Wild Horses and Public Land

The Pryor Mountain Wildhorse Range near Lovell, Wyoming, is one of the few places remaining where mustangs roam free and interact with the land in their own ways. In 1968, the U.S. Government created this first wild horse refuge to protect a legendary band of mustangs. Today biologists visit Pryor Mountain to study the mustangs' natural behavior and relationship with the land.

Biologist Kate Schoenecker studies the herds in the Pryor range. "We're kind of lucky with this population [of horses], that they will behave, and do a lot of their normal, natural social behaviors while we're here and while we can get pretty close to them."

For Kate and anyone else, it's a jolting three-hour drive up canyon slopes and through the woods to reach the plateau. This rugged terrain has enabled the horses to evade capture, and to live as wild creatures for at least a hundred years. One would think the horses would be safe and unchanged by events in the human communities down below.

But it's not that simple. Things have changed in the wilderness. The natural predators of the horse have been reduced. Wolves and grizzly bears have been almost eliminated from all but one National Park. Natural fires have been reduced. The parks have been fenced, so when the herds grow too big individual animals can't move away to other parts of the west.

So, Schoenecker and her colleagues at the Midcontinent Ecological Science Center have several studies going to help determine how best to manage the population. In one, they are using CD-ROMs and a Web site to consolidate photographic identifications they've made of horses at both Pryor and at the Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range in Colorado. In another, they are using the identification system and computer modelling to evaluate all the factors that impact the viability of the herds and suggest the best ways to manage their population. Yet, these projects raise the question, How do you manage something that is supposed to be wild?

Volunteers, like Floyd Schweiger, are helping the biologists identify the herd. He comes up to the Pryors every chance he gets. When he first saw the mustangs 30 years ago he thought they were like any wild horse. "But," Schweiger says, "finally one day I climbed up on a pile of rocks or a little mound and looked down. I saw a dark stripe down the back of one of the horses. The horses we had back in Minnesota, my home state, were not like that. And then sometime later I went out again and saw a horse similar to it turned sideways. I saw the tiger stripes on its legs. That's really what got me started on this whole thing. Until finally after one of the round-ups, the park service provided $5,000 to do some blood typing on these horses. There are only about three or four such bands left in the wild today." These horses are the only remaining legacy of the free roaming herds who thundered over the plains centuries ago.

Tourists and Public Lands
But the isolation that has preserved the range is threatened by its own success. Floyd Schweiger is not the only one fascinated by the mustangs on the Pryor.

By late morning people are beginning to outnumber horses on the refuge. What seemed wild and remote now feels more like a theme park. Schoenecker says, "I can't believe how many people are up here. You know, you can't keep people off public land. It's public land, but there are ways to manage that. Like, I don't think they're going to fix this rocky, bumpy road. You saw the road we came up on, and I don't think they're going to grate that road. They're certainly never going to pave it."

Schweiger asks, "How do you preserve and enjoy at the same time? Can it be done? How do you do it?"

This small band of dun striped horses have taught us a great deal about their ancestors and the patterns and social dynamics of wild horses. To learn more continue on to the next page.

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