2003 NCBA Recommendation

In November 2003, almost one year to the day before the Burns rider was slipped into the Appropriations Bill, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association issued the recommendations listed below, including support for a wild horse sale or disposal authority (See Section 3.).

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
Thursday, November 20, 2003

WHEREAS, excessive numbers of feral horses and burros continue to cause increasing deterioration of range conditions in many areas of the West, and

WHEREAS, NCBA is concerned with the escalation in costs of the Wild Horse and Burro Program,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that NCBA supports legislation that would provide for:

1. Immediate identification of proper population levels where not currently identified, enforce currently permitted numbers, and engage in the management and removal of wild horses and burros, to levels that will allow the herd population not to exceed permitted numbers
2. A re-opening of a period to allow ranchers to claim horses and burros not previously removed from federal and private lands.
3. Authorization for sale (and immediate title transfer), or disposal, of unadopted horses and burros by the BLM/USFS with sales receipts to be used in the Wild Horse and Burro Program.
4. A finding that permittee owners of state water Rights and related facilities, are not responsible for providing water for wild horses and burros without prior agreement and unless permittees are compensated for expenses incurred.
5. A restriction of wild horse and burro Populations to lands occupied in 1971 when the Wild Horse and Burro Act was enacted.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the NCBA supports the recommendations of the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board and urges the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to immediately implement them.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NCBA supports the non-profit North American Wild Horse and Range System’s program for wild horse sanctuaries and other similar sanctuaries.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the federal land management agencies should stand all costs of maintaining range improvements damaged by feral horses.

Below: rangeland used by cattle on the left; without cattle on the right.

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