Heal the Range: Agency plans to reduce Montana's only wild horse herd

Montana’s only wild horse herd is found in south-central Montana’s Pryor Mountains. This is an area of extremes. The lowlands are desert-like, while the mountain tops rise to more than 8,700 feet. Across about 42,000 acres of this rugged land a herd of about 205 are spread across lands managed mostly by the Bureau of Land Management, but also the Custer Gallatin National Forest and the National Park Service.

The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range is one of only four designated wild horse and burro ranges in the country, which means the area is managed principally, but not exclusively, for wild horses.

These horses were made famous by documentary filmmaker Ginger Kathrens. Her films following the stallion known as Cloud from birth his birth in 1995 to adulthood have drawn visitors to the region from around the world. 

Recently, the BLM released a proposed management plan that would reduce the herd, an always controversial topic among wild horse advocates. The federal agency would prefer to see the herd cut to no more than about 120 horses. To do that, the BLM is proposing “gathers” that would trap horses that could then be adopted out.

To learn more about this unique horse population, I talked with Brett French, outdoor editor of the Billings Gazette.

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Montana Untamed, hosted by Thom Bridge, covers the state's rugged landscape from hook and bullet to policy and science.