This issue has not changed over the decades, and in most cases is now getting worse. If these herds are not reduced to sustainable levels, the damage to the land may be beyond repair. Many tribes have individual programs and plans in place to address the situation, but most do not. The BIA does not have a plan to address this issue, they tend to address this under other programs on a very limited scale. Currently, the BIA is now in the process of inventorying WHB populations on all tribal lands through a research project with the USGS. While the federal government has developed a task force to address this issue and provide funding for WHB management, the funds only go to the BLM. While the USFS does not receive direct funding for the WHB issue, they do fund through general appropriations and are part of the federal task force to address the issue. Tribes and the BIA are not part of this task force.
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Figure B.9. BLM Appropriations for Wild Horse and Burro Management (derived from Congressional Research Service, Wild Horse and Burro Management: Overview of Costs, July 13, 2022)
Costs to manage the WHB populations on tribal lands greatly exceeds the amount allocated to tribes through the normal project proposal processes. The USFS spends roughly $1,200 per animal for helicopter round up, trapping around $1,000 per animal, and $6 per day to corral the captured horses. The Forest Service and BLM have adoption programs that pay up to $1000 for horses removed from the federal
lands. In FY21, the BLM spent $8 million on horse removal. Once the herds are reduced to acceptable levels, there will be annual costs to sustain that level. Funding for the WHB program is necessary to reducing herds and restoring natural resources on tribal lands. However, the funding for BIA programs is currently incidental. Congress is aggressively funding the BLM Wild Horse and Burro control program. In FY2022, BLM funding (Figure B.9) was increased to $137.1 million dollars (Congressional Research Service, May 16, 2022), a six- fold increase in funding since FY2000 ($20.4 million) and more than double the amount funded in FY2010 ($64.0 million). This funding has allowed the BLM to reduce the herd size from 95,000 animals in 2020 to 82,400 in March 2022. Tribes need assistance in acting on this issue. The assessment that is ongoing needs to be completed and the Acceptable Management Level for each reservation needs to be estimated.
Table B.6. Comparison of Wild Horse and Burro populations on federal and select tribal lands.
Population (Wild Horses and Burros combined)
Acceptable Management Level (AML)
Agency/Tribe Acres Affected
Bureau of Land Management
26.9 million
82,384
26,700
US Forest Service
2.5 million
8,000
2,370
Sampled BIA Lands (3 Tribes)
17.6 million
56,000
11,264
Sources: https://www.blm.gov/whb
https://www.doi.gov/ocl/wild-horses-and-burros-0 https://www.fs.usda.gov/wild-horse-burro/territories/index.shtml Note: BIA AML is calculated by the BLM AML/Thousand Acres * Acres Sampled
92 Assessment of Indian Forests and Forest Management in the United States
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