BLM eyes land near Ennis for wild horses

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By The Associated Press

Story Published: Oct 1, 2009 at 6:17 AM MST

Story Updated: Oct 1, 2009 at 6:17 AM MST

BOZEMAN - The Bureau of Land Management is looking into the possibility of bringing up to 1,500 wild horses to a pasture on the Spanish Q Ranch near Ennis in southwestern Montana.

Nearly 37,000 wild horses and burros live on land managed by the BLM in 10 Western states. BLM managers say that is about 10,000 more than the agency considers healthy for the grazing land.

The latest plan is open for public comment. It calls for transporting wild horses from BLM land across the West to the 15,600-acre pasture, which would be the first of its kind in the Rocky Mountains.

Susie Stokke is a specialist with BLM's National Wild Horse and Burro Program. She says pastures like the one being proposed for the Ennis area already operate in Oklahoma, Kansas and South Dakota. But Western lawmakers have pressed the BLM to develop pastures in the West, where most of the horses come from.

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