The Bureau of Land Management Utah State Director has received the final report from the Salt Lake Wild Horse and Burro Center review team.
The team found that because the Butterfield Center is located on a steep hillside on the east slope of the Oquirrh Mountains, the facility receives a high amount of runoff that ultimately ends up in the horse pens, contributing to the muddy conditions.
Due to this ongoing situation, the review team has recommended that an agricultural engineer familiar with large animal holding facilities be hired to evaluate the soil conditions, site, pen layout, and construction and maintenance procedures to see if there is a long term solution to the issues with poor drainage and mud at the Center.
To address the current weather related issues with mud at the Butterfield Center, the BLM will be moving approximately 200 horses from Butterfield to its facility in Gunnison. The number of horses at the facility has not exceeded permitted capacity, but the team suggested that a number of horses be moved because of the muddy conditions. This should allow the Center staff to improve corral conditions for the remaining horses. Horses will be transported in a large single-deck semi trailer beginning on Monday, April 25.
The team made a wide range of additional recommendations for medium and longer-term management of the Center. The BLM will consider these recommendations over the next few months, pending the results of the agricultural engineering studies.
A copy of the team’s full report is available on the BLM-Utah’s Wild Horse and Burro web page at https://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro.html.