Mesa Verde National Park officials are developing a plan to rid the park of feral horses and cattle/NPS

Over the years, feral horses and cattle have found their way into Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, and now park officials are working on a plan to remove them and see that they don't return.

Park officials are beginning work on an environmental assessment to decide how best to remove the roughly 80 horses and a dozen cattle that are roaming the park grounds. Trespass livestock, which enter into the park from adjacent properties, have been prohibited in the park since 1908, according to a park release.

Capturing and removing trespass livestock from the park would be done humanely and would comply with NPS policies and regulations, the release said.

The park is seeking suggestions from the public on ways to remove trespass livestock, prevent future trespassing, and related issues or concerns. This information will be incorporated into different alternatives analyzed in the EA.  Within the alternatives, the Park will also analyze the No Action alternative, continuing current programs and practices. Some preliminary alternative ideas for the proposed project are as follows:

* Capture, removal and exclusion: wrangler round-up, baited pen capture, fencing, fertility control, etc.

* Post removal holding: on site or off site areas

* Post removal placement: public sale, private sale, adoption, donation, etc.

Interested parties can submit written comments online. The deadline to submit comments is January 8, 2016. Commenters should be aware their entire comment, including personal identifying information, may be made publicly available at any time. Commenters can request the National Park Service withhold this information from public review, but removal cannot be guaranteed.

Since the 1930s, the Park Service at Mesa Verde has constructed and maintained fencing along the park’s boundary, but livestock continue to enter and multiply in the park. Existing park programs and practices, including maintaining existing fencing, have not been effective at removing livestock. The number of trespass livestock, particularly horses, has increased in the past 20 years.

There is no legal authority to allow livestock use in the park. According to federal regulations at 36 CFR 2.60, “The running-at-large, herding, driving across, allowing on, pasturing or grazing of livestock of any kind in a park area or the use of a park area for agricultural purposes is prohibited.”

Mesa Verde National Park does not have any reserved rights associated with livestock use and it is not designated as a necessary and integral part of the park’s recreational activities or historic scene. The horses in the park are not protected under the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act (WFRHBA) and the National Park Service is not one of the agencies designated to manage horses under the WFRHBA. The park’s only legal authority is to remove trespass livestock.