BLM Needs Holding Facilities for Wild Horses

The Bureau of Land Management is soliciting bids for new, short-term holding facilities (corrals) for wild horses located in 17 Western and Midwestern states.

The short-term facilities must be able to accomodate a minimum of 200 horses and be close to and readily accessible from a major U.S. interstate or highway. Each short-term facility must be able to provide humane care for a one-year period, with a renewal option under BLM contract for four one-year extensions. The animals will remain in a short-term holding facility until they are adopted or can be transported to a long-term pasture. The solicitation is open until June 2, 2014.

According to a news release, the states under consideration for this solicitation are Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. In the case of Oregon and Washington, the area west of the Cascade Mountain Range is excluded. A future solicitation will cover states in the East.

Under the authority of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the BLM manages and protects the wild horses and burros while ensuring that population levels are in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses. The free-roaming population of BLM-managed wild horses and burros is at least 40,605 (as of February 28, 2013), which exceeds by nearly 14,000 the number determined by the BLM to be the appropriate management level.