Carter/Buckhorn/Coppersmith Case Moves Forward to Preliminary Injunction Phase Intact!

The judge has declined to rule on the BLM Motion to Dismiss any part of the lawsuit  brought by Wild Horse Education and Carter Reservoir Mustangs, Inc, challenging BLM’s Carter Reservoir, Buckhorn, and Coppersmith wild horse gather plan today. Decades of bad decisions for Carter, Buckhorn, and Coppersmith will finally be fully tested in court. 

This means we can now move forward with of our causes of action—challenging not just the 2025 gather plan, but the entire flawed planning framework dating back to 1981 that set this crisis in motion.

What This Ruling Means

By declining to rule on BLM’s Motion to Dismiss at this time, the court has allowed us to proceed with the full scope of our challenge. We can now argue that BLM’s reliance on decades-old planning decisions made without proper data or analysis violates federal law in the current plan and the framework it is built on. The judge has essentially recognized that these older plans may in fact require additional briefing before any determination of the scope of our underlying claim as they form the foundation of the current gather authorization—and BLM has never actually fixed the underlying problems.

This is significant because BLM tried to limit our case to just the 2025 gather plan by arguing the older decisions (from 1981, 1989, 2003, and 2008) were too old to challenge. The court is allowing all of these challenges to move into the Preliminary Injunction briefing.

CRMI and Wild Horse Education were represented in court today by Rae Lovko of Greenfire Law, PC

The Preliminary Injunction Challenge Ahead

Now comes the hard part. We have until May 8 to file a comprehensive Preliminary Injunction motion arguing that all planned removals and all other actions authorized by this flawed framework should be stopped while the case proceeds

A Preliminary Injunction would prevent BLM from moving forward with gathers or other management actions that could cause irreparable harm to these herds before the court decides the merits of our case. For Carter specifically, this means preventing reductions to just 25 horses—a population size that would push the herd toward functional extinction.

Why BLM Should Have Fixed This

BLM knew the underlying framework was incorrect and not based in actual data. The agency promised it would open the Herd Management Area Plan (HMAP) process to address these foundational errors with proper analysis. Instead, BLM simply skipped that step and issued the 2025 gather plan, relying on the same flawed decades-old decisions as if they were legitimate.

BLM could have rectified these errors through a real HMAP revision—conducting actual range studies, genetic analysis, and transparent public process. They chose not to take that path. Now we’re asking the court to hold them accountable for building current management actions on a foundation they know is defective.

Join Us: Late Nights Ahead

We have just over 10 days to prepare a detailed legal motion covering all causes of action across five challenged decisions. This Preliminary Injunction brief must demonstrate why immediate relief is necessary, establish the likelihood we’ll succeed on the merits, and show irreparable harm to the herds if gathers proceed.

We expect a lot of late nights between now and May 8 as we build the strongest possible case to protect Carter, Buckhorn, and Coppersmith from management actions based on a framework BLM refuses to repair.

We have the opportunity to tell the whole story of these herds to the court. This is where decades of field documentation, range research, and legal preparation come together in one critical filing.

We really have our work cut out for us. The work involves painting the full picture of the injustices that have befallen these herds and culminates in the current plan that places their very existence in jeopardy.

A lot of work ahead. But we are so grateful to have this (very unique) opportunity and break new ground!

Right now your contribution will be matched in honor of National Volunteer Week and Earth Day!

Through May 1, your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $10,000. 

We need your support to keep our teams engaging lawmakers, our team fighting in the court, our team ready to run the roundup schedule. 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.