The Free-Roaming Equid and Ecosystem Sustainability Network, or FREES, will host its 2026 Summit to explore the trade-offs of free-roaming equid management, according to a program released October 2. The summit will examine the ecological, economic, and ethical dimensions of management through panel discussions, scientific presentations, and field experiences.
The summit is scheduled to take place at the Boise Centre, located at 850 W Front St, Boise, ID 83702. The program begins Tuesday, Oct. 6, with a welcome from FREES Director Dr. David Stoner and a keynote address by Deputy Assistant Secretary Brenda Younkin regarding the future of fertility control on public lands. Other scheduled sessions for Tuesday include a plenary on climate trends and rangeland conditions by Dr. Eric Thacker of Utah State University, alongside various panel discussions covering agriculture, grazing, rangeland resources, animal welfare, and wildlife.
Field tours are scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 7, including visits to the Bruneau Off-Range Wild Horse Corrals and the Boise Wild Horse Off-Range Corral. The Bruneau facility, which is privately owned and operated, provides care for just over 1,100 wild horses. In 2026, over 1,000 wild horses from the Bruneau facility have been offered for adoption or sale, with more than 600 placed into private care, which the source states saves the American taxpayer over $7.5 million in lifetime caring costs.
The final day of the summit, scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 8, will feature breakout sessions led by Dan Adams of the Langdon Group. These sessions will utilize a World Café format to address the concept of Place Based Collaboratives, an idea intended to address wild horse and burro issues through partnerships with the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service to reduce the number of horses requiring off-range holding.
The FREES Steering Committee is composed of over a dozen professionals from various organizations involved in free-roaming equid management. Members include Dr. David Stoner of Utah State University, Dr. Eric Thacker of Utah State University, and Celeste Carlisle, Chair of the National BLM and USFS Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, among others from the USDA, US Geological Survey, and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
