2011
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 11-040
       
       
       BY SENATOR(S) White, Boyd, Brophy, Cadman, Giron, Grantham,
       Guzman, Hodge, Jahn, King K., King S., Kopp, Lambert, Lundberg,
       Mitchell, Nicholson, Renfroe, Roberts, Schwartz, Spence, Tochtrop,
       Aguilar, Bacon, Carroll, Harvey, Heath, Hudak, Johnston, Morse,
       Newell, Scheffel, Shaffer B., Steadman, Williams S.;
       also REPRESENTATIVE(S) Brown, Acree, Barker, Baumgardner,
       Becker, Bradford, Conti, Coram, DelGrosso, Gardner B., Hamner,
       Holbert, Joshi, Kerr J., Looper, Massey, McKinley, Murray, Priola,
       Riesberg, Scott, Sonnenberg, Soper, Summers, Swalm, Swerdfeger,
       Vaad, Vigil, Court, Gerou, Labuda, Schafer S., Wilson.
       
       
          CONCERNING MANAGEMENT OF WILD HORSE AND BURRO
       HERDS BY THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, AND, IN
       CONNECTION THEREWITH, URGING THE BUREAU OF LAND
       MANAGEMENT TO TAKE CERTAIN ACTIONS CONCERNING
       THOSE HERDS. 
       
       
          WHEREAS, The federal government manages and controls
       approximately 21.7 million acres of the land in Colorado, 366,098 acres
       of which are Herd Management Areas (HMAs) where wild horses and
       burros are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM),
       including Piceance Basin/East Douglas Creek, west of Meeker; Little
       Book Cliffs, northeast of Grand Junction; Sandwash Basin in the
       northwestern part of the state; and Spring Creek, southwest of Montrose;
       and
       
          WHEREAS, Wild horse populations also exist on an additional
       357,850 acres in Colorado outside the HMAs; and
       
          WHEREAS, Those rangelands have many additional public uses,
       including livestock grazing, hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing, hiking,
       camping, timber harvesting, and mineral development, making a healthy
       rangeland vital to the economic well-being of Colorado; and
       
          WHEREAS, The population of wild horses and burros, if left
       unmanaged, will double approximately every 4 years, threatening the
       rangelands with overgrazing, placing increased pressure on the ability of
       the rangelands to support livestock grazing and existing native species of
       both plants and animals, and threatening the health and welfare of the
       wild horses and burros; and
       
          WHEREAS, The "Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act", 16
       U.S.C. sec. 1331 et seq., requires the Secretary of the Interior to manage
       wild free-roaming horses and burros in a manner designed to achieve and
       maintain a thriving natural ecological balance on the public lands, to
       determine appropriate management levels (AMLs) of wild free-roaming
       horses and burros in a given area, and to make excess horses available for
       adoption or sale without limitation; now, therefore,
       
          Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Sixty-eighth General Assembly of
       the State of Colorado, the House of Representatives concurring herein:
       
          That we, the members of the Colorado General Assembly:
       
          (1)  Support the concept of the "Wild Free-Roaming Horses and
       Burros Act" and express our opposition to any proposed expansion of
       wild horse HMAs within Colorado and to the creation of any wild horse
       preserves on public lands in Colorado;
       
          (2)  Support the use of a wide range of fertility control and other
       population control measures to reduce the rate of horse reproduction,
       including longer-term treatments or sterilization, to reduce the cost of
       continuous gathering of horses;
       
          (3)  Recognize the knowledge and experience of local ranchers who
       are good stewards of the land and natural environment and encourage the
       BLM to support their efforts to maintain the ecological balance of the
       rangelands;
       
          (4)  Support the use of range monitoring programs using scientific
       range health data to support all decisions;
       
          (5)  Express our opposition to any amendments to the "Wild
       Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act" that would, if enacted, allow any
       growth of wild horse and burro herds in Colorado, allow the expansion
       of wild horse and burro herds in Colorado, allow the creation of wild
       horse and burro preserves on public lands in Colorado, or in any other
       way negatively impact Colorado; and
       
          (6)  Urge the BLM, in complying with those laws and regulations, to
       manage the rangelands in Colorado in a manner that ensures the increased
       health and availability of those rangelands for multiple uses and to reduce
       overpopulated HMAs to their appropriate AMLs.
       
          Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint Resolution be sent to
       Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States Senate;
       John Boehner, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives;
       each member of Colorado's congressional delegation; Ken Salazar,
       Secretary of the Interior; and Robert V. Abbey, Director of the Bureau of
       Land Management.
       
       
       
       
       
       ____________________________  ____________________________
       Brandon C. Shaffer                     Frank McNulty
       PRESIDENT OF                    SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
       THE SENATE                        OF REPRESENTATIVES
       
       
       
       
       
       
       ____________________________  ____________________________
       Cindi Markwell                        Marilyn Eddins
       SECRETARY OF                CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE
       THE SENATE                        OF REPRESENTATIVES