LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The spotlight is on the wild horse and burro population here in Nevada once again.
For years, how the population has been managed has stirred up a lot of controversy. Many times, the Bureau of Land Management has used helicopters to get the job done over a large territory. Many times the roundups have ended up with horses being injured or dying.
Advocates have pushed for other ways to control the population. One way is with human fertility. I talked to advocates who say the 2024 national spending bill that President Joe Biden signed makes a cut to the BLM’s budget, a step in the right direction.
Valerie Juick took me to her property in the northwest valley where she has two horses behind her home. She adopted Aspen seven years ago. At just a few months old, Aspen ran away from her mother during a roundup near Cold Creek.
Juick said she has turned a wild horse into her own and said the roundups are hard to watch.
“It is horrible, if you watch those videos with the compound fractures and the bones sticking out and they are still chasing these horse,” Juick said. “They round them up and they get split up.”
The American Wild Horse Conservation estimates there are 44,000 wild horses and 4,000 wild burros in the state. They have pushed for the Bureau of Land Management to use alternative population control methods.
According to the conservation, the latest 2024 national spending bill cuts the BLM’s budget for the horse program by nearly $6 million.
“Congress is watching and they are not going to throw money at the BLM to continue implementing a failed approach to wild horse management,” said Suzanne Roy, the Executive Director of the conservation.
She adds the $11 million designated for human fertility control is staying the same and that it sends a message.
“That report language also includes a directive to BLM to evaluate alternatives to helicopters in the management of horses.”
As for Juick, she tells me using more fertility control measures with darts could work to control the state’s wild horse and burro population.
“We have to be better at taking care of the wildlife,” Juick said.
Channel 13 has reached out to the Bureau of Land Management for a statement. As of the time this report was filed, we have not heard back.
A recent Review-Journal letter to the editor mischaracterized Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, also known as the Clark County Lands bill. As the former executive director of the Nevada Conservation League, I wholeheartedly support this legislation, so I wanted to set the record straight.
Sen. Cortez Masto has been working on this bill for years in partnership with state and local governments, conservation groups like the NCL and local area tribes. It’s true that the Clark County lands bill would open 25,000 acres to help Las Vegas grow responsibly, while setting aside 2 million acres for conservation. It would also help create more affordable housing throughout the valley while ensuring our treasured public spaces can be preserved for generations to come.
What is not correct is that the money from these land sales would go to the federal government’s coffers. In fact, the opposite is true.
The 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is a landmark bill that identified specific public land for future sale and created a special account ensuring all land sale revenues would come back to Nevada. In accordance with that law 5 percent of revenue from land transfers goes to the state of Nevada for general education purposes, 10 percent goes to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for needed water infrastructure and 85 percent supports conservation and environmental mitigation projects in Southern Nevada. This legislation has provided billions to Clark County and will continue to benefit generations of Southern Nevadans. Sen. Cortez Masto’s lands bill builds upon the act’s success.
So here’s the good news: All of the money generated from land made available for sale under Sen. Cortez Masto’s bill would be sent to the special account created by the 1998 law. Rather than going to an unaccountable federal government, the proceeds would continue to help kids in Vegas get a better education, bolster outdoor recreation and modernize Southern Nevada’s infrastructure.
I know how important it is that money generated from the sale of public land in Nevada stay in the hands of Nevadans, and so does the senator. That’s why she opposed a Republican effort last year to sell off 200,000 acres of land in Clark County and other areas of the country that would have sent those dollars directly to Washington.
Public land management in Nevada should benefit Nevadans. We should protect sacred cultural sites and beloved recreation spaces, responsibly transfer land for affordable housing when needed and ensure our state has the resources it needs to grow sustainably. I will continue working with Sen. Cortez Masto to advocate for legislation, such as the Clark County lands bill, that puts the needs of Nevadans first.
Paul Selberg writes from Las Vegas.
click to expand photos
Las Vegas High’s baseball team claimed a 3-2 home win over Coronado on Friday.
Las Vegas (9-13-1) next hosts Rancho at 10 a.m. Saturday. Coronado (13-14) hosts Chaparral at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada’s jobless rate is holding steady, but the state is still adding jobs.
A new report from DETR shows February’s unemployment rate unchanged at 5.3 percent, with the labor force growing by nearly 3,800 people.
MORE ON FOX5: Nevada unemployment rate rises to 5.3% in January
Nevada now has about 1.6 million nonfarm jobs, up 2.2 percent over the past year and 1,500 more jobs than in January.
“This month’s report shows a strengthening labor market,” said David Schmidt, Chief Economist. ”Compared to the report for January, the pace of job gains in the past year increased from 1.9% to 2.2%, building on what was already the fastest pace of job growth in the country. While the unemployment rate remained stable, the labor force participation rate rose to 63.7%, 1.7 percentage points higher than the national level.”
In Las Vegas, employment ticked up by 1,100 jobs in February, about 0.1 percent, and is up more than 25,000 jobs compared to last year.
Reno added 1,000 jobs on the month, while Carson City shed about 200 but is still slightly above where it was a year ago.
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