Trump wild horse roundup strategy continues in Biden budget

摘要

President Biden's fiscal 2022 budget plan shows that the new administration is committed to continuing a controversial Trump-era strategy for reducing wild horse and burro populations. The request proposes increasing the budget for Bureau of Land Management's Wild Horse and Burro Program by about 31% - to $152.5 million from the current $115.7 million enacted level. If Congress approves the extra money, officials say, BLM plans to use it to continue rounding up thousands of wild horses and burros. The $152.5 million request tracks closely with the projected annual costs in BLM's report last year to Congress outlining the Trump administration's herd reduction strategy. That report called for permanently removing 20,000 animals annually from federal rangelands (E&E News PM, May 12, 2020).