[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5189-5190]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    MANAGING WILD HORSES AND BURROS

  (Mr. STEWART asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

[[Page 5190]]


  Mr. STEWART. Mr. Speaker, the BLM just announced that it would 
significantly cut grazing allotments and possibly eliminate all cattle 
grazing on Federal lands in Elko, Nevada, to accommodate the 
overpopulation of wild horses. Many rural areas in my district are 
facing the exact identical situation where wild horses are taking over 
the ranges.
  I grew up ranching and riding horses, and I desperately want to 
protect them. But with 50,000 wild horses on ranges in the West--which 
is double what the land can sustain--the ranges are overgrazed, and now 
horses are starving to death.
  Not only are the current conditions inhumane, but due to the 
overpopulation, the Federal Government is forced to house an additional 
50,000 horses at a cost of $55,000 per horse.
  I urge my colleagues to join with me to look for solutions to this 
problem. One solution is my bill, the Wild Horse Oversight Act, which 
would simply allow States to manage wild horses and burros.
  If you care about these horses like I do, then help me solve the 
problem. If you care about our range and how these animals are 
destroying the range, then, again, help me solve this problem.

                          ____________________