Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

The Bureau of Land Management is hoping to implement what it calls the Blueprint for 21st Century Recreation, and a new report identifies ways to achieve those goals.

The Bureau of Land Management recently announced it will no longer allow the use of “cyanide bombs” on its lands. The M-44 devices are often used to protect livestock from animals like foxes or coyotes.

As my wild horse paws at the snow and eats hay in my pasture, I look at him and wonder what I’ve done. I would sit with my mustang, Boo, every day all winter, into the spring. Just hoping he’d start to trust me – and want to be around me. It had to be his choice, to come to me, to choose me.

The first time I visit a government holding facility for wild horses is in Burns, Oregon. I’m thinking about adopting a wild horse – one of thousands that the U.S. government rounds up each year. They’re kept in large corrals until they’re adopted, and some live out their days in captivity.

I remember the first time my mustang, Boo, bucked me off. We were riding along through the sagebrush following a cowboy friend of mine, Dave Johnston. I wouldn’t let Boo put his head down to munch the spring grass so he threw a temper tantrum. I stayed on for maybe four or five good bucks but then he dumped me.

The public comment period for a proposed BLM rule on oil and gas leasing ends this Friday. Among other changes, the proposal would increase bonding requirements for cleanup costs and increase royalty rates.

The Bureau of Land Management recently gathered more than 100 wild horses from northwest Colorado. The entire West Douglas herd was removed last week and transported to a holding facility in Cañon City.

The Colorado Sun's Lance Benzel joined KUNC to discuss Colorado's first wild horse roundup of the year.

Seventy-six wildlife conservation groups have petitioned the Department of the Interior to ban the use of M-44s on Bureau of Land Management lands. The devices, commonly known as “cyanide bombs,” remain a controversial tool for predator mitigation.

The public comment period for the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed public lands rule closed this week, with well over 200,000 people weighing in. The Center for Western Priorities, which supports the proposal, analyzed those comments and found that an overwhelming majority of them were supportive.