Wild horse (Equus caballos) and burro (E. asinus; WHB) stakeholders in the American West are divergent in their views of free-roaming equids on public lands. Management authority for free-roaming equids on designated public lands was given to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U. S. Forest Service (USFS) in 1971 by U.S. Congress with the passing of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act (WFRHBA). In 1976 the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) mandated the BLM and USFS to manage public lands for multiple-uses which included livestock grazing, energy development, recreation, and timber harvest. Since the passage of WFRHBA and FLPMA almost every WHB management option has been met with frustration and contention by some faction of stakeholders. Currently, WHBs populations on designated public lands exceed numbers the BLM and USFS determined were in balance with other multiple-uses. Historically, true collaboration around the issue has been lacking apart from the banding together of like-minded organizations. As climate change exacerbates resources impacts on Western public landscapes, leaving already arid lands drier and forage amounts and diversity lessened, the need for true collaboration among divergent stakeholders is abundantly clear. However, how to collaborate sustainably and healthily is unclear. This talk outlines frameworks, developed by coalition groups and specifically with BLM in mind, for achieving collaboration with diverse stakeholders and decision-makers. Progress has been made in terms of educating Congressional representatives, appropriators, and broader environmental, wildlife, and conservation groups who have typically kept this extremely noisy issue at arm’s length, and which has resulted in increased funding for the agency towards more comprehensive, ecologically sound and humane management approaches. These positive changes will be described.

Celeste Carlisle is a biologist with an interest in horse reproductive biology and rangeland ecology. She is committed to developing sustainable management plans for wild horses and burros in a rapidly changing climate. She has worked alongside Return to Freedom Wild Horse Conservation to oversee and implement the fertility control program since 2005, and more recently, RTF’s projects that focus on utilizing science towards effective and humane policy changes in the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service wild horse programs, and in on-range public-private partnerships for wild horse and burro management. She works with several collaborative stakeholder groups on wild horse and burro management issues. She is chair of the National BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board.