Protecting Herd Management Areas is central to the survival of America's wild herds. Without secure habitat, all other conservation efforts become temporary fixes. You can help sustain these landscapes by supporting RTF's legal defense and advocacy initiatives through the Wild Horse Defense Fund—ensuring that wild horses and burros continue to roam the public lands that are their rightful home.

HMAs are regions of public land designated for wild horse and burro management under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The Bureau of Land Management currently manages 177 HMAs across 10 western states, encompassing roughly 27 million acres. These areas were intended to ensure wild equines could live as integral parts of the public-lands ecosystem. However, decades of political pressure and land-use conflict have drastically reduced their size and number.

When the 1971 Act was passed, wild horses roamed more than 53 million acres. Today, they occupy less than half that area. Herds have been displaced to make room for livestock grazing, mining, oil development, and urban expansion. Some HMAs have been “zeroed out,” meaning all horses were removed and the area is no longer managed for their use—an erosion of the original legal intent of the 1971 Act.