Feral burro populations in Mojave are having deleterious and potentially irreversible impacts on native flora and fauna. Damage has been documented in plant communities, soils, wildlife, and water quality. Of particular concern is the competition for forage, which is negatively affecting the threatened desert tortoise. An adult burro consumes approximately 6,000 pounds of forage per year, and the herds reproduce at an alarming rate. Reproduction estimates for Mojave National Preserve suggest that the population grows an average of 25% each year.
The Natural Resource Preservation Program is providing funding for Mojave National Preserve to capture and remove all of its 1,300 remaining burros over a three-year period from 1999 through 2001. Geographic barriers and existing highway fences outside the park will keep other feral burros out of the preserve.
The greatest challenge and potential impediment to a successful burro removal program is placement of the animals once they are captured. In 1997 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wild horse and burro program, which puts the animals up for “adoption” by the public, took 600 burros from Mojave National Preserve. However, the market for burros under the BLM program is currently saturated; therefore the Park Service must consider other placement sources. In 1998, Mojave placed 420 burros through a private contractor at a substantially lower cost than the BLM alternative. The contractor sold these burros for pets, breeding, pack stock, and other recreational purposes. Also in 1998, Mojave National Preserve forged an innovative burro placement agreement with the Fund for Animals, a nonprofit animal rights organization. The Fund has agreed to take up to 1,200 animals at their Black Beauty Ranch, a 2,000-acre animal sanctuary in eastern Texas. One hundred Mojave burros were placed at the Black Beauty Ranch in September.
Working with private markets and the Fund for Animals is a significant departure from the typical federal burro adoption program, and represents a trend of collaboration in dealing with resource threats. Complex resource management issues such as feral burro removal will demand that the National Park Service and other federal land management agencies cooperate with industry, environmentalists, and animal rights groups to carry out its preservation mandate.
Photo Credit: Mojave National Preserve
chris_stubbs@nps.gov
Natural Resource Specialist, Mojave National Preserve, California
Back to Chapter 6: New Horizons
President mandates coral reef protection
by James Tilmant
Doppler technology applied to large-river studies
by Brian L. Cluer
Natural resource information tools make their way to the web
by Jen Coffey
Congress places a positive imprint on park management
by Mike Soukup
Solicitor opinions advance park protection
by Julia Brunner and Carol McCoy
Research and collecting permit procedures revised
by Robert Winfree
Fee demonstration funds bolster natural resource protection
by Abigail Miller