A Unified Call for Moratorium

Photo courtesty of Wild Horse Spirit, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

A Unified Call for an
Immediate Moratorium on
Wild Horse & Burro Roundups

On November 18, 2009, The Cloud Foundation, Equine Welfare Alliance and 120 Organizations, celebrities and scientists in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and South Africa signed onto the following letter sent to the President, Congress and the Department of the Interior to rein in the Bureau of Land Management today.

American Herds supports this moratorium and strongly urges everyone who cares about truly humane and appropriate management for America's mustangs and burros to add their voices to this unified call by sending THIS LETTER to your legislators and asking for their support!

Also, the Cloud Foundation is asking individuals to sign this PETITION. The goal is 12,043 signatures representing the number of wild horses and burros targeted for removal this year.
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A Unified Call for an Immediate Moratorium on
Wild Horse & Burro Roundups
And a humane, fiscally responsible plan
for preserving and protecting the iconic,
free-roaming wild horses and burros
of the American West.

President Obama, Members of Congress and the Department of the Interior:

We, the undersigned, request major changes to the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro program. This must begin with an immediate moratorium on all roundups. While we agree that the program is in dire need of reform, and we applaud your Administration's commitment to avoid BLM’s suggested mass-killing of horses, the plan outlined in October by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar raises numerous concerns. These include:

*Perpetuating the flawed assumption that wild horses and burros are overpopulating their Western ranges. In reality, the BLM has no accurate current inventory of the 37,000 wild horses and burros it claims remain on public lands. Independent analysis of BLM’s own numbers reveal there may be only 15,000 wild horses remaining on public lands.

*Continuing the mass removal of wild horses and burros from their rightful Western ranges: The BLM intends to spend over $30 million in Fiscal Year 2010 to capture more than 12,000 wild horses and burros. This stockpiling of horses continues even as an astounding 32,000 are already being held in government holding facilities at enormous taxpayer expense.

*Scapegoating wild horses and burros for range deterioration even though they comprise only a tiny fraction of animals and wildlife grazing our public lands. Far greater damage is caused by privately-owned livestock, which outnumber the horses more than 100 to 1.

*Moving wild horses and burros east off their Western homelands to “sanctuaries” in the east and Midwest at an initial cost of $96 million creates significant health concerns if animals adapted to western landscapes are managed on wet ground and rich grasses.

*Removing tens of thousands of horses and burros from their legally-designated Western ranges and moving them into government-run facilities subverts the intent of the 1971 Wild Free-roaming Horse and Burro Act, which mandated that horses be preserved “where presently found.” A 2009 DC district court case held that “Congress did not authorize BLM to “manage” the wild horses and burros by corralling them for private maintenance or long-term care as non-wild free-roaming animals off the public lands.”

We appreciate your Administration's recognition of the horses’ value as an ecotourism resource. However, the display of captive, non-reproducing herds in eastern pastures renders them little more than zoo exhibits, further discounting the contribution to our history and the future of the American West.

We believe that workable solutions to create a healthy “multiple use” of public rangelands, protect the ecological balance of all wildlife, and preserve America's wild horses and burros in their rightful, legally protected home can be achieved. We are calling on the Obama Administration to reform the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Management Program.

We ask that you reverse the current course and
immediately take the following actions:

1) Place a moratorium on all roundups until accurate and independent assessments of population numbers and range conditions are made available and a final, long-term solution is formalized.

2) Restore protections included in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. Update existing laws that protect wild horses by reopening certain public lands to the mustangs and burros, thus decreasing the number in captivity. Return healthy wild horses and burros in holding to all available acres of public land designated primarily for their use in 1971. If these lands are not available, equivalent and appropriate western public lands should be added in their place.

3) Support federal grazing permit buybacks. Reduce livestock grazing and reanalyze appropriate management levels for herd management areas to allow for self-sustaining, genetically-viable herds to exist in the west.

4) Conduct Congressional hearings regarding the mismanagement of our wild herds and further investigate the inability of BLM to correct the shortcomings of the program as audited by the Government Accountability Office’s 1990, 1991 and 2008 reports.

Supported by the undersigned on November 16, 2009


ORGANIZATIONS
To add your voice to the Unified List of supporters calling for an immediate moratorium, please complete this FORM and email to:

ewa@equinewelfarealliance.org
or
info@thecloudfoundation.org

For further information and photos please contact:


Makendra Silverman
The Cloud Foundation
719.633.4933 ~ Office
719.351.8187 ~ Cell
info@thecloudfoundation.org
www.thecloudfoundation.org

SPOKESPERSON:
Ginger Kathrens
Volunteer Executive Director
The Cloud Foundation
719.633.4933

John Holland
Equine Welfare Alliance
540.268.5693
john@equinewelfarealliance.org

The Undersigned Hereby Unite As One Voice Calling For An
Immediate Moratorium On Wild Horse & Burro Round-Ups

Autonomous Makana Ndlambe Horse & Livestock Association, South Africa

Adapting Gaits, Inc.

Alex Brown Racing

American Horse Defense Fund

Americans Against Horse Slaughter

Americans Against Horse Slaughter in Arizona

Andean Tapir Fund

Angel's Gate Hospice & Rehabilitation Home for Animals

Animal Healing Connection

Animal Health and Safety Associates/Pixie Projects

Animal Iridology Center

Animal Law Coalition

Animal Legal Defense Fund

Animals' Angels

Beauty's Haven Farm & Equine Rescue, Inc.

Brad Woodard, Reporter

Canadian Horse Defence Coalition

Castleton Ranch Horse Rescue, Inc.

Chantal Westermann, former ABC reporter

The Cloud Foundation

Colorado Wild Horse and Burro Coalition

The Conquistador Equine Rescue and Advocacy Program

Cornwalls Voice for Animals

Craig Downer, wildlife ecologist and author

Senator Dave Wanzenried, Montana

Deanne Stillman, Author of Mustang

DreamCatcher Wild Horse and Burro Sanctuary

Ed Harris & Family

Emthunzini

Equine Advocates

Equine Protection Network

Equine Rescue and Protection Humane Society of the US, Inc.

Equine Welfare Alliance

For the Love of Jenny Animal Rescue

For the Love of the Horse

Force of the Horse© LLC.

Friends of A Legacy

Front Range Equine Rescue

George Wuerthner, ecologist

Glen Glasscock (long distance rider, world record holder)

The Golden Carrot

Gray Dapple Thoroughbred Assistance Program

Greater Houston Horse Council

Gypsy Heart Horse Rescue

Habitat for Horses, Inc.

Hacienda de los Milagros, Inc.

The Healing Journey Rescue

Helping Hearts Equine Rescue, Inc.

Hidden Creek Friesians

Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund

Home At Last Equine Rescue and Sanctuary

Honeysuckle Farms

Hope Ryden, congressional advisor on 1971 Act, Author America's Last Wild Horses

Horse Play

Horse Rescue, Relief and Retirement Fund, Inc.

Horseback Magazine

Humanion Films

Illinois Equine Humane Center, NFP

In Defense of Animals

Joe Camp, filmmaker, author The Soul of A Horse

Jouney's End Ranch Animal Sanctuary

KBR World of Wild Horses and Burros

Lacy J. Dalton, singer/songwriter

Laura Leigh, Illustrator/writer

Least Resistance Training Concepts (LRTC)

Let 'em Run

Lifesavers, Inc.

Live and Let Live Farm Rescue

Madeleine's Mustangs – Madeleine Pickens

Manes and Tails Organization

Maria Daines, Singer/Songwriter

Mary Ann Kennedy, Singer/Songwriter

MidAtlantic Horse Rescue
Mustang Spirit

Mylestone Equine Rescue

Native American Church of Ghost Dancers

Natural Horse Magazine

Natural Horse Talk

Old Friends Equine, A Kentucky Thoroughbred Retirement Facility

Paul Sorvino, Actor

Paula Bacon, former mayor of Kaufman, TX

Proud Spirit Horse Sanctuary

Quarter-Acre Rescue Ranch & Equine Advocacy Center

Rainbow Meadows Rescue and Retirement, Inc.

Redwings Horse Sanctuary

Reinfree.org Mestengo

The Rescue Friends

Sacred Heart Equine Rescue

Santiburi Farm

Saving America's Mustangs

Saving Horses, Inc.

Saving Our American Wild Horse

Second Chance Ranch

Silent Voices Equine Rescue

South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Spirit Riders Foundation

Spoiled Acres Rescue Inc

Spring Farm CARES Animal Sanctuary

Star Lit Stables

Summer Haven Rescue

Sustainable Obtainable Solutions

Terri Farley, author of The Phantom Stallion Series

Tranquility Farm

Triple H Miniature Horse Rescue

trueCOWBOYmagazine

Wayne McCrory, Wildlife Biologist and Conservationist

Wendie Malick, Actress

Valhalla Wilderness Society

WFL Endangered Stream Live

Whispering Winds Equine Rescue

Wild Burro Rescue and Preservation Project

Wild For Life Foundation

Wild Hoofbeats

Wild Horse Observers Association

Wild Horse Preservation League

Wild Horse Spirit

Wild Horse War Room

Wildhorses In Need

Win Animal Rights

WindDancer Foundation, Inc.

Winecup/Gamble Ranch

Crunching Calico

Editors Note 1/05/09: A lot of articles are now stating that BLM increased livestock authorizations for the Calico Complex by 300%. This is incorrect. There are several livestock allotments that affect the Herd Management Areas that comprise the Calico Complex. The analysis given in this article was for one grazing allotment only, the Soldier Meadows Allotment. Furthermore, the 300% increase applied to the Idaho Canyon pasture as described by the fence that was needed to increase livestock from 300 to 800, as well as to other pastures used in the allotment throughout the year, but did not apply throughout the entire allotment at all times of the year due to BLMs grazing rotation systems. Hope this clears up any confusion that has resulted.

Our story begins in the summer of 2008, when BLM tells everyone they are too broke to feed all the wild horses they captured, which in turn caused a financial crisis that might require the government to save them from the government - by shooting them all dead! (Or finally getting the authority to sell them all for slaughter via “Instant Title”)

So everyone panics, Madeleine Pickens arrives to save the day and Restore Our American Mustangs (R.O.A.M.) is born, a legislative attempt to fix the problems BLM tells everyone managing wild horses and burros cause.

As the months go by, we listen to arguments about the “spiraling out of control costs” of holding these now captured American icons and how it will continue to escalate to even greater unsustainable levels. We also hear how stopping the round ups will jeopardize the entire Western ecosystems because of their still burgeoning numbers and how native wildlife will plummet if ten thousand “excess” animals, half of which aren’t even a year old, are left on the range.

As we watch Madeleine Picken’s Plan fall apart (because it wasn’t enough to have access to a million acres of land for dirt cheap, her extra stipulation of wanting $500 p/horse per year pretty much kills the deal), BLM launches an “experimental” Program limited to only the slaughter belt states where they give mustangs away and cut the new owner a $500 check after a year.

Then the Picken’s Plan to try and help the captured ones morphs into The Salazoo Plan to create zoo’s of domestic horses while simultaneously planning to cut the free-roaming populations supposedly still left on the range to BLM’s 1971 “guesstimate” of 17,500, despite the Interior Board of Land of Appeals (IBLA) ruling years ago that BLM cannot manage for arbitrary and/or historical numbers but must manage them within the carrying capacity of the land in order to maintain a thriving natural ecological balance. Apparently, Secretary Salazar doesn’t read IBLA’s decisions either and we all know BLM has rarely used anything but arbitrary numbers to determine “excess” anyway, so why rock the boat?

So with little actually resolved, Congress gives BLM an unprecedented budget to keep the Program afloat so they won’t have to kill all those wild horses in holding - but they don’t ask too many questions or stipulate what BLM can do with the money.

BLM returns the favor by issuing a massive Fiscal Year 2010 Round Up Schedule to remove over 12,000 more wild horses and burros at the cost of $32 million dollars, which is pretty much all the extra money above and beyond the cost of warehousing all those mustangs they already removed; despite still having no concrete plans on where to put them or how they are going to feed them.

And so we come to the Calico Complex, a collection of Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in Northern Nevada that include the Calico, Black Rock Range East and West, Granite Range and Warm Springs Canyon HMAs slated for removals next month.

In BLM's recent Environmental Assessment (EA) where they justify why they need to remove wild horses again, BLM re-affirms the wild horse and burro “allowable management levels” (AMLs) set back in 1993/94 are still totally appropriate today, despite admitting that not one of these HMAs has ever been assessed for conformance with their own Standards of Rangeland Health.

Oh yeah, and let’s not forget the drought. BLM shows us photos of a few drought stricken springs and beat up mud holes to prove how urgent it is that wild horses must go!

The last time these herds were gathered was in 2004-2005 when BLM removed 1,623 horses, gave 239 mares PZP and told the public they left an estimated 575 (though they actually only released 410 - the rest were just estimates). Yet, lo and behold, BLM explains there are now 3,055 wild horses in the area, numbers so preposterous even BLM admits they are “unrealistic” (or is it the 3,095 wild horses they cite later?)

BLM goes on to explain these 3,095 wild horses is based on “current modeling, estimates, and survey results projected using historic growth rates”, projections that apparently found zero effect from the 239 PZP’d mares of 2004-2005, (because who needs actual monitoring when you have computer modeling!)

Since 1979, BLM reported they have removed 9,148 wild horses and released 1,884 from the Calico Complex areas. Does anyone else find it strange that within five years, wild horse populations somehow climbed to populations equaling approximately a third of the total of every wild horse BLM has every removed from here since 1971?

In what appears to be BLMs newest “cut-n-paste mantra” to explain away yet another population explosion, BLM explains this is most likely merely a result of them being really lousy at counting wild horses and/or hundreds and hundreds of wild horses moved outside the HMA "boundaries” when the choppers arrived in 2004-2005 - but after the choppers left, the mustangs snuck back inside the HMAs. A simple explanation really - so simple even a child could understand.

One long time Nevada wild horse advocate had this to say about BLM's Calico Complex numbers, “I’m sorry guys but I have to laugh at this proposal, there AREN’T that many horses out there, in fact that is probably half the states populations. Unless they do something sneaky and gather from other areas and claim they are from Calico. Good luck finding that many horses!”

Hmm, now there’s a thought - dumping off previously gathered wild horses back out on to the range to "prove" an overpopulation. Maybe that's why BLM can say with confidence they were "outside the HMA boundaries" - they just don't have to disclose how far outside is! Wonder how many times the government could charge the taxpayers for doing THAT?

While we ponder that possibility, let’s look at a few things BLM neglected to mention about what’s been going on in the Calico Complex area that we can prove….

In January, 2008, BLM’s Arlan Hiner (yes, the same guy who oversaw the Jackson Mountain wild horse fiasco that resulted in 185 wild horse deaths) signed the final decision for the Soldier Meadows Livestock Allotment, which coincidentally effects the Calico Mts. (29%), Black Rock Range West (100%) and Warm Springs Canyon (100%) Herd Management Areas (HMAs)

The decision authorized a “range improvement” that turned out to be a fourth fence in Idaho Canyon - even though BLM admitted this fence might entrap wild horses and cause them to die if the gate wasn’t opened before the winter snows arrived.

The fence was needed because BLM authorized an increase from the old 300 head of cattle to 800 head with an eventual goal of running a 1,000 throughout the allotment. If that weren’t enough, BLM also stated that every single Animal Unit Month (AUM) of forage on record would also be available for Temporary Non-Renewable cattle grazing as well. Of course, only if BLM determined this extra forage was suddenly available.

When BLM wrote the environmental assessments for the Soldier Meadows allotment, they only analyzed the effects of running all those cattle at 30% utilization level, stating this was necessary to maintain enough forage for wild horses. But even at this utilization level, BLM acknowledged increasing the head of cattle from 300 to 800 was going to potentially cause “exploitative competition for limited habitat components, especially during periods of severe winters or drought”. Yes, the same drought that just happens to occur in Nevada one out of three years.

BLM admitted there had been livestock trespassing throughout the area since 1998 but never answered if and when this had been remedied. They only measured stubble height on three springs despite citing over 150 were in the area, acknowledged this new grazing authorization might cause them to have to erect new fences to protect water sources but stated this would be decided on a “case by case basis” and in yet another coincidence, the new proposal included a change in grazing rotations that would lock wild horses out of the best pasture with the most abundant water during the driest time of the year.

When it came to wild horses populations, BLM stated there was “little evidence of [wild horse] utilizations” and that, “Given the relative few numbers of horses/burros, their impact on upland vegetation during the critical growing period will be minimal. This conclusion is supported by the fact that several upland monitoring sites established in the Warm Springs HMA are no longer monitored because very little or no use by wild horses/burros was documented at these sites.”

So in January 2008, when BLM is analyzing a grazing proposal, they tell the public that wild horse populations are so minimal they aren’t even bothering to monitor them anymore. Yet merely two months after authorizing every leaf and blade of grass in the area can potentially go to the over 300% increase in cattle they just authorized, BLM reports they have completed a new aerial census in March 2008, which suddenly finds wild horse populations have skyrocketed.

Records from the BLMs Wild Horse and Burro National Program Office reported the following population estimates for the Calico Complex’s HMAs:

If that isn't enough, what BLM does next is even more amazing!

Though BLM's entire analysis for the Soldier Meadows grazing allotment was done for a 30% utilization level, when they issue the Final Decision, they suddenly authorized a 50% utilization level instead. Guess they weren’t too worried about what the wild horses would need to eat anymore and here’s my guess why.

If this whole livestock thing weren’t messy enough, at the Obama administration's behest, Secretary Salazar and Senator Reid have mandated BLM begin a “fast track” to getting all manner of energy development rammed through on public lands.

Enter the Ruby Pipeline, a $3 billion dollar project that will span Oregon, Nevada, Wyoming and Utah and runs smack dab through the middle of the Calico Complex (not to mention the just rounded up Beaty’s Butte HMA in Oregon as well as skirting Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge).

On September 14, 2009, Ruby Pipeline, LLC. responded to a request by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding issues surrounding the pipeline. On page 30 of 40, the Energy Commission asked Ruby to, “Discuss Ruby’s approach to preventing problematic right-of-way reclamation due to wild horses and burros grazing, and provide a summary of discussions with the BLM addressing this issue.”

Ruby’s response was, “Ruby will work with the BLM to minimize wild horse and burro grazing along the restored ROW for three years. Possible management actions would be to provide water sources away from the ROW, include low palatable plant species in the seed mix such as sagebrush, temporary fencing with gaps, and/or reduce wild horse populations following BLM policy in appropriate management areas.” BLM wild horse and burrow resource specialists were consulted in developing this management approach.”

So BLM needs to “minimize grazing” along the Right-of-Way (ROW) for three years and may plant food horses and burros hate to eat in order to do it and/or “reduce wild horse and burro populations” to accommodate it. And if you are wondering just what the heck they are talking about during that vague reference to the “possible management actions to provide water sources away from the ROW”, word on the street is, the Ruby Pipeline is going to blow right through and permanently impair at least one of the major summer water sources wild horses have been relegated too (from all those closed fences for exclusive livestock grazing in the pastures).

Map of Ruby Natural Gas Pipeline ROW


To view BLMs Preliminary Environmental Assessment of the
Calico Complex wild horse removals, Click Here.

BLM is accepting public comments for the
Calico Complex Herd Management Areas through:

~Thursday, November 12, 2009, 4:30 P.M. pst ~

Jerome Fox
Bureau of Land Management
Winnemucca District Office
5100 E. Winnemucca Blvd.
Winnemucca, NV 89445
Phone: (775) 623-1500
Fax: (775) 623-1503
Email: wfoweb@nv.blm.gov

Be sure to include the EA# DOI-BLM-NV-W030-2010-0001-EA in your title.

Please be aware that submitting information for this proposal, including personally identifying information such as your name and contact information may become part of the public record. While you may request that BLM withhold this information, they may not be able to guarantee privacy in all instances.