Fate of Oregon's Wild Horses Falls to Ninth Circuit

Wild horse advocates recently asked a three member panel of the Ninth Circuit to stop the U.S. Forest Service’s plan to re move 78 wild horses from a central Oregon forest. Central Oregon Wild Horse Coalition sued three Forest Service officials and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, accusing the agency of neglecting to consider all available data before approving a plan to remove two-thirds of the wild horses in the Ochoco National Forest in central Oregon. The group says the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Wild Horse Act by setting a new population limit that would spur the herd’s extinction through drastic reductions and an irretrievable loss of genetic variability. After a lower court sided with the Forest Service, finding the agency reasonably considered the available data, the Wild Horse Coalition has appealed. The Forest Service has man aged wild horses in the area since 1975, when it set the population limit at 55 to 65 horses. That decision, Petrova argued recently, was not an accurate reflection of the actual herd size. In May 2021, the Forest Service reined in the appropriate management level for Big Summit Wild Horse Territory to just 47 to 57 horses, which is less than half the existing population. U.S. Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke told Petrova he had a background with wild horse cases, having served as a judge in Nevada. VanDyke asked Petrova if her clients' issue was with the number the agency set or its intent to act on the number and thin the herd. “The issue here that’s really significant is that the population has been significantly higher,” Petrova said, arguing that the range can sustain a much higher population than the federal government suggests. Stockman said the agency up until 2011 kept the horse population roughly in line with the appropriate management level set in 1975. Since 2011, however, the agency has removed just six horses. Removed horses are either sold or adopted. The paneldid not indicate when it would rule.