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Nature of Suit Code: 893
Nature of Suit: Environmental Matters
Cause of Action: 

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FILED

United States Court of Appeals

Tenth Circuit

October 14, 2016

Elisabeth A. Shumaker

Clerk of Court

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

TENTH CIRCUIT

AMERICAN WILD HORSE

PRESERVATION CAMPAIGN;

CLOUD FOUNDATION; RETURN

TO FREEDOM; CAROL

WALKER; KIMERLEE CURYL;

GINGER KATHRENS, 

Petitioners-Appellants,

v. No. 15-8033

(D.C. No. 2:14-CV-00152-NDF)

(D. Wyo.)

SALLY JEWELL, in her official

capacity as Secretary of the United

States Department of the Interior;

NEIL KORNZE, in his official

capacity as Bureau of Land

Management Acting Director,

 Respondents-Appellees.

---------------------

ROCK SPRINGS GRAZING

ASSOCIATION; STATE OF

WYOMING,

 Intervenor Respondents - 

 Appellees.

--------------------

NATURAL RESOURCES AND

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

PROFESSORS; MOUNTAIN

STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION;

Appellate Case: 15-8033 Document: 01019705359 Date Filed: 10/14/2016 Page: 1 
WYOMING STOCK GROWERS

ASSOCIATION,

 

 Amici Curiae.

ORDER AND JUDGMENT

Before BRISCOE, McKAY and MATHESON, Circuit Judges.

In July 2014, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), acting through a

contractor, removed approximately 1,263 wild horses from sections of public and

private lands in an area in southwestern Wyoming known as the “Checkerboard.” 

Shortly thereafter, petitioners American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, The

Cloud Foundation, Return to Freedom, Carol Walker, and Kimerlee Curyl filed

this action against Sally Jewell, the Secretary of the Department of the Interior,

and Neil Kornze, the acting director of the BLM, seeking review of BLM’s

decision to remove wild horses from public land sections of the Checkerboard. 

Petitioners alleged, in pertinent part, that the removal violated the Wild FreeRoaming Horses and Burros Act (Act), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1331–1340, and the Federal

Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), 43 U.S.C. §§ 1701–1787. 

The district court rejected these claims. Petitioners now appeal.

Exercising jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we conclude, for

reasons to be more fully explained in a forthcoming opinion, that the case is not

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Appellate Case: 15-8033 Document: 01019705359 Date Filed: 10/14/2016 Page: 2 
moot, and that, as alleged by petitioners, the BLM violated both the Act and the

FLPMA in carrying out the 2014 removal of wild horses from the Checkerboard. 

Accordingly, we REVERSE the judgment of the district court.

Entered for the Court

Mary Beck Briscoe

Circuit Judge 

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Appellate Case: 15-8033 Document: 01019705359 Date Filed: 10/14/2016 Page: 3