Cross-posted from The Wildlife News, Story by Brian Ertz

A new federal assessment of rangelands in the West finds a disturbingly large portion fails to meet range health standards principally due to commercial livestock operations.  In the last decade as more land has been assessed, estimates of damaged lands have doubled in the 13-state Western area where the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) conducts major livestock leasing.

The “Rangeland Inventory, Monitoring and Evaluation Report for Fiscal Year 2011” covers BLM allotments in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.  The report totals BLM acreage failing to meet rangeland health standards in measures such as water quality, watershed functionality and wildlife habitat:

Judge Rejects Gov’t Attempt to Ignore Expert Declarations on Negative Impacts of Plan to Castrate Wild Nevada Stallions 

WASHINGTON (May 10, 2012) – The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has rejected an attempt by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to withhold and ignore critical scientific evidence in its decision-making process for the implementation of a precedent-setting plan to castrate wild stallions. At issue were expert declarations submitted to the BLM from leading experts in wild horse behavior and biology outlining the devastating impacts of castration on the health and natural behaviors of wild free-roaming stallions and wild horse herds. 

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An original article written by Ginger Kathrens
Published graciously in the Spring 2012 issue of Natural Horse Magazine
Click the image to read the full article 
 

Bold face type indicates revisions to the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act (Public Law 92-195). Sections 2. and 3. were modified by the Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978; Section 9. was modified by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976.

THE WILD FREE-ROAMING HORSES AND BURROS ACT OF 1971

A report by Wild Earth Guardians

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reported the federal government spends at least $144 million each year managing private livestock grazing on federal public lands, but collects only $21 million in grazing fees—for a net loss of at least $123 million per year.1 
Continue reading the full article online here.