Today the courts have affirmed that the Wild Horse and Burro Act is about more than just removal.

This precedent setting ruling affirms that BLM has unreasonably delayed creating management plans.

Most of you remember Pancake. This case was filed in Federal District court after BLM ignored our pleas and appeals that they had not done Herd Management Area Plans (HMAP) at Pancake and additionally ignored subjects like wildfire fuels in their Gather Environmental Assessment (EA). They moved fast into a roundup where a young colt snapped his leg on the slippery ground in the dead of winter. (You can see our exclusive footage and reporting HERE, warning: graphic) The death of that baby spurred both the Wild Horse Protection Act introduction and litigation.

To learn more about the HMAP and why it is important, click HERE.

This case is the first ruling of its kind and sets precent to gain real management planning where the public can, finally, address issues beyond removal.

Press Release:

Wild Horse Orgs Win Groundbreaking Precedent

(Reno, NV) Today the Honorable Miranda Du ruled that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has unreasonably delayed crafting Herd Management Area Plans (HMAPs) for wild horses in the Pancake Complex in central Nevada. The Order from the court remands the Pancake Gather Environmental Assessment (EA) back to BLM for further analysis including those involving wildfire risk and orders that an HMAP be prepared for the complex within one year.

The Order from the Honorable Miranda Du reads:

“Engaging in the decision-making of an HMAP without actually preparing an HMAP could therefore deprive interested parties of the administrative review processes to which they are entitled.” 

“BLM’s decades- long delays in developing and approving HMAPs have therefore been “nothing short of egregious” and clearly violate the rule of reason.”

BLM notes the HMAP in the 2020 Report to Congress:

Herd Management Area Plans (HMAPs) summarize the management goals for an HMA and the anticipated actions required to achieve those goals… The process of developing and updating these plans would continue to provide the opportunity to inform and involve the public in determining the best actions to take on an HMA into the future. 

Just as with surveys and monitoring, HMAP development is a key component in the decisionmaking process for BLM’s wild horse and burro management activities on the ground. In addition, these documents often include public involvement through the NEPA process.

BLM has never completed an HMAP for the Pancake complex or the individual Herd Management Areas (HMAs) included in the complex. This failure has denied the public an opportunity to address how forage is allocated, water improvements to distribute population, specific genetic preservation, mitigation measures for mining and livestock expanding in the area and more.

“I am simply elated. The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act is about more than just removal. Today, the court affirmed the intention of that law.”” stated Laura Leigh, President of Wild Horse Education (WHE). “For over twelve years I have been trying to address critical issues of on-range management planning with BLM and have been repeatedly denied.There is no replacement for the HMAP where the public has the only opportunity to address specifics of management planning and actions to achieve those goals. Finally, after 38 years, BLM will need to provide that opportunity.”

“I am both elated and exhausted after this long fight,” Leigh of WHE continued, “This ruling has finally opened the door to advocacy and actually provides the opportunity to engage management practices.”

“Rewilding America Now (formerly the Cana Foundation) would like to thank the court, for its fact based verdict, Jessica Blome and her team for their hard work but most of all Laura Leigh from Wild Horse Education for her tireless work for our wild horses,” said Manda Kalimian, founder of RAN, “Environmental rewilding with wild horses is the way forward to protect our lands, horses and all wild life on the range. The Pancake verdict has set precedence for procedures in managing our wild horses and range lands.”

“The concepts of rewinding, healing the landscape through integration of species, are important,” continued Kalimian, “With this ruling we will have an opportunity to propose the rewinding alternative for the horses of the Pancake Complex during the creation of the HMAP.”

Plaintiff’s in the case (Laura Leigh, Wild Horse Education, Animal Wellness Action, Center For a Humane Economy, Rewilding America Now) would like to thank Greenfire Law of Berkley, California, the De Castroverde Law Group of Nevada and the court.

We dedicate this win to all the wild ones that have been lost at Pancake.

Saoirse ,a few hours after she was born and her mom, lost in the last roundup.

Wild Horse Education carries 3 additional federal civil court cases that address the lack of actual management planning, the lack of disclosure of data prior to removals and the lack of an enforceable welfare policy. We need your support to keep these cases active and moving toward real reform. 

Our wild ones deserve to live free on the range where both herd and resources are protected and free from abuse. 

Thank you for keeping WHE on the frontline in the fight to protect and preserve our treasured wild ones.