Committee approves bill to establish permanent wild-horse program in Colorado Department of Agriculture

The House Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources Committee voted 13-0 to send House Bill 12 83, which would create a permanent wild-horse program within the Colorado Department of Agriculture, to the Committee of the Whole.

The bill implements recommendations from the Colorado Wild Horse Working Group established in earlier legislative action and aims to expand coordinated fertility-control efforts on herd management areas (HMAs), provide on-range infrastructure support and back adoption and long-term care efforts with state coordination and access to the existing Wild Horse Fund.

Majority Leader Monica Duran, the bill’s co-sponsor, told the committee the measure stems from a multi-stakeholder process and “creates a permanent wild horse program within the Colorado Department of Agriculture to ensure continuality and sustainability of our efforts.” Duran said the program will provide resources and coordination for “scientific proven fertility control methods that can humanely manage wild horse populations on the range.”

Witnesses from conservation groups, ranching organizations and state agencies testified in support. Sandra Hagen Solon of American Wild Horse Conservation said the working group’s population modeling showed Colorado’s wild-horse population — currently estimated in testimony at about 3,000 animals — could double to 6,000 by 2028 without intervention, and urged passage so the state can “ensure wild horses remain a vibrant part of Colorado’s heritage while addressing the complex ecological, economic, and ethical consideration their management entails.”

Department of Agriculture staff and the Bureau of Land Management described earlier state expenditures and partnership activity: the department reported it has allocated about $490,000 for fertility-control projects and about $370,000 for on-range projects (fencing, water and other infrastructure). Majority Leader Duran told the committee the sponsors estimate about $555,000 remains in the existing Wild Horse Fund from an earlier $1.5 million appropriation and that the bill preserves authority to use those dollars and accept gifts, grants and donations.

The bill sets an advisory committee of at least 14 members to continue the stakeholder collaboration created by the working group; testimony and questions from members focused on whether independent scientists and expanded legislative consultation should be added to that body. The committee adopted two technical amendments: L001 restored the department’s continuous spending authority that had been inadvertently removed, and L002 clarified consultation language for appointments and removed a staggering provision because the advisory committee will sunset. Both amendments were adopted without objection.

Doug Vilsack, state director for the Bureau of Land Management in Colorado, described the partnership with volunteer darters and state efforts to expand professional fertility-control teams, and said the goal is to reduce costly removals and off-range holding. “We remove them from the range because we have great biologists on our team that go out and ... evaluate rangeland health,” Vilsack said, adding the state efforts will help break a cycle in which most federal funds are spent on off-range care rather than on-range treatment.

Committee members asked about program details the advisory group will fill, the mechanics and scheduling of immunocontraceptive primers and boosters, and how state resources would coordinate with federal BLM management. Department officials and witnesses said the advisory committee and department staff will work to refine those operational details; staff said nothing in the bill prevents CDA from partnering with BLM to gather additional data or develop comprehensive management planning.

Following the amendment votes, Representative Winter moved the bill as amended to the Committee of the Whole; Representative Soper seconded. The roll call recorded 13 yes votes, 0 no votes; the committee chair declared the measure passed and referred it to the Committee of the Whole.