pdq, I wish you would cite your sources.

Here is one article I found which says Salazar is also asking for more land to be set aside for the wild horses. The designated land they had has been dwindling since 1971. From HERE:

San Rafael animal rights group protests wild horse roundup
Rob Rogers
Posted: 12/30/2009 05:36:02 PM PST

Members of a Marin animal rights group led more than 50 people Wednesday in a San Francisco protest against the ongoing roundup of wild horses from federal lands.

The San Rafael-based In Defense of Animals asked Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who heads the Senate's Interior Department Appropriations Committee, to stop the removal of 2,500 mustangs by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management - a process members say is cruel and illegal.

"The horses are herded with helicopters, driven across snow and rock, where they suffer injuries," said veterinarian Elliot Katz, president of In Defense of Animals. "The horses break legs, babies get separated from the others and the injured horses come down with pneumonia."

But a spokeswoman for the roundup, which began Monday, said the animal rights group had wildly distorted information about the program, which the bureau considers necessary for the long-term survival of the nation's wild horses.

"Yes, (the horses) run from the helicopter, but they are not deeply traumatized. They recover and calm down quickly," said JoLynn Worley, a bureau spokeswoman.

The BLM oversees a herd of about 37,000 mustangs on 31.9 million acres of Western lands - a number that has grown from 17,300 in 1971, when Congress passed the Wild Horse Act. Officials say that number is about 10,000 more than can be sustained on the open range, which has been devastated by drought and wildfires in recent years.

Under the Wild Horse Act, the bureau regularly rounds up
Advertisementhundreds or even thousands of the mustangs, using helicopters to drive the herds toward corrals. The bureau puts those horses up for adoption. The horses that do not find homes, or are older than 15 years, are retained by the bureau on ranches throughout the Midwest.

"The adoption market has slowed considerably over the past few years," Worley said. "Right now, the bureau has about 30,000 animals we're not able to find adopted homes for in long-term holding facilities."

Animal rights groups allege the bureau is selling its adoptable horses to businesses that slaughter them - an accusation the agency vehemently denies.

In addition, groups such as In Defense of Animals say the bureau only rounds up horses in order to provide pasture on federal lands for commercial ranchers.

"It's a land grab, similar to what we did to Native Americans," Katz said. "The herd isn't being cut back for the health of the horses. It's to give more and more leases to the cattle industry."

Bureau spokesmen say that cattle ranchers have voluntarily reduced their presence on public lands. In addition, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has asked Congress to designate new wild horse preserves in the Midwest and East. Until that happens, the bureau must continue to balance the needs of all users of public lands, Worley said.

"Part of the Wild Horse Act requires the Bureau of Land Management to manage the herd in a healthy, thriving condition," Worley said. "Given the amount of forage on public range lands, we have to try to find a balance for grazing use, wild horses and wildlife."

A spokesman for Feinstein said she was weighing the issue.

"Sen. Feinstein is working hard to find a solution to this problem, but there is no easy answer," said communications director Gil Duran. "She has strongly opposed euthanasia as a method for controlling the horse population, and she is committed to creating a long-term strategy for protecting the wild horses."

Katz estimates that about 20 Marin residents took part in Wednesday's demonstration at Feinstein's office in San Francisco. It coincided with similar events in Chicago, Colorado, Idaho and London. The event, coordinated by the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, included members of several animal rights organizations, including the Colorado-based Cloud Foundation.

Here's some info from HERE:

Amid mounting protest and the legal wranglings of the highly controversial Calico Complex roundup, Bureau of Land Management officials have chosen to announce yet another roundup of wild horses to take place in February of this year. A Preliminary Environmental Assessment of the Eagle Herd Management Area capture plan along the Nevada/Utah border targets 545 wild horses for capture and removal. Fifty will be removed from private lands. An additional 92 horses will be removed from two adjacent Utah Herd Management Areas (HMA's) in the process.

The reason stated as need for the roundup repeats the BLM mantra of "thriving natural ecological balance" though there seems to be no one who can truly define the term.

The remaining population of 100 animals appears to confirm wild horse advocate concerns about genetic viability of America's wild horse herds. Past explanations by BLM personnel point to migrating patterns that bring about the mingling of horses from different HMA's as a factor in maintaining herd viability. The two adjacent Utah HMA's will be left with populations of 15 and 30 wild horses. A genetic pool of 145 animals raises a red flag in the scientific community.

    This topic is of particular relevance to the Wild Horse and Burro Program because the majority of wild equid populations managed by the BLM are kept at population sizes that are small enough for the loss of genetic variation to be a real concern. Because a loss of genetic variability can lead to a reduction in fertility or viability of individuals in a population, it is critical that genetic considerations be included in management plans for wild equid populations. - "Genetic Variation in Horse Populations" E. Gus Cothran, PhD, Department of Veterinary Science, University of Kentucky

Genetic viability is no longer an issue in HMA's that have had the horses removed altogether. The BLM does not deny the practice of "zeroing out" wild horse herds. As of March of last year BLM website pages admit to 15 such HMA's in Nevada alone. Fifteen additional HMA's have been combined to create only six. These combined areas show a tremendous loss of acreage available for use by wild horses, the Eagle HMA being one. Investigation reveals no BLM denial of accusations that over 19 million acres of land mandated for use by wild horses have disappeared since 1971.

Protesters throughout the country are asking for an immediate moratorium on wild horse roundups and Congressional intervention to clean up the mess in BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program which was originally intended to protect American herds.

Public comments on the Eagle roundup will be accepted until January 27. Written comments can be mailed to: BLM ELY District office, HC 33 Box 33500, Ely, Nv 89301   attn: Mary D'Aversa, Schell Field Manager. Comments can also be e-mailed to: eaglegather@blm.gov

There's another article by the same author HERE