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Wild burro removal
BLM 'gather' to help restore ecological balance of Arizona public lands

<br>Courtesy photo<br>
The BLM-Arizona’s Yuma Field Office will begin gathering 100 burros from the Cibola-Trigo area Saturday.

<br>Courtesy photo<br> The BLM-Arizona’s Yuma Field Office will begin gathering 100 burros from the Cibola-Trigo area Saturday.

YUMA, Ariz. - Gathering wild horses and burros is a controversial management action in the Bureau of Land Management's oversight of wild herds, but it is a necessary one for maintaining the health of not only the horses and burros, but also the wildlife and public rangelands on which they roam.

An upcoming gathering of wild burros near Yuma, Ariz., will help ensure the health of many species in an area where the herd has grown so large the burros are impacting habitats managed by other agencies.

The BLM in Arizona manages wild horses and burros and much of the land they use within the Cibola-Trigo Herd Management Area, which is adjacent to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuges along the Colorado River. Because of this governmental relationship, the agencies work together to determine a sustainable use level for the burros.

The BLM-Arizona's Yuma Field Office will begin gathering 100 burros from the Cibola-Trigo area Saturday to support habitat recovery in heavily used areas and bring the herd closer to its appropriate management level of 165. A May 2010 census estimated there are around 600 wild burros in the area, more than three times the number the land can sustain in balance with other rangeland resources and uses.

Wild horse and burro advocacy groups have recently escalated their efforts to stop all gathers. In a column for the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, BLM Director Bob Abbey responded that a moratorium would be untenable. Noting the BLM is required to protect, manage and control wild horse and burro herds on public lands under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, Abbey wrote it would be devastating to public rangeland health to ignore the law's mandate that excess horses and burros be immediately removed from overpopulated herds.

Data from past gathers at Cibola-Trigo show the burro herd grows about 15 percent per year. This growth is largely unchecked because wild horses and burros have no natural predators. Unmanaged, the herd size can double in size in five years.

Such a burro boom can be bad for other species and the agencies that manage them. In Cibola-Trigo, a burro population as large as it currently is will eat vegetation so rapidly the plants can't fully grow back.

Some vegetation areas studied this spring showed signs of what John Hall, Yuma wild horse and burro specialist, calls "lollipopping" - overgrazing to the point of severely damaging plants. Many of the shrubs and trees burros eat near the Colorado River are on the Arizona Department of Agriculture's protected native plants list.

According to the Arizona Game and Fish Department, overgrazing can be detrimental to native species, such as bighorn sheep or mule deer, that may eat the same plants; overuse can also be harmful to certain songbirds that nest in these plants.

Besides impacting plants and other animals, herd growth can make life difficult for the burros themselves. The BLM's management strategy aims to prevent "boom and bust" cycles and preserve stable, healthy herds.

A burro population can grow rapidly when there is plenty of water and vegetation for forage and shade - the boom. But when the herd grows too large and begins to use those resources at excessive levels, burros are forced to compete with wildlife and each other, leading to the bust.

Even though the Cibola-Trigo burro population will exceed its appropriate management level after this gather, it is a first step toward relieving overuse in the area. Managing the herd in balance with its habitat and other species will always be a challenge. Over the course of eight gathers from 1997-2002, the Yuma Field Office removed 1,390 burros from the Cibola-Trigo area and made them available for adoption to qualified adopters. The burros removed at the upcoming gather will also be offered for adoption once they are vaccinated, dewormed and freeze-marked.


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