Photo taken at RTF’s sanctuary by Lori Sortino.
The Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service are seeking nominations to fill six positions on the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board.
Formed under the Wild Horses and Burros Act, the Advisory Board makes recommendations to the BLM and USFS on wild horse and burro management and protection but does not control policy. The nine-member Advisory Board is made up of volunteers representing various public lands interests.
- The agencies are seeking to fill positions representing wild horse and burro advocacy, veterinary science, and public interest (with knowledge of natural resource management).
- The BLM and USFS are also taking nominations for three positions that will become vacant in September 2026: humane advocacy, wildlife management and livestock management.
Advisory Board members serve three-year terms and meet “1-4 times annually,” according to a BLM press release.
The agencies have not organized an Advisory Board meeting since January 2025, however. Since then, the terms of three members have expired, and the agencies are only now seeking to nominations to fill those seats.
Among those whose terms expired was the board’s chair, Return to Freedom biologist Celeste Carlisle, who has served two terms.
In recent years, the Advisory Board has made a significant, positive shift in its recommendations away from the use of lethal tools and toward a more sustainable and humane approach to wild horse and burro management.
As recently as 2016-18, the Advisory Board voted to recommend killing tens of thousands of wild horses in government holding facilities, selling them without restriction (to slaughter) and even allowing overseas sales and adoptions.
Since then, the Advisory Board has called for the immediate use of fertility control to slow herd growth and more comprehensive planning for designated wild horse and burro Herd Management Areas.
Return to Freedom strongly supports the use of proven, safe and humane fertility control to stabilize herd growth. Fertility control can reduce the size and frequency of agency roundups to reduce the on-range population.
Used robustly and properly, fertility control has the potential to replace the failed, decades-old practice of capture and removal as the agencies’ primary wild horse management tool.
Any individual or organization may nominate one or more people, including themselves, to serve on the board. Current federal and state government employees are not eligible.
Interested parties should submit an application packet demonstrating experience or knowledge of their specific field and commitment to solutions-oriented collaboration on resource management issues.
Advisory Board members receive travel and per diem expenses but no salary.
The BLM and Forest Service will host an informational webinar via Microsoft Teams at 1 p.m. on March 11 PDT for those interested in the nomination process and the advisory board’s work.
Nominations must be received or post-marked no later than April 13.