Title 16ConservationRelease 119-73not60

§1332 Definitions

Title 16 › Chapter 30— WILD HORSES AND BURROS: PROTECTION, MANAGEMENT, AND CONTROL › § 1332

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Defines key words about wild horses and burros on public lands. Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior for lands run by the Bureau of Land Management and the Secretary of Agriculture for lands run by the Forest Service. Wild free-roaming horses and burros are all unbranded, unclaimed horses and burros on U.S. public lands. Range is the land needed to sustain the current herd or herds, within their known territory, and mainly used for their welfare under multiple-use management. Herd means one or more stallions with their mares. Public lands are lands managed by the Interior through the BLM or by Agriculture through the Forest Service. Excess animals are horses or burros removed by the Secretary under law, or that must be removed to preserve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance and multiple-use relationship.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §1332

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

As used in this chapter—
(a)“Secretary” means the Secretary of the Interior when used in connection with public lands administered by him through the Bureau of Land Management and the Secretary of Agriculture in connection with public lands administered by him through the Forest Service;
(b)“wild free-roaming horses and burros” means all unbranded and unclaimed horses and burros on public lands of the United States;
(c)“range” means the amount of land necessary to sustain an existing herd or herds of wild free-roaming horses and burros, which does not exceed their known territorial limits, and which is devoted principally but not necessarily exclusively to their welfare in keeping with the multiple-use management concept for the public lands;
(d)“herd” means one or more stallions and his mares; and 11 So in original. The word “and” probably should not appear.
(e)“public lands” means any lands administered by the Secretary of the Interior through the Bureau of Land Management or by the Secretary of Agriculture through the Forest Service.22 So in original. The period probably should be “; and”.
(f)“excess animals” means wild free-roaming horses or burros (1) which have been removed from an area by the Secretary pursuant to applicable law or, (2) which must be removed from an area in order to preserve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance and multiple-use relationship in that area.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1978—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 95–514 added subsec. (f).

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 1332

Title 16Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60