As the Department of the Interior considers moving the new BLM headquarters from Washington, D.C. to a Western site, advocates believe the move could have benefits for wild horses under the agency's management. | Photo: iStock

Economic developers in three Western states are competing for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) new headquarters, which is now under consideration by the Department of the Interior (DOI). Some wild horse advocates believe a new BLM headquarters in the West could work in the horses’ advantage.

Earlier this year, DOI Secretary Ryan Zinke began a major reorganization of the agency, which manages about 500 million acres of public lands. Most of those lands are located in a dozen Western states including Colorado, Idaho, and Utah. The BLM, a part of the DOI, is charged with managing wild horse and burro herds roaming public lands.

Part of Zinke’s proposed reorganization involved relocating the agency’s headquarters from Washington, D.C. to a Western site to better facilitate pubic land management there