Exigent Public Health Crisis from Wildfire Smoke — Immediate, Cost-Negative Remedy via Targeted Relocation of Excess Wild Horses under Existing Federal Authorities

In this executive briefing to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., William E. Simpson II argues that toxic wildfire smoke has become a major public health crisis, contributing to tens of thousands of premature deaths each year and imposing enormous economic costs. He proposes using existing federal authority to relocate excess wild horses from government holding facilities into remote, wildfire-prone wilderness areas, where year-round grazing could reduce fine fuels, lessen wildfire intensity, and lower smoke production. The briefing frames the Wild Horse Fire Brigade model as a humane, fiscally responsible strategy that could simultaneously improve public health, reduce wildfire suppression costs, and put federally managed wild horses back to work as natural ecosystem managers.

We've become awfully good at paying to clean up disasters while ignoring opportunities to prevent them. If wildfire smoke is taking as many lives as the research suggests, then every practical, science-based tool deserves a fair hearing—especially one that promises to reduce both taxpayer costs and fire risk. Whether this proposal proves to be the answer or simply part of it, I'd rather see leaders debating prevention than writing another blank check after the next megafire has already done its damage. Good stewardship means investing in healthier landscapes before the smoke starts drifting into our towns.

NOTE: this article was originally sent to us by email from Captain William E. Simpson II, founder of Wild Horse Fire Brigade

It's a Fact; Toxic Wildfire Smoke is Killing tens of thousands of American men, women and children prematurely every year now!

This is clearly a problem and lands in the wheelhouse of the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Today, I drafted and sent the following Executive Briefing to Sec. Robert Kennedy Jr.  HHS

I am available to testify before any Congressional Committee that may address this deadly exigent matter.

EXECUTIVE BRIEFING

To: The Honorable Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary From: [Prepared for WHFB / William E. Simpson II context] Date: July 17, 2026 Subject: Exigent Public Health Crisis from Wildfire Smoke — Immediate, Cost-Negative Remedy via Targeted Relocation of Excess Wild Horses under Existing Federal Authorities

Executive Summary

Wildfires are generating chronic, widespread toxic smoke (primarily PM2.5 and associated toxins) that is killing tens of thousands of Americans annually through respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurological pathways. Current 2026 season activity is already elevated, with millions of acres burned and high national preparedness levels. Suppression and downstream health/economic costs are escalating into the hundreds of billions annually.

The root accelerator of explosive growth and high-intensity fires is unmanaged fine fuels (grass and brush — the 1-hour fuels that allow rapid spread).

Wild Horse Fire Brigade’s Natural Wildfire Abatement and Forest Protection Plan offers a proven, scalable, cost-negative solution: relocate excess federally managed wild horses (currently a net taxpayer liability in holding facilities) into targeted high-wildfire-probability remote wilderness areas under U.S. Forest Service and BLM jurisdiction. Free-roaming horses act as keystone herbivores that continuously reduce these fine fuels through natural grazing, lowering fire intensity, rate of spread, and resulting smoke production.

Existing authorities — the Humane Transfer of Excess Animals Act and USFS categorical exclusions for hazardous fuels risk reduction — enable rapid, stepwise implementation without new legislation. An Executive Order requested by you can direct interagency action immediately.

The Exigent Deadly Problem: Current Wildfires and Toxic Smoke

Current Situation (mid-July 2026 data from NIFC and related sources):

• Year-to-date: Approximately 3.5–3.6 million acres burned across ~39,000+ incidents, running well above recent 10-year averages in the early season (reports indicate ~46% above average in key Western metrics as of early July).
• Active large fires include major incidents in Utah (Babylon Fire >100,000 acres), Colorado (Aspen Acres ~99,000 acres), Oregon (East Evans Creek ~11,500 acres and others), Arizona, Idaho, and additional Western states. National Preparedness Level remains elevated (Level 4 in recent assessments), with heavy resource commitment.
• Smoke plumes routinely impact air quality across multiple states and into population centers far from ignition points.

Human Health Impacts of Toxic Smoke: Peer-reviewed analyses establish wildfire smoke as a major mortality driver:

• Chronic exposure to wildfire-derived PM2.5 contributed to an average of ~24,100 U.S. deaths per year (2006–2020 data; Science Advances). Other estimates place the current annual burden above 40,000 premature deaths.
• Projections under high-warming scenarios: up to ~71,000 excess deaths per year by 2050 (Nature 2025 ensemble modeling), with cumulative excess deaths potentially reaching 1.9 million from 2026–2055. Effects can persist up to three years post-exposure.
• Acute examples: 2025 Los Angeles fires produced 30 direct fatalities plus hundreds of excess deaths attributable to smoke (JAMA and Environmental Science & Technology Letters analyses).
• Mechanisms: Fine particles and toxins penetrate deep into lungs and bloodstream, elevating risks of cardiovascular events, respiratory failure, neurological disease, and exacerbation of chronic conditions. Vulnerable populations (elderly, children, those with pre-existing illness, rural communities) bear disproportionate burden. Smoke also drives spikes in emergency visits and long-term healthcare utilization.

These are not theoretical risks — they are documented excess mortality occurring now and projected to worsen.

Societal and Fiscal Burden

• Overall annual U.S. wildfire costs: $394–893 billion (Joint Economic Committee estimates), encompassing property loss, suppression, health impacts, watershed damage, and lost productivity.
• 2025 was the costliest year on record in insured losses (driven heavily by Los Angeles-area fires estimated at $40+ billion insured and far higher total economic impact).
• Suppression spending continues to rise; fuel-treatment investments have demonstrated returns of approximately $3.73 in avoided damages per $1 invested (Science 2026 analysis of Western U.S. data).
• Downstream effects: Overwhelmed medical systems, social services strain, lost workdays, and taxpayer-funded response/recovery. Smoke is a cross-jurisdictional public health emergency that does not respect state or agency boundaries.

Root Cause Addressable Now: Unmanaged Fine Fuels

Explosive early growth of many fires is driven by continuous grass and brush fuels. These fine fuels enable rapid rates of spread and high intensity even under moderate conditions, generating the dense toxic smoke that travels long distances.

Mechanical thinning, prescribed fire, and chemical methods are valuable but constrained by cost, access, labor, weather windows, and environmental review timelines. A continuous, self-sustaining biological tool is needed for remote, high-risk landscapes.

Cost-Negative Solution: Wild Horse Fire Brigade Natural Grazing Model

Wild Horse Fire Brigade (founded and led by Capt. William E. Simpson II, with 12+ years and 25,000+ hours of immersive ethological observation of free-roaming herds) demonstrates that properly managed wild horses function as keystone herbivores. Their year-round grazing preferentially reduces fine fuels, creates natural fuel breaks and landscape mosaics, and lowers fire intensity/spread — exactly as observed during the 2018 Klamathon Fire and corroborated by European studies (Spain and Portugal: documented fuel reduction, lower risk, and multi-year periods with zero or near-zero fires in horse/donkey-grazed zones).

Why cost-negative:

• Excess wild horses currently held by BLM represent an ongoing annual taxpayer cost (off-range holding).
• Transferring them to productive landscape work eliminates holding costs while generating avoided fire-suppression, health, and property damages far exceeding any relocation expense.
• No new large capital outlays; leverages animals already under federal jurisdiction.
• Dual public benefit: resolves excess-horse management pressure while attacking the fuel source of the smoke crisis.

Existing Legal Authorities for Immediate Action

• Humane Transfer of Excess Animals Act (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, Sec. 116 / related guidance): Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior (via BLM) to transfer excess wild horses and burros immediately upon request to other federal, state, or local government agencies for use as work animals. Transferred animals lose status under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. Explicit cost-savings recognition exists in BLM policy.
• USFS Categorical Exclusions under the Healthy Forests Restoration Act and NEPA implementing regulations: Hazardous fuels reduction projects (including methods that reduce fire hazard) can proceed under categorical exclusion when meeting criteria for high-hazard areas, collaborative frameworks, and limits on scale/permanent infrastructure. Natural grazing fits as a reasonable, low-impact risk-reduction tool on remote National Forest System lands.
• Interagency MOU between BLM and USFS can operationalize transfers and placement into targeted high-probability wilderness/remote areas without conflict with primary land-management objectives.

No new statute is required for pilots or initial scaling.

1. Recommended Immediate Steps
2. Direct interagency working group (HHS health data + DOI/BLM + USDA/USFS) to identify priority high-wildfire-probability remote landscapes suitable for initial horse relocation under existing CEs.
3. Request Presidential Executive Order directing BLM to prioritize transfers of excess animals to USFS (and cooperating agencies) specifically for fuels-management work animals under the Humane Transfer authority, with monitoring protocols.
4. Launch limited pilot(s) in 2026–2027 fire seasons; measure fuel loading, fire behavior metrics, and smoke-related outcomes.
5. Scale based on results, integrating with broader fuels strategy.
6. Coordinate public communication emphasizing dual benefits: public health protection + humane, productive use of excess horses.
7. Expected Outcomes

Measurable reduction in fine-fuel continuity and fire intensity in treated landscapes → fewer and less severe large fires → lower volume and toxicity of smoke → reduced excess mortality, healthcare burden, and suppression costs. The approach is stepwise, reversible, science-aligned, and fiscally responsible.

This is an actionable, evidence-based public-health intervention that addresses the core fuel driver of the smoke crisis using tools already in the federal inventory. I stand ready to provide supporting technical documentation, European case studies, field data, or further operational detail.

Respectfully submitted for your consideration and action.

Capt. William E. Simpson II - USMM Ret.
Founder - Exec. Director - Wild Horse Fire Brigade
Ethologist - Author - Conservationist
Wild Horse Ranch
P.O. Bx. 202 - Yreka, CA 96097
Phone: 858. 212-5762
Wild Horse Fire Brigade (www.wildhorsefirebrigade.org/)

William E. Simpson II is an ethologist living among and studying free-roaming native species American wild horses. William is the award-winning producer of the micro-documentary film 'Wild Horses'.  He is the author of a new Study about the behavioral ecology of wild horses, two published books and more than 500 published articles on subjects related to wild horses, wildlife, wildfire, and public land (forest) management. He has appeared on NBC NEWS, ABC NEWS, CBS NEWS, theDoveTV and has been a guest on numerous talk radio shows including the Lars Larson Show, the Bill Meyer Show, NPR Jefferson Public Radio and NPR National Radio, Global News, The Guardian, and AM BEST TV.

Check out William's Film Freeway account for films, studies, TV & radio interviews, and more HERE:  https://filmfreeway.com/WilliamESimpsonII