ELR Citation: 56 ELR 20092
No(s). CV-26-08092-PCT-KML (D. Ariz. Jul 8, 2026) (Lanham, J.)

A district court granted a wild horses advocacy group's motion for preliminary injunction in a challenge to the Forest Service's approval of management plans for free-roaming horses in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. The group argued an April 2026 letter issued by the Service, which declared all horses in the forests to be “unauthorized livestock” instead of wild free-roaming horses protected by the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act (WHA), violated the WHA, the APA and NEPA; and sought to prevent any roundup in the area until the Service complies with certain procedural requirements and to require the Service to "affirmatively enforce" laws prohibiting third-party roundups. The court found the group's request that an injunction mandate enforcement obligations must be denied, but that it likely showed the letter violated NEPA and the APA and that other serious issues flowed from that because failure to abide by NEPA before attempting to remove wild horses violated both a 2007 stipulation's requirements and the WHA's mandate. It granted the preliminary injunction as to all horses in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, and enjoined the Service from determining them to be “unauthorized livestock,” “strays,” or “feral” as opposed to federally protected wild-free roaming horses, and from capturing or removing unclaimed and unbranded horses within the forests.