When Congress unanimously passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, it mandated that the BLM and U.S. Forest Service protect these animals as “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West.” The law required that wild horses be managed at their then-current population levels to maintain a “thriving natural ecological balance.”

However, the foundational flaw in the BLM’s entire management system is that the agency never conducted an accurate, scientifically rigorous census of wild horses in 1971.