RENO, Nev. (KOLO) The Nevada Department of Agriculture's request for proposal to give away 3,000 Virginia Range wild horses was met with no response.
"We've been fighting and desperately fighting and asking them to come back to the table for the lives of our horses," Louise Martin, of the Wild Horse Campaign, says.
The announcement came the same day director, Jim Barbee, announced he will be leaving the NDA to serve as the Churchill County Manager. Barbee helped spearhead the search for a private organization to manage the herd.
The American Wild Horse Campaign says it wants all stakeholders to come together to reach a collective agreement. The group filed a lawsuit against the NDA in March 2018 over their move to hand the horses over to a private property.
"If we all went back to the table and just iron out the issues, the lawsuit would be dropped as soon as the cooperative is resumed."
Councilmember Naomi Duerr says the Washoe County Land Bill could help find a solution that works for everyone.
"I think we're looking at all the ways that this bill could play out. One of the things that the city of Reno is that we've proposed a community land trust for affordable housing and open space for recreations so this might fit nicely into that," Duerr says.
