The Nevada Cattlemen's Association asks the Board NOT to reaffirm its support for the Wild Horse Fire Brigade plan. The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, 16 U.S.C. 1339, bars the Secretary from relocating wild horses or burros to public lands where they do not presently exist. We believe it should stay that way; Wild Horse Fire Brigade seeks to change it. A lawful path already exists for private land. Any group wanting to relocate wild horses can adopt them and place them on private sanctuaries, as many do across the country.

The plan also does not serve Nevada cattle producers. Wild Horse Fire Brigade's own website describes its target areas as wilderness "unsuited for invasive species livestock (cattle & sheep)." Its founder has published at length calling cattle and sheep invasive and arguing that livestock grazing has failed as a wildfire fuels tool. That is the opposite of the position Nevada and Elko County ranchers are defending before the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service, where targeted grazing is an approved fine fuels strategy and additional grazing capacity is under consideration.

We share the Board's goal of bringing the number of wild horses on Elko County's rangelands to Appropriate Management Levels. However, endorsing this plan lends County credibility to an organization that has sued BLM to stop a horse gather and that attacks public land livestock grazing throughout the West.

Martin Paris, Nevada Cattlemen's Association