Interior Secretary Ken Salazar wants to create wild horse preserves in the Midwest and East to protect wild horses and burros that now roam the West.

Salazar says his plan will restore the health of America's wild horse herds and the rangelands that support them. He says the plan would not require killing any wild horses. Interior Department officials had warned that it might be necessary to kill some horses to combat rising costs of maintaining wild horse herds.

About 36,000 wild horses and burros roam in 10 Western states, nearly half in Nevada. The BLM rounds up thousands of the animals each year, but has had a hard time finding buyers in recent years.  The agency spent $29 million this year to maintain wild horses.

Nearly 37,000 wild horses and burros roam in Nevada, California, Wyoming and other Western states, and another 32,000 horses and burros are cared for in corrals and pastures in Kansas, Oklahoma and South Dakota.