In a report prepared by P.E.E.R., Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, addressing rangeland health, the following findings are presented.
“These figures are derived from BLM land health standards assessment datasets obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The land health status records the most current assessment conducted through 2020.
• BLM’s records reveal that most of the allotments within HMAs that fail land health standards identify livestock as a significant cause of degradation of land health–approximately 11.5 million acres of the 21.5 million acres of allotments within HMAs assessed by BLM to date. Livestock is by far the most frequently identified cause of allotment failure to meet fundamental land health standards nation- wide, and for allotments within HMAs.
• BLM’s records also reveal that most of the area within HMAs that are within allotments failing to meet land health that identify livestock as a significant cause of degradation, also identify wild horses as a cause of land health degradation.
• Of the almost 22 million acres of HMA area within allotments that BLM has assessed, only a tiny fraction, 1%, 311,000 acres has been identified as failing due to wild horses alone, with no mention of livestock.”
