BLM plan to wipe out Lake Mead burros

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are proposing to round up more than 500 wild burros in the desert north of Lake Mead.

The BLM estimates at least 554 burros and 36 horses live in the Lake Mead Complex, an expanse of rangeland covering about 291 square miles. It is reportedly one of the biggest herds in Nevada. They must be referring strictly to the burros.

“The feral donkeys are stripping the land of vegetation and could die off if the population isn’t managed along the Arizona-Nevada line,” the agency said. So they want to gather most of them and offer put them up for adoption.

If approved, the government also plans to temporarily sterilize any remaining burros and round up them up at other points over the next decade.

No date for the roundup has been set. It could be years away or as early as this fall if a historic drought in the U.S. West dries up enough plants and grass to force starvation conditions, the agency’s documents indicate.

The proposal also includes removing the small herd of 36 wild horses in the same area.

The agency manages the complex along with the National Park Service. The area can support up to 98 burros and no horses, Bureau of Land Management officials said.

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Our response

This sounds like a decimation plan, not a management plan — typical of the BLM.

The horses? Gone forever. The burros? We will have to wait and see how many they leave, if any.

Here is a general look of the area.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Boulder City, NV

The Lake Mead National Recreation Area sits on 1,495,806 acres. It’s nearest city is Las Vegas.

Surrounding areas of Lake Mead, Nevada

The BLM are, and always have been, a rogue agency. The Department of Interior have not roped them in on our watch over the past 20 years. The DOI give them carte blanche. We have seen time and again what they do with that.

TH

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