‘Havoc’ From Wild Horses Is Top Issue for Trump Lands Chief

News.bloombergenvironment.com - Full Article

October 11 2019
by Emily C. Dooley

• More than 88,000 wild horses, burros represent ‘existential threat’ to land
• William Perry Pendley also overseeing BLM move to Colorado from Washington, D.C.

The biggest challenge facing public lands is the more than 88,000 free-roaming wild horses and burros on nearly 27 million acres of Bureau of Land Management property, a top Trump administration official said Oct. 11.

Acting BLM Director William Perry Pendley said the destruction and devastation created by the descendants of animals used by Spanish explorers, the U.S. cavalry, and others costs the federal government millions of dollars each year.

He called the horses and burros “an existential threat to these lands.”

Pendley spoke as part of a panel on public lands during the Society of Environmental Journalists annual meeting in Fort Collins, Colo. He replaced Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who had a scheduling conflict, during a morning session.

Other panelists said climate change was the biggest threat, but Pendley said he was most concerned by roaming animals, which the agency routinely auctions off. More than 11,000 horses and burros were removed in 2018...

Read more here:
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/drilling-ban-on-federal-lands-insane-trump-land-head-says