Wild horses were roaming the North Dakota Badlands long before Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park was established near Medora in 1947. About 200 wild horses remain, though that could soon change if the National Park Service gets its way.

The park, now known as Theodore Roosevelt National Park, announced plans to thin or eliminate the herd of wild horses in 2022. Of the roughly 20,000 people who submitted comments in the public comment period, only about 45 supported the park’s goals.

If the removal or phased reduction is approved, horses would be rounded up and offered to area tribes and government agencies, be sold at auction or euthanized. Any remaining horses would get contraception. The United Tribes of North Dakota asked the park to keep the horses, and the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation asked for a genetically viable herd of horses to remain within park boundaries.

All of this is unnecessary. The horses are a cultural resource and an economic driver in North Dakota. But the park refuses to acknowledge any negative impact if the horses are removed and admits that the horses are not causing environmental damage or impacting forage for native species or the park ecosystem.

Despite that, park officials continue to label the horses as “livestock,” which they claim are not native and not allowed in national parks. Officials claim the horses could compete with native plants and animals — including bison and elk, which had to be reintroduced, unlike the horses. The horses could be allowed to stay simply by changing their designation from “livestock” to “cultural resource.”

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a tribute to Theodore Roosevelt, the “conservation president,” and his time in North Dakota. We know from his writings that wild horses were part of his experience in the Badlands. Some of the horses might be traced back to Sitting Bull’s war ponies from when he surrendered in 1881 at Fort Buford.

The park’s “thinning” proposal to reduce the herd to 60 or fewer is not a sound compromise. Gene variation is important to any population. Small herds are more susceptible to disease and genetic maladies. Leading wild horse geneticist Gus Cothran cautioned the park that keeping numbers that low would mean a loss in genetic viability, stress the horses and make the remaining horses more aggressive. Many wild horse herds are being properly managed to maintain genetically viable herds. There is no reason that cannot happen for the wild horses at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

There are approximately 1,000 wild horses on National Park Service lands. But Theodore Roosevelt National Park is the only one working to eliminate them. Wild horses on NPS lands are not protected under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, which has prompted advocates in other national parks to obtain federal protection for the herds.

Support for keeping the horses continues to grow. My nonprofit, Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates, is continuing conversations with North Dakota state legislators. Last spring, they passed a resolution requesting that the horses be allowed to stay. Because the park refuses to budge, something stronger, such as a state law to protect our wild horses, should be discussed in the next legislative session.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has offered to contribute state resources to allow the horses to stay. Sen. John Hoeven added language to the National Park Service’s funding bill urging the park to let the horses remain. Chasing Wild Horses is hopeful that Hoeven will sponsor much-needed federal legislation to protect Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s horses.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is the No. 1 tourist destination in North Dakota. Local businesses in the neighboring town of Medora know that the wild horses are a big part of the draw and fear that losing the horses will have a negative impact on their bottom lines. Park officials have dismissed those concerns despite their own report showing that 89% of park visitors surveyed support the ongoing presence of the wild horses. Concerns from residents and businesses prompted Medora’s town council to draft a resolution asking the park to keep the horses.

Park Superintendent Angie Richman has said a decision on thinning or eliminating the herd will come by the end of 2024.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s wild horses thrill and delight about 600,000 visitors each year and do so without damaging the landscape or threatening other species. They are as integral to the park as the land itself. No one — not even the National Park Service — should take these horses from the lands they and their ancestors have roamed for ages.