Proposed government policy to curb wild horse population

[Twisterdog]

Since this land is mostly privately owned by ranchers, they will never willingly give it up. There is, however, Eminent Domain, which would allow the government to take the land since it would then be determined public.

Actually, this isn't the case in the west, where these horse herd roam. The vast majority of land in Wyoming and Nevada, where the largest wild horse herds are, is public land. It is not owned by ranchers, it is federally managed land that techinally belongs to all of us. But because everyone has equal rights to use the land, that means ranchers can turn their cattle loose on public lands to graze. They techically are "renting" the land, since they do pay the government a small fee per cow, but it is laughably tiny amount.

There is plenty of food in the high desert areas, where these horses roam, for the native species. Horses, pronghorn, rabbits, coyotes ... all could live perfectly well together if left alone. It's the hundreds of thousands of cattle that cause the problems. And the ranchers who own them have a lot of political clout out here.

[jennielynn1970]

Taking the land through Eminent Domain is not a solution. All that happens is that the person who owns the land originally gets screwed when it comes to the gov't paying them for their land.