They also provoke a visceral response - both among those who seek to protect them and those who consider them a nuisance.

Now, a prominent legislator is suggesting that the state get into the business of overseeing wild horse herds in Utah.

Unhappy with what he calls perennial under-counts of Utah's wild horse population by the Bureau of Land Management, Sen. Tom Hatch, R-Panguitch, says the state could do a better job of managing the herds. Hatch is considering making a proposal to the BLM to allow Utah to do just that.

"I believe we could do it better and I don't think I'm alone," says Hatch, a businessman and rancher. "The [BLM] has a commitment to manage for certain populations in certain areas. Regardless of the excuse, it hasn't happened. In many instances, the wild horses have greatly exceeded their range and gone into areas they're not supposed to."

Hatch cautions that his proposal is "very preliminary," and that further research could yet scuttle the whole idea. But the chairman of the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee says he has the backing of Department of Natural Resources Director Michael Styler, who informally pitched the idea recently to state BLM Director Sally Wisely, suggesting the state - with the cooperation of the agency - implement a pilot program. Many of Hatch's fellow rural legislators likely will climb on board.

But there are some clear obstacles to the proposal. For one, it would probably take a repeal of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act to do it.

"It seems like a very lofty goal, but the law is pretty straightforward," says Gus Ware, the BLM's state wild horse program coordinator. "Whether they were pioneer horses or cavalry horses, they were let go on to federal land at some point, and our mandate under the '71 act is to manage wild horses and burros on federal land. I'm not even sure we could do a pilot program with the way law is written."

The other discouraging factor for any state contemplating the idea is what Ware calls "the intricacies" of managing the herds and the effort and resources it would take.

"It's pretty monumental," he says.

Wild horse advocates, meanwhile, express horror at Hatch's proposal. Already fiercely critical of the way the BLM has managed wild horses - they claim the agency is overestimating the size of the herds by half - they call any state control of wild horses and burros a virtual death sentence for the animals.

"Would you allow a fox to guard a henhouse?" says Karen Sussman, president of the Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros, based in South Dakota. "You turn management over to the states and we won't have any wild horses left in the country."

The irony of the Hatch proposal: It comes at a time when BLM officials say Utah's current count of 2,605 wild horses and 140 burros is right about what the agency calls an appropriate management level for the state. Utah had about 5,000 wild horses and burros in 1998; the agency began removing animals shortly after in response to the drought, which dried up forage and water sources.

But Hatch, like other ranchers holding grazing permits on BLM land, is convinced that those numbers are low. And too many horses, they say, mean their cattle are competing with the horses for forage and water.

"There is a dispute about the numbers," Hatch says. "It's like the elk numbers. Wildlife people give you one number, ranchers give another. I think history reflected that the numbers were higher than what the division [of Wildlife Resources] reported.

"But the question is really much bigger than that," he adds. "It goes to, who should control these numbers? The state controls all other wildlife. If these horses are feral animals that have gone astray, they belong to the state."

Whether Hatch and others are contemplating a battle with the feds over control of the horse and burro herds is unclear - but they may want to be careful what they wish for.

The emotions generated by wild horse issues have been on full display since last last year, when Congress passed an amendment to the 1971 law that allowed for the sale of horses and burros 10 years old that have unsuccessfully been put up for adoption three times. Previously, all wild horses taken off the range were relocated to adoption centers - Utah has two, in Herriman and Delta - with the unwanteds being moved to regional, long-term pasture facilities. Overall in the West, the BLM says there are still 9,000 more wild horses and burros than the range can sustain.

Wild horse advocates argued that the amendment would lead to horses being slaughtered for overseas diners.

And they ratcheted up the heat considerably following the removal of 41 animals from the range for sale to an Illinois slaughterhouse - despite requirements that the horses be treated humanely.

The Interior Department responded by imposing tougher standards on buyers, holding them to a promise that they will not process the animals for commercial purposes, and threatening criminal penalties for violations. But the House of Representatives last week voted to repeal the sale amendment. The Senate is now being pressed to do likewise.

"I know wild horses are an emotional issue, almost like wolves," says Hatch. "And like I said, I could be dead wrong about this.

"But my experience with things like this is that the state can probably manage it more effectively and at less cost than what the feds are doing it for."

But that, says wild horse advocate Sussman, is beside the point.

"These horses belong to all of the people of the United States," she says. "The public lands belong to all of us. If we forget this, we'll lose our heritage. And the wild horses are a big part of our heritage."

jbaird@sltrib.com

Photos by Jim Urquhart

The Salt Lake Tribune

Above, wild burros occupy a corral last week at the BLM's facility in Herriman. A Utah legislator is considering a proposal to have the state take over management of wild horse and burro herds from the BLM. At left, Rhonda Bennett, of Riverton, looks over wild horses and burros at the Herriman corral with an eye toward possible adoption.