[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 152 (Tuesday, November 2, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H11205]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  WILD HORSE MANAGEMENT: A BETTER WAY

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Madam Speaker, more than half of this Nation's wild 
horse population and burro population roams free over the rangelands of 
Nevada. But the State of Nevada has little or no authority over the 
management of these herds because wild horse and burro management rests 
solely with the Bureau of Land Management, mostly here in Washington, 
D.C.
  Unfortunately, the BLM's management has proven to be highly 
ineffective and terribly destructive to both the rangeland and to these 
animals.
  Wild horses and burros are causing havoc and destruction on Nevada's 
rangelands through overgrazing and destruction of riparian areas. Many 
animals simply are starving to death because the land cannot physically 
sustain them.
  These horses and burros may not be the brightest animals on the farm, 
but neither is the bureaucracy here in Washington, D.C. The failure of 
this current management system is obvious to many Nevadans.
  Clearly, the current Federal bureaucracy is doing more harm than 
good, and a change needs to be made. Congress needs to act to pass H.R. 
2874, the Wild Horse and Burro Preservation and Management Act.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back whatever common horse sense may remain in 
the BLM's management policy.

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