Photo taken at RTF’s Lompoc, Calif., headquarters sanctuary by Meg Frederick.

The National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board will meet Dec. 12-14 at the Bureau of Land Management’s National Training Center in Phoenix, Ariz. The public is invited to attend in-person, at 9828 N 31st Ave, or view the meeting via live stream at BLM.gov/live.

Click here for the meeting agenda.

The public will have an opportunity to make a verbal statement to the Advisory Board in person and virtually via Zoom (audio only) on Dec. 13, from 10:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. MT and on Dec. 14 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. MT. Registration for public comment closed Dec. 8.

The BLM will also host two educational field tours for the Board, to the Pleasant Herd Management Area on Dec. 12 or to the Florence Wild Horse and Burro Off-Range Corral and Training Facility on Dec. 14. Registration for the field trips closed in November.

=The all-volunteer Advisory Board does not control policy but rather makes recommendations to the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service about wild horse and burro management.

At its June meeting, the board made recommendations to the BLM and USFS that included:

* develop operational plans outlining how robust, meaningful, programmatic fertility control will be incorporated into Herd Management Area and Territory management plans;

* continually refining and improving the level of care, handling, and treatment provided for wild horses and burros;

* begin determining the process of analysis that will enable health considerations to guide decisions towards determining “Appropriate Management Level” (the agencies’ population goals for Herd Management Areas and Territories) due to protracted drought;

* USFS advocating for its own wild horse management budget;

* request consultations with tribal governments and other government entities managing free-roaming horses to ensure actions taken on Herd Management Areas and Territories are not undermined by horses and burros from other areas.