A long-simmering dispute over brumbies in the Kosciusko National Park is set to heat up with the Berejiklian government ready to ditch a plan to reintroduce shooting to control feral numbers, a local advocate of the wild horses has said.

Peter Cochran, president of the Snowy Mountains Bush Users Groups and a former NSW Nationals MP, said the government is set to reject key measures outlined in its draft management plan released a year ago.

The draft called for the elimination of 90 per cent of the estimated 6000 wild horses in the national park over 20 years to limit impacts on the sensitive upland environment. Ground-based shooting was one proposed control method.

"They have ruled out all shooting – aerial and ground – unless there are exceptional circumstances," such as an injured animal, Mr Cochran told Fairfax of the revised plans. He attended last month's Nationals conference in Broken Hill.