BLM NEWS —
As part of its responsibility to manage and protect wild horses and burros, including those removed from overpopulated herds roaming 2estern public rangelands, the Bureau of Land Management is soliciting bids for new, short-term holding facilities (corrals) located in 17 Western and Midwestern states.
The BLM’s solicitation is for multiple short-term facilities accommodating a minimum of 200 wild horses and/or burros in a safe and humane condition. The short-term facilities must be close to and readily accessible from a major U.S. interstate or highway.
Each short-term facility must be able to provide humane care for a one-year period, with a renewal option under BLM contract for four one-year extensions. The animals will remain in a short-term holding facility until they are adopted or can be transported to a long-term pasture. The solicitation is open until June 2, 2014.
The states under consideration for this solicitation are Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. In the case of Oregon and Washington, the area west of the Cascade Mountain Range is excluded. A future solicitation will cover states in the East.
The BLM’s bidding requirements are posted in solicitation L14PS00389, the details of which are available athttp://www.fedconnect.net. To obtain the solicitation: (1) click on “Search Public Opportunities”; (2) under Search Criteria, select “Reference Number”; (3) put in the solicitation number (L14PS00389); and (4) click “Search” and the solicitation information will appear. The solicitation form describes what to submit and where to send it. Applicants must be registered at http://www.ccr.gov to be considered for a contract award.
The BLM manages wild horses and burros as part of its overall multiple-use, sustained-yield mission. Under the authority of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the BLM manages and protects these living symbols of the Western spirit while ensuring that population levels are in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses. To make sure that healthy herds thrive on healthy rangelands, the BLM removes excess animals from the range to control the size of herds, which have virtually no predators and can double in population every four years. The free-roaming population of BLM-managed wild horses and burros is at least 40,605 (as of February 28, 2013), which exceeds by nearly 14,000 the number determined by the BLM to be the appropriate management level. Off the range, there are more than 48,000 wild horses and burros cared for in either short-term corrals or long-term pastures. All these animals, whether on or off the range, are protected by the BLM under the 1971 law.
