BLM just released their 2026 Population Statistics Report.
Many of you are looking to us for a rebuttal document to use in your advocacy outreach.
BLM’s 2026 Population Statistics Report: A Political Tool, Not a Science Document
This month the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its 2026 Wild Horse and Burro Population Estimates — the annual “Population Statistics Report” that will be used to shape how much money Congress allocates to the Wild Horse and Burro Program and to justify yet another push for lethal control options.
On paper, it looks like a neutral data table. In practice, it functions as a political tool: a carefully curated set of numbers designed to create a sense of crisis, drive appropriations into removals and holding, and defend calls to “solve” the problem with killing and slaughter.
Wild Horse Education (WHE) has released a new, in‑depth review of the 2026 report so that advocates, journalists, and lawmakers can see what is really going on behind those numbers. Many of you have used our 2022 review as a guide to give you insight into these annual reports used primarily for funding requests and have asked for a new one.
New baby born free
Key points from Wild Horse Education’s new 2026 review:
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BLM reports 85,466 wild horses and burros on the range, compared to a combined high AML of 25,592 and a low AML of only 15,374. That means BLM considers 70,092 animals “excess” and designs its roundup schedule to drive populations to the lowest number, not the high AML “ceiling.” This drives funding from Congress.
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Most AMLs were set in the 1980s–1990s under Sagebrush Rebellion pressure, not modern ecological science, and have barely changed since. GAO and the National Academy of Sciences have both found that AML is not based on rigorous, consistent range data.
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The report still uses outdated survey data (some HMAs last counted in 2011 or 2006) and zero‑AML HMAs that produce eye‑catching claims like 15,500% over AML — even when the actual number of horses involved is smaller than a single private ranch band. These statistics inflate a national “overpopulation crisis” that drives funding and policy.
- The “fiscal burden” narrative is false when placed in context. The wild horse and burro program’s roughly 155 million dollar annual budget is comparatively small next to the hundreds of millions — and likely 500 million to 1 billion dollars — spent each year subsidizing public‑lands livestock grazing, federal predator killing, and livestock indemnity and disaster programs. The same livestock interests receiving these subsidies are using the ballooning holding costs created by their own remove‑to‑low‑AML agenda to label wild horses and burros as an “expensive burden” and to argue for budget cuts and lethal control, rather than reforming the underlying management model.
Low AML: The Real Target Behind the Curtain
One of the most important metrics in our new review that you should be aware of is that BLM does not manage to the high AML; it manages to the low AML. That is the actual removal target.
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Across 175 HMAs, the combined low AML totals only about 15,374 animals — roughly 13,273 horses and 2,101 burros. This AML number represents about 4% of the forage use allocated to livestock on the same ranges.
At the back end of this broken program sits Sale Authority, which allows horses and burros to be sold outright for as little as $25, with immediate transfer of title and no post‑sale federal oversight.
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Sale Authority title transfers jumped from 1,509 in FY2024 to 3,718 in FY2025 — a nearly 150% increase in a single year.
In short: the 2026 Population Statistics Report does not describe a biological crisis caused by wild horses and burros. It documents a management crisis inside BLM — one that is being used to argue for more roundups, more holding contracts, and renewed attempts to secure lethal control authority.
Wild Horse Education has prepared a detailed, citation‑heavy review of the 2026 report specifically for congressional staff, advocates, and media. We invite you to use it as a counterpoint when BLM and industry lobbyists present “overpopulation” and “unsustainable costs” as the only story.
The report will be useful as you engage in outreach on the budget with your lawmakers.
You can download the full review HERE.
WHE_2026_PopStatsReportReviewA footnote on the Population Statistics report: For a large animal, 80,000 individuals is a very small, critically threatened population, while for a rare insect or plant, it might be a stable, localized population. So even if you accept the numbers as valid, we really should be talking about how to protect them, not remove them.
BLM has just released an actual gather schedule after 6 months of running roundups off of no actual schedule.
We are working on an in-depth report on the gather schedule. Simply publishing the schedule and quoting a number is to do an injustice to the herds on the schedule and those in a target zone but left off (in line for “emergency” removal using the funding set aside for that purpose).
We will have that report and an update from our legal team as soon as we can.
We thank you for being an active advocate and standing up for Freedom, Mercy and Justice.
Every mile we travel to cover roundups or assess a herd, every court case we bring, every win, every action we take is only possible because of your support.
