The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is looking to work with potential research partners for
research that will address any of the priorities that were identified in its 2021 Wild Horse and
Burro Program Strategic Research Plan. The priorities include: 1) develop and/ or test fertility
control methods that are safe, humane, and applicable to female wild horse (mares); 2) address
ecological relationships between wild horses and burro and their environments, with studies that
may also address the effects of climate change on wild horse and burro populations; 3) studies
that would further improve wild horse and burro aerial censuses; develop new insights into wild
horse and burro genetics; improve health, handling, and welfare; identify factors that improve
horse and burro adoption rates; or address indigenous knowledge of, or human dimensions of
wild horse and burro management.
Background
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages and protects wild horses and burros on 26.9
million acres of public lands across 10 Western states as part of its mission to administer public
lands for a variety of uses. The Wild Horse and Burro (WHB) Program's goal is to manage
healthy wild horses and burros on healthy public rangelands. The BLM created its WHB
Program to implement the Wild-Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, passed by Congress in
1971. Broadly, the law declares wild horses and burros to be “living symbols of the historic and
pioneer spirit of the West” and stipulates that the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service have the
responsibility to manage and protect herds in their respective jurisdictions within areas where
wild horses and burros were found roaming in 1971. To maintain wild horses and burros in good
condition and protect the health of our public lands, the BLM must manage the population
growth of wild horse and burro herds. Without natural population controls, such as predation,
herds can increase at a rate of up to 20 percent annually, doubling in size in just 4 to 5 years, if
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not appropriately managed. The BLM removes animals from some herd management areas to
reduce the risk that large populations of wild horses and burros can cause negative ecological
impacts. In addition to removals, though, management methods that reduce population growth
rates must be implemented to protect scarce and fragile resources in the arid West, and ensure
sustainable populations of healthy wild horses and burro s in the long term.
The BLM wild horse and burro program recently released its ‘BLM Wild Horse and Burro
Program 2021 Strategic Research Plan [hereafter, "Strategic Research Plan"], which can be
accessed via: https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/herd-management/scienceand-research. That document and associated appendices provide extensive background
information on the agency’s motivations to support research, history of recently funded WHBrelated research, and agency-identified research topics that may be of highest interest to the
WHB program. The development and testing of long-lasting fertility control methods for wild
mares is identified as the BLM’s highest current priority for WHB-related research. The secondhighest priority is research into relationships between WHBs and their environment that could
inform BLM’s management. A number of lower-priority research topics are listed in the
Strategic Research Plan, including studies that would further improve wild horse and burro aerial
censuses; develop new insights into WHB genetics; improve health, handling, and welfare;
identify factors that improve horse and burro adoption rates; or address human dimensions of
WHB management. Indigenous knowledge is also an important source of information that
inform the BLM's resource management, as clarified in DOI policy that came out after the 2021
Strategic Research Plan, in DOI Department Manual parts 522,523,526,and 604.
1. As part of its efforts to manage the population growth of wild horses on public rangelands, the
BLM has supported the development and testing of various contraceptive agents for wild horses
since 1978. Fertility control methods for wild burros have been tested and applied, but to a lesser
degree. Development and testing of humane and effective fertility control methods for wild
mares that are long-lasting is vital to the BLM’s ability to manage herd population growth rates,
and was identified as the BLM’s highest priority for research in the Strategic Research Plan. As
explained in the Strategic Research Plan, research that addresses male horse neutering, male
horse temporary fertility control, or burro fertility control is not currently a BLM priority, and
such research will not be considered responsive to this funding opportunity.
2. To protect the quality of resources and values on the lands it manages, the BLM must ensure
that ecosystems on the public lands system meet rangeland health standards (BLM 2001),
including where wild horses and burros roam. In doing so, the BLM provides adequate resources
and thriving natural rangelands where wild horses and burros live, so that widespread
populations of these treasured animals exist into the future. The BLM needs to improve its
understandings of the current and expected future state of natural resources in the lands where
wild horses and burros live and of the effects of wild horses and burros on rangeland ecosystem
conservation and restoration. The BLM must have accurate scientific projections of future
conditions, to plan climate adaptation actions that will ensure that wild horse and burro herds
will continue to be self-sustaining and that the rangelands they depend on will be in a thriving
natural condition. This general category of research was identified as the BLM’s second-highest
priority for research in the Strategic Research Plan.
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3. A number of other wild horse and burro management considerations could be informed by
new scientific research. The third category of research proposals that could be funded by
agreements following this announcement were listed in the Strategic Research Plan as lower
priority research topics that would be important to fund or facilitate research addressing these
questions when possible. These topics include studies that would further improve wild horse and
burro aerial censuses; develop new insights into wild horse and burro genetics; improve health,
handling, and welfare; identify factors that improve horse and burro adoption rates; or address
indigenous knowledge of, or human dimensions of WHB management.
For each of the research priorities listed above, Appendix A of the Strategic Research Plan also
describes a subset of example research questions. These examples are not exhaustive: BLM also
encourages the preparation of research proposals that would address other research relate to any
of the topics identified above.