing the animals, sets an appropriate population level for wild horses based on the amount of rangeland available, a figure that currently stands at 26,000 animals. The problem is that there are simply too many horses and burros on too little range. In reality, many of the wild horses and burros that roam on western public lands are facing a bleak future. Market-based solutions can help alleviate the wild horse crisis on western public lands.Ī romanticized vision of the West usually includes an unbridled mustang running wild and free across the range.
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