Hmm, Jack Kumer?? To be honest, my search on Kumer showed he's an expert on coastal revitalization, not horses! You'd think they'd have someone on staff that specializes in horses....but maybe I'm presuming too much. Is there ANYONE in the dang park service that knows a friggen thing about horses?
Geezuz H Christ, this is not hard to fix. For one thing, the FD auction of ponies is a time-honored tradition, should remain, and should be done on the MD side of the park as well.
Secondly, geld the yearling colts. Simple, quick, effective and cheap. There is a simple formula to keep herd populations small, and genetically diverse. Any breeding specialist can take the numbers and give you a simple formula of what to keep, what to sell, and what to geld.
With the small amount of animals on these islands, this can be fixed in one year. NPS wants to maintain a wild herd with natural characteristics. Is there some approximately minimum number of horses for that? If there is, maybe NPS is thinking to determine that number, and subsequently determine how many, if any, deer could be allowed to co-exist with the horses to maintain the health of the island.
But of course, our government would rather spend a fortune, year after year, to NOT fix the problem.