The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has announced a devastating plan to remove nearly every wild horse from Nevada’s Lahontan Herd Area—over 2,500 mustangs who’ve roamed this land for generations. If the plan goes forward, not a single wild horse may remain. This is an irreversible erasure of part of our nation’s living heritage. 

These horses are federally protected under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, which recognizes them as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West.” Yet time and again, the BLM prioritizes livestock grazing and extractive industry over the welfare of wild horses. The Lahontan roundup is just the latest example.

Locals and advocates were blindsided by the BLM’s announcement. There was no meaningful public input process. There is no current overpopulation emergency. And there is no clear justification for eradicating an entire herd area.

Instead of wiping out wild horses from public lands, the BLM should be investing in humane, science-based population management tools—like fertility control—and balancing land use in a way that honors all interests, not just commercial ones.

These horses deserve better. The American people deserve better.

We call on the Bureau of Land Management to immediately halt the plan to zero out the Lahontan Herd Area and commit to a long-term management plan that keeps wild horses free and on the range.

Let’s not stand by while a living part of the American West is quietly removed forever. Speak up now before it’s too late.