Bureau of Land Management Seeks New Members of the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board

26 by Del Brown on flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0

Want to have a say in how the Bureau of Land Management handles the wild horses and burros that live on public lands in the American west? Now is your chance to apply for a spot on the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board.

The board is comprised of representatives of various interest groups and the public and works to provide advice to the BLM to help guide the wild horse and burro management programs. There are currently nine members of the board representing different interests. Three spots on the board will open up in April of 2017 for three-year terms. The BLM is seeking representatives from three areas of interest: natural resource management; wild horse and burro research; and public interest (equine behavior).

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Board members cannot be Federal or state government employees, and anyone serving on another resource advisory council is ineligible for the Wild Horse and Burro board. Nominees should have some background experience, knowledge, or interest in wild horse and burro management. The board members will be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Agriculture, but the nomination process is open now. Nominations must be submitted by February 10, 2017.

Positions on the board are unpaid, although members can receive reimbursement for travel expenses for the required meetings—typically one to four meetings per year.

Interested parties can nominate themselves—or someone else—by submitting a resume and answering the questions posted on the Federal Register. Applicants are asked to describe their educational and employment experience, their background with wild horse and burro management, and past civic experience, among other things. Nominations must also include a letter of reference

To find out more and submit a nomination, see the Call for Nominations at the Federal Register.

Leslie Potter is a writer and photographer based in Lexington, Kentucky. www.lesliepotterphoto.com

8 years ago

Leslie Potter

Leslie Potter is a graduate of William Woods University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Equestrian Science with a concentration in saddle seat riding and a minor in Journalism/Mass Communications. She is currently a writer and photographer in Lexington, Ky.Potter worked as a barn manager and riding instructor and was a freelance reporter and photographer for the Horsemen's Yankee Pedlar and Saddle Horse Report before moving to Lexington to join Horse Illustrated as Web Editor from 2008 to 2019. Her current equestrian pursuits include being a grown-up lesson kid at an eventing barn and trail riding with her senior Morgan gelding, Snoopy.

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Elaine says:
December 29, 2016 at 8:25 pm
As if the BLM will even listen to someone who exhibits an earnest and knowledgeable interest in the well-being of our federally protected wild horses! --- While charged by 1971 LAW to do otherwise, the BLM has been and still remains in the business of the 'purposeful mismanagement into extinction' of wild horses. BLM has been led in this endeavor by Neil Kornze, whose ex-boss Sen. Harry Reid (NV) 'groomed and placed' him into that position, to follow the lead of Reid, who has wished for many years to 'zero out' every wild horse herd in our country! As well, BLM has moved unencumbered in this sad direction through total lack of attention to any equine science or any acceptance of that knowledge by their overseer, Interior Sec. Sally Jewell (BLM is an agency within Interior) who is a faux-scientist with resume in Big Oil and Banking. Jewell showed her total lack in 'that' department during her first appearance before the National Press Corp, when her comments were like a Jr. HS 'bathroom joke' as she referenced wild stallions, their duties and their 'equipment.' To anyone who knows horses, wild or otherwise ... but wild horses in particular ... it was insulting and an embarrassment beyond repair. More recently, the BLM Advisory Board ... with only one 'token' voice for wild horses ... has recommended that some 50,000 captive wild horses be slaughtered as a 'budget cut' move! Seriously? These people are not fit to clean the hooves of our wild horses, yet the agency was assigned by 1971 LAW to "Protect and Manage the Free-Roaming Wild Horses and Burros of this Nation." --- I have been 'at this' since the late 1960s when I lived in NJ and NYS, and was involved in the campaign that brought us THAT bill ... unanimously passed by Congress and signed into law by the-Pres. Nixon. --- I know whereof I speak. Personally, I have owned and raised horses for my entire adult life (I am now 85). --- To anyone who trusts BLM, or the incoming (nominated) Sec. of Interior, or anyone placed by the new administration into these new jobs ... I can recommend a beautiful bridge for sale at a great price in the Borough of Brooklyn! "The fox is in charge of the hen house." Our wild horses are in grave danger, planned danger, with no rescue in sight. Pay attention.