An independent panel of scientists that spent two years reviewing the U.S. government's controversial management of wild horses is poised to release a series of recommendations to combat skyrocketing costs and help quell decades of conflict on public rangelands.
The study being made public on Wednesday is expected to touch on a wide range of fronts, from mustang roundups and fertility control to better ways to calculate the preferred size of the free-roaming herds and their impacts on the range in 10 Western states.
The Bureau of Land Management requested the appointment of the 14-member research committee by the National Academy of Science's National Research Council in June 2011.
Especially contentious is disagreement over the role of and need for the roundups.