A Real Extreme Mustang Makeover

While on the subject of sterilizing wild horse herds, BLM has posted their Strategic Research Plan developed in 2003 on how to control wild horse and burro populations.

The Strategic Plan is filled with informative insight by some our Nation’s top experts including BLM, US Geological Survey (USGS), the Biological Resource Division (BRD) and the Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Lots of long titles, I know, all designed to impress the reader with the weight and authority of their statements.

The plan was developed over a period of 9 months with the input of 39 subject area experts from 11 universities, 3 federal agencies (BLM, USGS-BRD, APHIS), and two state wildlife agencies as well as the Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board, 5 expert committees in 2001, input from BLM managers and specialists assigned to the Wild Horse and Burro Program, periodic milestone decisions by the BLM, upon the research findings and direction, and earlier review of BLM and BRD research (Smith et al. 1996; Gross et al. 1999; Burnham et al. 1999; Population Viability Forum 1999; National Research Council 1991). It was upon this foundation that the strategic plan was built.

Yet from the looks of it, most involved were on the government payroll, whether through University grants, careers in the Department of the Interior, appointed government approved committees or state wildlife agencies. No wild horse and burro advocates were invited with the exception of the current reigning queen of the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, Robin Lohnes who has been doing a fine, fine job for America's wild horses and burros.

It was also interesting to note that in all their references, studies, and “expert committees” used for guidance, the Government Accountability Report that found BLM managers were catering to livestock interests at the expense of the horses and the law was never considered as they revved up “strategic plans” to keep the populations from reproducing.

Nor were there any discussions about how wild horse and burro population targets have been set, many as old as dirt and NEVER revisited, or how the overpopulation of horses and burros is a result of decisions based on financial or political pressures that established these arbitrary numbers to appease those interests.

Nor is it discussed that maybe, just maybe, if these government agencies weren’t so busy managing the natural world to death, they wouldn’t have to devise a “Strategic Plan” to control their meddling (even sounds like a war program, doesn’t it?)

In assessing the situation, experts stated, “Wild horses and burros have a considerable following in the American public who consider the animals to be part of their western heritage and aesthetic enjoyment of the federal lands. A number of advocacy groups maintain that wild horses and burros should receive the first preference in any conflicts with other resource uses on lands where they are protected.”

Note the key words in there, on lands where they are protected! Despite having significantly less habitat than the 630 million acres wildlife has or only allowed on a fraction of the land that livestock is, wild horse and burro advocates actually want the wild horses and burros to be the first consideration on lands where they are protected.

Apparently this crazy idea only applies to any other species on their "protected habitat" but no worries, wild horses and burros aren’t even close to being placed as a priority and that is why the “excess” populations are so desperately in need of control!

The report goes on, stating, “Several strong and diverse public interest groups pressure the U.S. Department of the Interior regarding the management of wild horses on public lands. These interests include, at one extreme, those who strongly support the protection and management of wild horses with little or no human intervention. At the other end of the spectrum are those who favor intense management of wild horses and burros, with an objective to maintain very low numbers of horses and burros. Elements of the public, such as those that pursue domestic livestock grazing and the harvest of big game wildlife, may view wild horses and burros as some competitors for other resource uses.”

Extreme, huh? Do we geld bighorn sheep? Do we brand sage grouse? Do we inject PZP into pygmy rabbits? Aren’t these species pretty much left alone to be wildlife? How is asking wild horses and burros be treated like any other wildlife species extreme?

Then the Management Challenge section goes on to state, “Survival rates for wild horses on western public lands are high. None of the significant natural predators from native ranges of the wild horse in Europe and Asia — wolves, brown bears, and possibly one or more of the larger cat species — exist on the wild horse ranges in the western United States (mountain lions and black bears take foals in a few herds, but predation contributes to population limitation in only a handful of herds (e.g., Montgomery Pass). In some cases, adult annual survival rates exceed 95% and many horse herds grow at sustained high rates of 15-22% per year.”

First notice that their "native ranges" are now Europe and Asia, not North America commonly refered to as the "Cradle of Equine Evolution" by equine experts NOT involved in these strategic plans.

Second, notice that sustained high rates is defined as 15-22% per year. Yet, in BLMs recent assessments on wild horse and burro removals and the need to control them, figures are now being thrown out as high as 30-32% - with fertility control! And since BLM can’t seem to figure out most of the time if 100 or 1,000 wild horses are on the range, how would they know what the fertility rates are anyway?

Love the predator line too. Someone has recently corrected me on my last post about “hundreds of predators are killed each year” as the real statistics look something like this;

In 2006, Wildlife “Services” killed 1.6 million animals including coyotes, wolves, bobcats, cougars, badgers and bears, down from the 2.7 million killed in 2004. They spend over $100 million dollars a year to bring down “undesirable” wildlife species, which just happens to include all those “no-natural predators” wild horses and burros “don’t have” that they find it necessary to spend millions more on round ups and strategic research projects for. (1)

Which, back to the subject at hand, is what the Plan is mostly about – experiments on wild horse and burro populations that include such choice items as the “hormonal sterilant” used on stallions that could enter the food chain (of no natural predators) and the silicone rod implants, also suspended because of “the invasive nature of the surgery and the unacceptable stress placed on mares.” Wonder what that really looked like?

To read or download your copy of
The Strategic Research Plan
Wild Horse and Burro Management

Click Here

(1) Wildlife and predator statistics supplied by Wild Earth Guardians at http://www.wildearthguardians.org/

Snotty Noses

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has posted an information sheet about the recent deaths of 131 Jackson Mountain wild horses at the Palomino Valley holding facility. (1)

BLM reports that in addition to the salmonella outbreak, wild horses had also contracted pneumonia with 9-12 still being treated and 16 pneumonia related deaths so far.

Many of the answers BLM supplies continue to raise questions, which include health conditions, treatments, capture methods, reproductive rates, livestock grazing, forage availability and lack of reliable population reports since the removals of 661 Jackson Mountain wild horses in 2003.

BLM stated that the Jackson Mountain wild horses came in with snotty noses due to alkali dust from drought conditions and that no illness or deaths were a result of the capture operations.

Yet this photo with blood coming out of this wild horses nostrils was taken at the temporary round up pens after helicopter removals conducted in the fall of 2006 and indicate that serious respiratory damage is immediately occurring to wild horses during the helicopter roundups without "drought conditions".

A variety of questions and concerns were submitted to BLM during the public comment period for the Jackson Mountain wild horse gather plan, including a copy of a recently released report, The Use of Helicopters To Remove Wild Horses and Burros From Public Lands, a team effort compiled by a wide variety of wild horse advocates and concerned citizens that BLM choose to ignore.

Concerns raised included BLM failing to consider the consequences of driving the Jackson Mountain wild horses by helicopters over very rugged mountain terrain with no specified limits on distances being run as well as failing to give priority to humane handling procedures over efficiency. These concerns were expressed for healthy horses, not horses already severely weakened.

There is also questions how wild horses dropped to such a low body score in merely a matter of 7-10 days before they were captured while BLM reports the remaining wild horses on the range are in “good condition”.

Then there is the question about BLM now stating that the Jackson Mountain wild horse reproduction rate over the last four years ranged from 15-20%. Yet the reproductive rates reported in the Preliminary Environmental Assessment through the Population Modeling software reported a 30.6% reproductive rate without the use of fertility control and a 23.4% reproductive rate with the use of fertility control. (2)

This was one of the reasons BLM used to justify why immediate removals were necessary but that was before the new June census found 700 more horses in the area – then that became the new reason immediate removals were necessary.

Another well-worn quote used is “resource monitoring data” indicated an overpopulation existed in the area due to “excessive utilization”.

For the record, the “thriving ecological balance” of forage allocations that BLM has determined “appropriate” for the grazing allotments impacting the Jackson Mountain HMA is 7,426 cattle and 482 sheep with a maximum allowable population of 217 wild horses. (3)

BLM has acknowledged that each of the “approved” wild horse population per livestock grazing allotment was not considered genetically viable but cited the “meta-population” as a whole insured their genetic vigor while simultaneously stating that the 79 miles of fencing found within the HMA severely inhibited genetic interchanges.

The Jackson Mountain Gather Proposal stated no further fencing was planned but the Happy Creek grazing allotment assessment published just a month prior reported a proposed three mile fence around Happy Creek would have severe impacts to wild horse populations, including limiting genetic viability, sharply increasing competition with livestock, further reducing available forage and possibly causing injury or death. (4) Hard to believe BLM has specific regulations that prohibit extensive fencing in wild horse and burro habitat.

Happy Creek itself is also preparing to introduce the Threatened Lahonan Cutthroat Trout, which will most likely result in further reductions in the “allowable management level” of the Jackson Mountain wild horses because it is general policy to not allow any wild horses in areas where Threatened or Endangered Species live, even if the horses were there long before managers formulated new plans to introduce these species.

One of the questions BLM was legally required to ask during the capture plan assessment was, “Is the proposed project subject to valid, existing rights?”

BLM responded, “No”.

As long as BLM is able to continue to say this, excess resource utilizations will be attributed to wild horses, not the 7,800 head of livestock, fencing proposals will continue to corral them until they starve and inbreed, and drought conditions can be blamed for what is merely labeled as “snotty noses”.

Photo courtesy of Front Range Equine Rescue. Wild Horse Roundup 2006. All Rights Reserved. http://www.frontrangeequinerescue.org/

(1) To access BLMs Palomino Valley and Jackson Mountain Wild Horse information sheet: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro.html

(2) Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Winnemucca Field Office, Jackson Mountain HMA Wild Horse Gather Plan, Preliminary Environmental Assessment EA#NV-020-07-EA-10, pg. 60, May 2007.

(3) Livestock Grazing Allotments courtesy of BLMs Winnemucca Field Office, Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet, June 2007

(4) Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Winnemucca Field Office, Ten year Grazing Permit Renewal - Happy Creek Allotment, Preliminary Environmental Assessment EA #NV-020-07-EA-07, April 2007, Section 4.2.13 Wild Horses, pg. 36, Section 5.3.10.3, Cumulative Impacts, Alternative 1, pg. 53.

Be Herd!!!

The Pryor Mountain wild horses are Montanas last remaining herd of wild horses and like so many of the wild herds today, or those already irreplaceably lost, the Pryor Mountain wild horses are in danger of being managed to extinction.

Cloud, a magnificent wild stallion in the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range, has been the subject of the PBS nature series documentaries, “Cloud – Wild Stallion of the Rockies” and “Cloud’s Legacy: The Wild Stallion Returns” as well as the inspiration for the animated Walt Disney feature, “Spirit”, and has become a prominent symbol for the plight facing our wild horse and burro herds across the Nation today.

Help Us Live in Freedom!!!

Emmy-winning filmmaker and Volunteer Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation, Ginger Kathrens, has been involved in extensive efforts to try and save this last remaining herd of now rare Spanish mustangs and they need your help.

Montana Senators need to hear from the public NOW to protect Cloud and the Pryor Mountain wild horses before this majestic and historical wildlife vanishes from the American scene forever.

PLEASE
Let your voice be heard by providing email comments to show your support.

-Here are the key points that need to be mentioned-

• The Pryor Wild Horse Herd is the only wild horse herd remaining in Montana.
  
  
• The herd is threatened despite their popularity and their Spanish ancestry.
  
  
• BLM management plans call for the removal of Pryor wild horses to far below the standards for genetic viability - as low as 85 horses when 150 is generally accepted as the mininum standard to insure preservation!!!
  
  
• The Custer National Forest Service has refused to grant legal status to the wild horses that have lived there for hundreds of years, calling them trespassers and threatening to put up wire fence to keep them from accessing their historical higher mountain pastures.
  
  The Wild Horse & Burro Act clearly states that wild horses will be managed where found when the Act was passed in 1971. Wild horses are documented to have lived in the Forest Service area in question before, during and after the passage of th Act. Therefore, the Forest Service is in violation of the Wild Horse & Burro Act.
  
  
• Urge Senators Tester and Baucus to preserve a Pryor Herd for the future by forcing the Forest Service to recognize the legal right of the Pryor Horses to roam their historic lands adjacent to the designated Pryor Mustang Wild Horse Range in the Custer National Forest.
  
  
• Urge Senators Tester and Baucus to stop BLM from decreasing the Pryor Wild Horses to levels that will destroy the herd.
  
  If you have visited the horse range, please include this.
  If you live in Montana, make sure the Senators know this.
  If you have other observations and personal statements about preserving the herd, please add these to your email.
  Your heartfelt comments will make all the difference.
  
  Here’s how to send your message.
  Go to Senator Tester and Baucus’ websites.
  Senator Tester at tester.senate.gov
  Senator Baucus at baucus.senate.gov
  
  Click on Contact us.
  Click on Email about an issue.
  Type in your name, etc.
  Select or type in a Topic: Environment or Animals
  Type in the Subject: Pryor Wild Horses
  Type in your message.
  Ask for a reply and submit your comments.
  
  It’s that easy.
  Please do what you can TODAY. Ask others in your address book to do the same and have them sign up on the Cloud Foundation email list by simply emailing support@thecloudfoundation.org and typing “add my address” in the subject line so you can continue to stay informed on Cloud, his herd and the efforts to preserve the Pryor Mountain Wild Horses!!!
  
  Thanks so much for your participation, for speaking up, for trying to prevent America’s wild horses and burros from “fast disappearing” and to insure their preservation for the enjoyment of future generations.
  
  http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/
  
  

Planning Obsolescence

The second half of a two part wild horse cleansing operation was completed on September 29, 2007 in the BLM Ely District where 68 wild horses were removed in and around the Moriah Herd Management Area (HMA), leaving an estimated 20 wild horses remaining. (1)

The Moriah HMA currently spans 43,375 acres with an “Allowable Management Level” not to exceed 29 wild horses or 1 one horse per 1,495 acres. (2)

In 2004, BLM reported the Moriah HMA encompassed 55,050 acres but through the planning process, removed 11,675 acres of wild horse habitat from any further use. (3)

Wonder how many key water sources were included in this withdrawal?

Prior to the August 2004 removals, an estimated 300 wild horses roamed the Moriah HMA but BLM decimated the population, leaving a mere 20 wild equids exempt from capture, containment and what is commonly referred to as the adoption pipeline for the “excess” wild horses and burros BLM removes. (4)

While BLMs forage allocations for the Moriah wild horses peak at 348 AUMs, an estimated 4,546 AUMs have been generously doled out for livestock grazing in the HMA area. (5)

The first part of these cleansing operations occurred the beginning of August in the Jakes Wash HMA, where every horse BLM could gather was removed. As is a common pattern with removal operations, BLM gathered less wild horses than they projected but removed more than they originally planned.

A total of 97 Jakes Wash wild horses were removed, instead of the 87 originally planned with an estimated 30 still left “on the range”, though no one is really clear if that means inside the HMA boundaries (legal) or outside the HMA boundaries (further future removals). (6)

Jakes Wash HMA spans 153,662 public acres with an “Allowable Management Level” not to exceed 21 wild horses or one horse per 7,317 acres. (7)

Jakes Wash has a very active removal history; records for July 2001 indicate 98 wild horses were removed, followed by an additional 77 in February 2003, July 2004 saw 49 more taken and then the current removals of 97 this past August. (8) This removal history was not made fully available in the June wild horse capture EAs, only in the just released grazing renewal for the White Rivers Ranch and Toms Plain Allotment.

Though BLM is required to “manage” for self-sustaining populations of wild horses, the Jakes Wash wild horses are only allowed 252 AUMs of forage while livestock operations affecting the HMA have been issued 15,725 AUMs – wild horses are given less than 2% of the forage available in the area. (9)

To help illustrate this point, BLM just approved the White River Ranches Term Permit Renewal for the Tom Plains Allotment of which 50% falls within the Jakes Wash HMA. A total of 6,036 AUMs was allocated for cattle, which translates into enough to forage to feed 503 cattle annually. (10)

The removals of the Jakes Wash Herd and their “management” was legally appealed through the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) after the final decision was issued for their removals, but as always, any public protest automatically becomes a “Moot Point” due to BLM timing their decisions that allow the wild horse and burro populations to be whisked away faster than IBLA can respond to the public protests.

This lack of self-sustaining populations is of little consequence to BLM as managers stated in the gather proposal that chances were very high of both these “protected habitats” being completely zeroed out in the new 2007 Resource Management Plans, soon to be released some time this month.

As a result, BLM openly admitted in the Preliminary Environmental Assessment that the only wild horses left in both HMAs after this most recent cleansing would be the very old or those they could not find. (11)

For BLM, this is a win/win situation because even if there are public protests lodged against the zeroing out of the Moriah and Jakes Wash HMAs during the Resource Management Plan Final Decision, the handful of wild horses now remaining will be too old, too weak, and too few to do anything more than just die off and disappear.

It also gives BLM the advantage of another popular stratagem employed in their wild horse “management” - legally removing wild horses from the nearby Monte Cristo HMA.

Though BLM knows Monte Cristo wild horses migrate into the Jakes Wash HMA for seasonal use, by zeroing the Jakes Wash HMA out for all wild horse use, BLM will merely remove the Monte Cristo horses when they arrive and file them under “outside the HMA boundaries”, even though they are only moving to historical habitat once considered “protected”.

And so it goes, herd after herd after herd.....

Photo taken from BLMs Ely District Wild Horse & Burro Section, Captures
(1) BLM Ely Field Office Moriah HMA Gather Summary Report, FY2007
(2) BLM Nevada WH&B Herd Statistics, FY 2006 www.blm.gov
(3) BLM Nevada WH&B Herd Statistics, FY 2004 www.blm.gov
(4) BLM Nevada WH&B Herd Statistics, FY 2004 & FY 2005 www.blm.gov
(5) BLM Ely Field Office, Grazing Allotments, FY 2005
(6) BLM Ely Field Office Jakes Wash HMA Gather Summary Report, FY2007
(7) BLM Nevada WH&B Herd Statistics, FY 2006 www.blm.gov
(8) BLM Ely Field Office, Proposed Decision and Finding of No Significant Impact, Issued 9/12/07 White River Ranch Term Permit for the Tom Plains and McQueen Flat Allotments,EA # NV-040-06-015, pg. 17.
(9) BLM Ely Field Office, Grazing Allotments, FY 2005
(10) BLM Ely Field Office, Proposed Decision and Finding of No Significant Impact, Issued 9/12/07 White River Ranch Term Permit for the Tom Plains and McQueen Flat Allotments,EA # NV-040-06-015, pg. 6.
(11) BLM Ely Field Office, Preliminary Environmental Assessment, NV-040-07-002
Jakes Wash HMA Preliminary EA #NV-040-07-045 and Moriah HMA Preliminary
EA# NV-040-07-044, pg. 6, June 2007.

Forage Anyone?

Highland Peak Wild Horses
One Year Old Strawberry Roan Filly #8621
Captured 12/11/06
Highland Peak Herd Management Area, Nevada
Winning Bid $125.00 January 2007

Highland Peak Herd Management Area
BLM Ely Field Office – Nevada

The Highland Peak Herd Management Area (HMA) spans 137,975 public acres with a recently established maximum “Allowable Management Level” (AML) not to exceed 33 wild horses within the HMA. In 2003, this AML was adjusted downward from the previous 50 wild horses to help maintain the “thriving ecological balance” of one horse per 4,178 acres. (1)

BLM managers have just issued the final grazing authorizations for the Bennett Springs, Black Canyon, Klondike and Highland Peak livestock allotments, all found within the Highland Peak HMA, which approved forage allocations for sheep in the area totaling 8,985 Animal Unit Months (AUMs) while the Highland Peak wild horses were allotted only 396 AUMS, less than 5% of the available food. (2)

The Highland Peak livestock allotment itself had been vacant for several years, including in 2003 when BLM established the new forage allocations for the Highland Peak Herd. However, it was recently re-authorized in January of 2007 for 4,508 AUMs of forage dedicated solely for exclusive use by sheep.

Sixty-four Highland Peak horses were removed in December 2006 leaving an estimated twenty-five still within the HMA. (3)

A press release by American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign reported that after a local supporter had witnessed the wild horse removals, truckloads of sheep began arriving daily for over a month. (4)

BLM personnel confirmed that 6,600 sheep were authorized for grazing in the area but only about 2,200 were actually utilizing the allotments. (5) These numbers were for the all the grazing allotments within the Dry Lake Complex but based on the new forage allocations, the Highland Peak HMA area is only authorized for approximately 1,800 sheep.

On the national level, BLMs most recent estimate is “more than 29,500” wild horses and burros are being held in long and short term holding facilities to protect public lands from their "excessive populations". (6)

It’s good to know that BLM considers all captured wild horses and burros living in containment centers as “wild and free-roaming” until they have been sold or titled is transferred. This makes it a little easier to swallow the $20 plus million a year taxpayers are billed for feeding “wild” horses and burros while livestock operations only pay about $1.35 per month to feed the five sheep that replace each wild horse. (7)

It also helps BLM justify to Congress why the For Sale Authority must stay in tact to help reduce removal and containment costs - until inbreeding can finally finish the job.


(1) Dry Lake Complex Wild Horse Gather Plan and Preliminary Environmental Assessment, EA#NV-040-07-002, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Managment, BLM ELy Field Office, December 2006.
(2) Proposed Decision and Finding of No Significant Impact, Bennett Springs, Black Canyon, Klondike and Highland Peak Allotments, term permit renewals (EA#NV-040-07-21), Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Ely Field Office, Spetember 20, 2007.
(3) Dry Lake Complex Final Gather Report, Courtesy of Ben Noyes, December 2006.
(4) American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, News & Alerts www.wildhorsepreservation.com
(5) Personal Email Communication, Ely Field Office, Received 2/2/07 12:44 p.m.
(6) Bureau of Land Management Website www.blm.gov Wild Horse & Burro Fact Sheet last updated September 2007.
(7) American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, The Numbers, www.wildhorsepreservation.com

Four More Out The Door

The Tonopah Field Station has recently issued a proposed decision to zero out four more Herd Management Areas (HMAs) for wild horses. The areas span 315,962 acres targeting the Bullfrog, Goldfield, Montezuma, and Stonewall HMAs, further reducing wild horse populations nationally by 333 more wild horses.

The proposed decision is found in the Montezuma Rangeland Health Assessment that continues to authorize livestock grazing in the area to achieve an eventual stocking rate of 3,164 AUMs or 600 cattle.

The area is also cited as big horn and big game habitat but no management plans or population numbers were provided. Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) protested any wild horse or burro populations being managed in the HMAs at all but to BLMs credit, they rebuked NDOW by stating that they were a multiple-use agency and would not manage for exclusive use of wildlife.

The BLM asserts that the area is too dry for wild horse use and intends to convert all forage allocations for wild burro use within the HMAs yet still reduces their allowable management levels by an additional 80 burros.

The BLM removed approximately 1,400 wild horses and burros within the area between 1995-1996 due to emergency drought conditions. Almost all monitoring data provided within the current Rangeland Health Assessment used data gathered from 1994, two years before the 1,400 equids were removed. What little current data was provided indicated that vegetation and riparian areas have recovered over the last 10 years.

The current proposal to zero out wild horses will also help BLM remove wild horses from an additional Herd Management Area, the Paymaster HMA, as BLM acknowledges regular movement between Paymaster and the Montezuma HMA now being zeroed out for wild horse use. This allows BLM to remove Paymaster horses that they already know migrate to the Montezuma HMA by authorizing their removals because they are “outside the Paymaster HMA boundaries”.

The BLM has reduced livestock forage allocations within the grazing allotments as well as not allowing any livestock grazing within any of the HMA boundaries. The area is very dry with limited water sources and managing for burros may be an appropriate decision, especially considering how little burro populations are now being managed nationally.

However, the Tonopah Field Station is expecting to develop a new land use plan in 2009, barely a year away. During the planning process, alternatives may be developed that prevent the elimination of the 333 wild horses and zero out 4-5 HMAs for wild horse use.

Map of Montezuma Complex Grazing Allotments & HMAs

Please urge BLM to modify their current proposal for zeroing the HMAs out at this time and wait until the development of the 2009 Resource Management Plan so that a reasonable range of alternatives can be explored to preserve and protect the herds.

Additionally, since most of the data used to make this determination was gathered in 1994, the postponement of zeroing out wild horses will allow BLM to collect data on the current populations, which are barely a fraction of what they were in 1996 because BLM misjudged the amount of wild horses and burros remaining, leaving virtually no wild populations at all. Current populations are so low that BLM expects no further removals will be required until at least 2010.

Please protest the zeroing out of these HMAs until more current monitoring data is collected and alternatives can be examined in the 2009 Resource Management Plans.

-Contact-
Bureau of Land Management
Tonopah Field Station
P.O. Box 911
Tonopah, Nevada 89049
Phone: (775) 482-7800
Fax: (775) 482-7810
Assistant Field Manager - Thomas Seley
Email: Thomas_Seley@blm.gov

-Map of HMAs and Grazing Allotments taken from EA #NV-065-2005-042,
Montezuma Complex Rangeland Health Assessment, 2007.
-Big horn photo in Stonewall HMA courtesy of BLM Wildlife Biologist, Bryson Code.

No Animal Police For Them

The recent outbreak of salmonella at the Palomino Valley holding facilities has sparked questions about how BLM will be able to counteract the dangers of future contamination to wild horses and burros brought to the facility or transported to others.

Research on Salmonella indicate the most common sources of transmission is through feces, contaminated food, water or the excretions of other carriers such as birds, rodents and farm animals.

It has also proven to be extremely hardy and has been recovered in soil samples more than 300 days after exposure, nine months in water, up to 30 months in dried feces, and survives freezing temperatures.

Risk factors that enhance the fecal excretion of Salmonella organisms include transportation, crowding, abrupt change in diet, intensive physical activity, antimicrobial treatment, surgery and gastrointestinal tract disorders. Recommendations included confinement, isolation and prevention of contact with other animals until five consecutive samples have tested negative. (1)

While attention is centered around the Palomino Valley facilities, questions about conditions at other BLM facilities still remain unanswered.

Karen A. Sussman, President of the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros (ISPMB) submitted a report for the Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands, held on June 13, 1998, which stated; “Although BLM requires its adopters to have shade and protection from the elements for wild horses and burros, BLMs facilities fail their own standards. We are also aware that BLM has knowingly sent sick horses from these facilities to adoptions without regard for the welfare of the horses or the transmittal of these illnesses to other horses.” (2)

Yet another example of how the general populace is required to adhere to exacting standards and laws that government entities are exempt from.

The following photos have been taken from BLMs Internet Adoption Website over the course of the last year and leads to such questions as: Where is the “animal police” or animal welfare groups that protect our wild horses and burros from the conditions portrayed here?

Why is there no protection for them?

-Humane Society of the United States-

2100 L. Street, NW

Washington, DC 20037

Phone: (202) 452-1100

Fax: (202) 778-6132

humanesociety@hsus.org

(1) Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Enteric Salmonellosis in Horses, http://www.addl.purdue.edu/newsletters/205/Winter/equine-es.htm

(2) Range Issues and Problems with the Wild Horse and Burro Act and Its Implementation, Field Hearing, Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands, Committee on Resources, House of Representatives, 105th Congress, Second Session, July 13, 1998, Reno, Nevada http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/resources/hii50579.000/hii50579_0.HTM

The Aftermath

Yesterday, Betty Lee Kelly of Wild Horse Spirit, Ltd. visited BLMs Palomino Valley wild horse and burro holding facility in Northern Nevada due to an outbreak of salmonella that has claimed at least 130 wild horses since the outbreak began.

Conversations with John Neill, Palomino Valley’s Center Manager, revealed little about the latest crisis wild horses are facing, preferring instead to refer any questions to Nevada Wild Horse & Burro Lead, Susie Stokke who was unavailable for comment.

The facility is currently holding 1,350 wild horses of which 850 are estimated as remaining from the Jackson Mountain Herd Management Area removals. Official reports for the Jackson Mountain HMA stated 990 wild horses were removed between 8/28/07 and 9/14/07 with six being destroyed and one fatality.

Symptoms included diarrhea and death but when questioned about the number of wild horses that might be affected, Neill’s only reply was “cultures have been taken on several horses”.

Despite their current condition, it is unknown if wild horses may still be shipped to other facilities such as the Carson Prison or “elsewhere”.

Cattoor Livestock Roundups was the contractor used for the Jackson Mountain wild horse removals and questions about Cattoor’s trailers being sanitized since discovering the Salmonella outbreak were also met with uncertainty.

On viewing the corrals, it was noted that a high proportion of foals and very young horses were completely alone. When questioned where their mothers were, Neill’s only reply was, “Some were not able to be connected back up to their mothers.” Many of these foals appeared to be four months or under and there’s additional concern that many of them may be too young to survive on their own.

The following photos were taken yesterday at the Palomino Valley facility around 11:00 a.m. BLM staff was still in the process of cleaning up and pictured here is a foal that had expired only moments before the forklift came to “dispose” of the body.

An extremely weak foal - will she make it?

The Mares of "J"

A great big special thanks goes out to Wild Horse Spirit, Ltd. for sharing these pictures with all of us and for trying to get answers on what is really happening at the BLM Palomino Valley Holding Facility and this newest tragedy for America's wild horses.

http://www.wildhorsespirit.org/

For questions contact:

Susie Stokke Nevada Wild Horse & Burro Lead

Susie_Stokke@nv.blm.gov Phone: 1-775-861-7469

SOP-Standard Operating Perils

The BLM Palomino Valley Holding Facilities in Northern Nevada announced a thirty-day closure after 130 wild horses from the Jackson Mountain Herd Managment Area removal operations conducted earlier this month have died due to what officials are saying is salmonella bacteria. (1)

Salmonella is not uncommon in horses and they may carry the bacteria in their digestive track without becoming ill. However, when horses are in weakened conditions or are very young or old, they are more susceptible to succumbing to its effects.

Dr. Al Kane, veterinarian for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, stated that many were extremely weak from lack of food and water due to drought conditions and their weakened condition made them more susceptible to the bacteria.

There are further speculations as to why the Jackson Mountain wild horses have been hit so hard, which vary from contaminated water troughs, BLMs long disputed exclusive diet of overly rich alfalfa fed to wild horses and burros coming straight off the range, as well as the stress of being driven by helicopters during capture operations.

The BLM has no established limits on the distances wild horses and burros may be driven and there was significant public protest about this issue to BLM during Nevada's annual hearing on May 16, 2007 regarding the use of helicopters and motorized vehicles to capture wild horses but public concerns were ignored.

After conducting a thorough review of their Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), which lasted less than an hour, BLM responded to the variety of public concerns that everything they do is safe, humane and appropriate.

American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign rebutted BLMs "in depth" review by stating; "BLM conveniently omits injury statistics and is able to issue such low mortality rates because almost no deaths are deemed by officials a "result" of the removal operations. Many injuries/deaths sustained during round-ups are conveniently attributed to natural causes. Reports of horses that later have to be euthanized due to injuries sustained during capture are common."

Wild horses have often suffered outbreaks of strangles, a highly infections and serious respiratory disease that can kick in after being severely stressed, such as being driven for miles during helicopter captures.

In early 2006, forty-six horses died of strangles in BLM corrals located in Susanville, CA followed by a major outbreak of strangles in the Palomino Valley facilities in the fall and the Animal Welfare Institute stated in their recent book, Managing for Extinction that, "During the past two years practically every BLM facility has experienced similar disease outbreaks. Leading to the confirmed deaths of scores of animals...." (2)

The Jackson Mountain wild horse capture plans stated it was extremely rugged mountain terrain, maps showed wild horses would be driven through at least 17 different streams during the removal operations and public pleas that limits be set on the distances the Jackson Mountain wild horses would be run were never addressed. (3)

Jackson Mountain Wild Horse Capture Plan

In July of 2007, a long list of questions regarding BLMs vague and undefined "policies" regarding wild horse and burro captures were submitted to the National Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board with a personal copy sent to the representative for Veterinarian Medicine, Dr. Boyd Spratling of Nevada, which included:

* What studies have been done on the physical effects of driving wild horses and burros by helicopters?

*What is the absolute limits in terms of distance that wild horses and burros can be driven before physical damage begins?

*What are the temperature limits that should be followed? For example, running wild horses and burros at freezing temperatures? During extreme heat?

Wendy Krebs, Doctor of Veterinarian Medicine of Bend Equine Medical Center in Oregon reported foals from the June 2006 Sheldon roundups were found "lame due to excessive wear of their hooves, limb swelling and injuries and elevated muscle enzymes consistent with severe over-exertion" (4)

Captured Foal During Zeroed Out Silver Peak Removals - September 2006

Almost 900 wild horses were captured in Wyoming this past January during temperatures so cold that the military was airlifting food for livestock into Colorado and 178 wild horses at the Nevada Wild Horse Range were driven during triple digit temperatures that were tying Nevada record highs.

To date, no attempt has been made to address the potentially fatal results of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) BLM employs during capture operations or the health conditions that often result. Why should they? There is no one they must answer to anymore.

The Jackson Mountain wild horses join a long list of other "non-capture related" fatalities, merely classified as a result of natural causes due to BLMs vague and undefined SOPs - Standard Operating Perils.

References:

-Photo of Facility Closure Sign provided by Wild Horse Spirit, Ltd. http://www.wildhorsespirit.org/
-Photo of Capture Plan Map taken from May 2007 Jackson Mountain Wild Horse Gather Plan, Preliminary Environmental Assessment, NV-020-07-EA-10, page 45.
-Photo of electrolytes being supplied to young foal during the September removals of the now zeroed out Silver Peak HMA from the May 2007 Roberts Mountain Complex Wild Horse Gather Preliminary EA, NV062-EA07-120, Appendix A, page 52.

(1) BLM Closes Corral After Horse Deaths http://ap.google.com/article/AleqM5gLocA7VicrXgrD6_5hYHQ9vp8eBg
(2) “Managing for Extinction”, Animal Welfare Institute, page 16, available at http://www.awionline.org/pubs/books.html
(3) Department of the Interior, BLM, Winnemucca Field Office, Jackson Mountain HMA, Wild Horse Gather Plan, August 2007,EA # NV-020-07-EA-10.
(4) American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/ - Reality Of Round Ups, Attempt at a Cover Up, Sheldon 2006

Drifting

A prominent horse advocate has experienced a recent deep loss.

The following is dedicated to her and her loved ones.

Drifting

The inky darkness before the dawn
She drifted closer, then all was gone
Breath that livened, now withdrawn
Empty silence engulfed her song

Though sun rises, no rays can shine
The absence of love once called mine
Exquisite presence bright or sublime
Voids never healed by space or time

The suffering ended, yet just begun
The lessons learned, the battles won
The intentions finished, finally done
Time's now up - the race was run

As she drifted closer to heavens gate
A pale steed did patiently wait
To lift her up and rejuvenate
On golden hooves towards a better fate

Earthly burdens now released
Both victims of the rising Beast
Though our own battles will not cease
Loved ones finally rest in peace

The American Wild Horse

Is a new documentary by filmmaker James Kleinert of Moving Cloud Productions scheduled to screen on Wednesday, September 26, 2007 in the LBJ Room on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. for both Senators and Representatives.

The American Wild Horse examines the politics behind the Bureau of Land Management’s controversial policies regarding wild horses on public lands and questions the fate of America’s wild horses. Through interviews with scientific experts, ranchers, historians, wild horse owners, animal rights activist, and others, the film looks at the origins and effects of the recent “Burns Bill” which gutted the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 and cleared the way for the slaughter and removal of a vast majority of these symbols of the American West.

The film explores who benefits and who pays the price for the different bills currently under consideration, including pending legislation that would permanently block the Burns Bill, H.R. 249, and H.R. 503 and S.311, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.

Filming locations included a recent round up conducted by BLM in Disappointment Valley, Colorado of the Spring Creek wild horses. David Glynn was on location August 30th and provides a detailed daily account of his experiences before, during and after the wild horses were removed.

One of the most revealing aspects of his narrative include interviews with Dave and Sue Cattoor, operators of Cattoor Livestock Roundups, Inc., one of only two outfits BLM consistently contracts for wild horse removals via helicopters as well as often being contracted for other government agencies such as National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Cattoors operations have often faced controversy, which have included the disastrous June 2006 wild horse removals conducted in the Sheldon Hart National Wildlife Refuge that American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign posted extensive photo documentation of (Reality of Roundups – Attempt at a Cover Up) as well as pleading guilty and serving probation for inappropriate use of an aircraft to capture wild horses in the 90’s.

David Glynn’s interviews with the Cattoors stated “they are strong advocates of killing, in their words “a humane way to dispose of excess horses,” and support the Burns Amendment.”

Cattoor Livestock Roundups, Inc. were referenced throughout the newest Draft Management Plans recently released by U.S. Fish & Wildlife for the Sheldon wild horses and burros and it appears they will probably contracted to remove wild horses within the Refuge again. The Cattoors were also the sole source of the financial data that projected helicopter round ups were more cost effective than any other capture methods.

Wonder how they came up with that conclusion?

Wishing James and The American Wild Horse’s debut the very best and praying our elected officials will finally be moved to action on repealing the Burns Bill and enacting The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.


References-
The American Wild Horse – by James Kleinert http://theamericanwildhorse.com/Save%20The%20American%20Wild%20Horse/Welcome.html
To read the full account of David Glynns - Ten Days in Disappointment Valley http://www.telluridewatch.com/articles/2007/09/03/news/doc46d7550f082e7317316258.txt
To view the photos of the Sheldon wild horse removals by Cattoor Livestock Roundups, Inc. www.wildhorsepreservation.com - Reality of Round Ups, Attempt at a Cover Up

The 700 Club

Sheldon Wild Horses
In May 2007, the Sheldon Hart National Wildlife Refuge located in Northern Nevada estimated that 1,500 wild horses were roaming the Refuge.

The May assessment reported severe overpopulation was destroying fragile ecosystems, threatening wildlife, creating hazards to motorists, and their sheer numbers had created a crisis of epic proportions that demanded immediate resolution through the removal of hundreds of wild horses.

Then came the lawsuit filed by In Defense of Animals against U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service that was based on the Services failure to provide any current information, pertinent scientific data, accurate reports, follow established laws, procedures, or to consider any reasonable alternatives within their “management plans”.

The Service presented one option and one option only – the wild horses and burros must be removed to dangerously low numbers before they completed any serious environmental evaluations in their development of the new management plan currently being drafted.

This is not the first time U.S. Fish & Wildlife has been sued for these very same violations and courts have remanded them before for attempting to pass off unsupported and unsubstantiated opinions as legitimate science.

After the lawsuit was filed, a new population census was done and low and behold, it is now believed that merely 800 wild horses and 90 burros inhabit the Refuge – a loss of 700 wild horses.

The Service theorizes that the 700 wild horses migrated outside Refuge boundaries over the winter and due to the completion of long over due fence maintenance, were unable to migrate back during the spring. If this theory is correct, the Service states that these horses will now be managed by BLM under the Wild Free Roaming Horse & Burro Act but at this time, it is currently unclear which BLM Herd Management Area the Sheldon horses may have ended up in.

The Service also stated that this is the first recorded incident of this possible migratory pattern, which leave us all wondering -

Just what it is they “monitor” when they report on Refuge conditions?


Jackson Mountain Wild Horses
A little over 700 more wild horses were recently removed than was originally projected in the BLM managed Jackson Mountain HMA, bringing the grand total of removals to 990 wild horses. BLMs Preliminary EA estimated only about 250 Jackson Mountain wild horses would need to be removed but a new aerial census conducted in June of 2007 revealed the population was much, much higher than previously believed.

BLM attributes the unexpectedly high population levels to wild horses that were driven outside the Jackson Mountain HMA during the February 2003 removals. It is believed that once the removal operations were complete, the wild horses again resumed residence within the HMA boundaries.

Kind of makes you wonder how far “outside” the HMA boundaries outside really was?


Photo of Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge Wild Horses taken from May 2007 Environmental Assessment and credited to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Trashed Again

The Coyote Canyon wild horses, the last remaining herd in Southern California, were abruptly removed in 2003. Their federally protected habitat encompassed 23,260 acres (1) that was transferred from BLM to the California State Park systems and all previously guaranteed legal reservations were withdrawn; the horses were left to the mercy of the State and what mercy California has showed.

Hiring a group of UC Davis veterinarians whose paychecks are dependent on government funding, they lined up to testified to the poor conditions and inevitability of starvation of the centuries old wild horse herd, citing that to continue to allow these wild horses in the area would be “inhumane”. (2)

Yet while the wild horses were being captured, the cameras captured the truth and the wild horses of Coyote Canyon were gleaming, fat and healthy as they were loaded into the trucks for their final journey.

The National Historic Registry (NHR) recently denied a nomination for the Coyote Canyon wild horses to be officially listed as a cultural and historic value in the area despite testimony from a variety of experts that supported the nomination, including Dr. Thomas King, considered one of the leading authorities on the subject both in America and abroad, and has written much of the NHR policies that are in place today. (3)

Mark Jorgenson, Superintendent of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, was quoted in an article by Deanne Stillman and published by the LA Times Weekly as saying; “We wanted to get rid of them since the ‘70s.” (4)

Mr. Jorgenson was present at the NHR hearing with a battery of well-rehearsed sidekicks that successfully opposed the Coyote Canyon Wild Horses nomination through more official testimony.

The “expert” testimony that the Coyote Canyon wild horses were threatening the Endangered Peninsular bighorn population turned out to be false when DNA testing revealed that the bighorn were just plain old Nelsons; of course, this testing was only completed after all the horses were removed. (5)

The “expert” testimony that claimed the Coyote Canyon wild horses were merely leftovers from a rancher in the mid-nineteenth century also turned out to be false after genetic tests showed strong Spanish Mustang ancestry in the Coyote Canyon wild horses, a lineage that is now extinct in Spain itself. (6)

At the February 2007 National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, Don Glen, BLM Wild Horse and Burro Division Chief gave a brief history of the Coyote Canyon issues and advised the Board that “this is a State of California issue and beyond the scope of the BLM jurisdiction and the Advisory Board’s responsibilities.” (7)

This is the Advisory Board that is in charge of overseeing wild horse and burro preservation across the Nation due to laws and federal protection granted to our wild horses and burro that firmly established their historical and cultural significance to the American people.

It is not the Boards “responsibility” to investigate or support the preservation of the last remaining wild horse herd in Southern California based on their historical and cultural significance or their documented lineage of the now rare Spanish mustang.

Taxpayer funded, BLM appointed positions only, these are the experts and advisors that rubberstamp the hidden agenda of “managing ” wild horses and burros into extinction.


References

(1) BLM National Herd Statistics, Fiscal Year 2004 available at www.blm.gov
(2) UC Davis Veterinarian Reports available at:
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/whatsnew/article2.cfm?id=1228
(3) State Historical Resource Commission Meeting, Department of Parks and Recreation
Approved Minutes – May 3, 2007 Available at:
http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/pages/1067/files/Approved_Minutes_May07.pdf
(4) http://www.borregopublishing.com/Webcam/index.htm
Kellys Weblog and Favorite Websites: The Wild Horses of Coyote Canyon that Once
Were….(February 22, 2006) LA Weekly, February 01, 2006, Of Rocks, Creeks and
Broom-Tail Horses, Deanne Stillman © www.deannestillman.com
(5) Personal Email Communication, February 7, 2007
Mark Jorgensen, Superintendent of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park,
(6) http://www.borregopublishing.com/Webcam/index.htm
Kellys Weblog and Favorite Websites: The Wild Horses of Coyote Canyon that Once
Were….(February 22, 2006) LA Weekly, February 01, 2006, Of Rocks, Creeks and
Broom-Tail Horses, Deanne Stillman © www.deannestillman.com
(7) National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting Minutes, February 26, 2007
Washington, D.C. Available at:
http://www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov/ab_recommendations/070226_minutes.pdf

Photo taken from Kellys Weblog and Favorite Websites: The Wild Horses of Coyote Canyon that Once Were….(February 22, 2006) Not included in original article published in LA Weekly, February 01, 2006, Of Rocks, Creeks and Broom-Tail Horses, Deanne Stillman © www.deannestillman.com

Ode To The Taken

“…..these horses and burros are fast disappearing from the American scene. It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected…” Public Law 92-195


Kathleen Hayden of Coyote Canyon Caballos D'Anza recently announced the arrival of “Harley”, an adopted Clark Mountain burro whose entire herd was zeroed out in January 2007.

Located in Southern California, the Clark Mountain burros had been one of oldest and genetically rare burro herds left. Since 1980, only two herds officially remain and Southern California has seen a 90% reduction in wild burro populations and habitat despite their “federally protected status”. (1)

Harley will now live with the Coyote Canyon wild horses Kathleen also adopted in efforts to preserve the bloodlines of these historic herds.

Like the Clark Mountain burros and dozens of herds over the last few decades, the Coyote Canyon wild horses were zeroed out in 2003 and were Southern California’s last remaining wild horse herd. Numbering a mere 29 wild horses when they were taken, highly questionable "Emergency" conditions and authority were used to justify this final blow.

The desire to protect big horn sheep was cited as a significant factor in the decision to permanently eliminate both these herds.

The Haydens continue to lobby for the return of the Coyote Canyon wild horses based on their cultural and historical significance, their contributions to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and their enrichment to the lives of the American people.

This was inspired by Kathleen’s photo of Harley meeting his new Coyote Canyon friends for the first time-

Ode to the Taken

Still soft and slightly dreamy from arising
unprepared for cold truths and hard facts
the end rides in on a Harley
as the memories of four centuries
are washed away,
their last gush, only tears
left on barren ground

Empty silence tells no tale
of generations that brayed and neighed
thundering hooves, flying manes
and large, soft ears
that heard all of
Mothers desert secrets

Gentle creatures,
smashed by horns that curl
and blackened hearts,
eagerly trading
the flesh and blood
of grandfathers and sons
mothers and aunts
for hollow sentiments painted on
now dead trees
"In God We Trust"

Consciousness shatters
with a lightening bolt,
last witness
to the last of their kind
with heart of lead, still weeping
the children’s questions can only
be answered with,

"I'm sorry....they are gone"



For more information, donations or to help with reintroduction efforts for the Coyote Canyon Wild Horses contact:

COYOTE CANYON CABALLOS D’ ANZA
Tax ID #510553809
Robert Hayden, Director/Manager
Kathleen Hayden
P.O. Box 236,
Santa Ysabel,CA92070
Phone: (760)782-3340
Email: Kats@znet.com

Ode To The Taken - Cindy MacDonald, August 2007

Used with Permission - All Rights Reserved.

(1) Wild Burros of the American West – A Critical Analysis of the Status of Wild Burros on Public Lands – 2006, C.R.MacDonald, 2007. Available on line at American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/

Going, Going, Gone

- The Clark Mountain Wild Burros -

The Clark Mountain burros were one of the oldest and most unique wild burro herds in America. Living in relative isolation for four centuries, their genetic tests revealed the herd had a “high proportion of rare variants”. (1) Yet in January 2007, BLM issued the final orders for their permanent and irrevocable extermination.

The Clark Mountain Herd Area is located in Mojave Desert in Southern California near the Nevada border.

In 1994, with the passage of the California Desert Protection Act (CDPA), the burros only perennial water source was transferred to National Park Service (NPS) through the creation of the Mojave National Preserve. NPS then issued a General Management Plan declaring a zero burro management policy for the Clark Mountain wild burros. (2)

This transference of key habitat requirements such as water, access or land to other federal agencies not required to protect wild horses and burros is often found at the root of many herds being zeroed out and this trend has been accelerating.

At the time of passage of the California Desert Conservation Area Plan in 1980, there were 19 recognized Herd Management Areas that could be managed for burros and 14 were officially designated for that purpose within the Conservation Area alone. The combined allowable population levels totaled 2,747 wild burros and their available habitat was 3,500,465 million acres. (3)

Today, this same area has had over a 90% reduction in both habitat and population with only two remaining burro herds and an “appropriate management level” of merely 229 burros confined to less than three hundred thousand acres. (4)

Though California was once home to one of the largest wild burro populations in the country, BLM only allows a paltry 345 burros or less throughout the entire state today. (5)

The Clark Mountain burros historic Herd Area was originally designated as 233,370 acres. Through BLM land use decisions and HMA designation, only 75,349 acres were deemed suitable for long-term management, a loss of 158,021 acres of habitat. (6)

Then BLM approved a provision that was slipped in the final plan of the 2002 NEMO Amendment to the CDCA that eliminated this last amount of acreage from any further use and this strategy effectively denied the public any right to appeal the decision. Two livestock allotments continue to operate in the area. (7)

In the last environmental assessment issued by the BLM Needles Resource Office that approved of capture plans to zero the Clark Mountain burros out, BLM personnel stated that;

“Cumulative reductions in habitat available for burros and subsequent reductions in burro populations, resulting in reduced representation of this species has likely compromised their gene pool. The ability for populations to maintain genetically viable herds, with representation of their unique genetic characteristics would be lost”. (8)

Despite being one of the oldest, rarest and last herds left in Southern California, BLM admitted to both managing and rendering this historical population extinct.

Public outcry was significant regarding the final eradication of the Clark Mountain burros but pleas to high-ranking officials, including the Secretary of the Interior, fell on deaf ears and were systematically ignored.

Volunteers offered to supply all labor and materials to pipe water from the spring to BLM managed land in efforts to preserve the herd but despite this “reasonable alternative”, in January 2007, the BLM removed approximately 100 Clark Mountain burros and the removal of the last remaining 30 wild burros is authorized through 2012.


References
Photo of Clark Mountain Burro downloaded on 8/31/07 from BLMs Website www.blm.gov Internet Adoptions, Ridgecrest Facility
(1) Genetic Analysis of the Chocolate-Mule Mtn., Clark Mtn., Centennial and Slate Range feral burro herds, E. Gus Cothran, Department of Veterinary Science, University of Kentucky, Lexigton, KY 40546-0076, January 24, 2003. Received by BLM February 14, 2003.
(2) Clark Mountain Herd Management Area/Herd Area, Decision Record and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the Clark Mountain Herd Areas Burro Removal, Fiscal Years 2007-2012, CA-690-EA04-27. Pg. 12, Department of the Interior, CA Needles Field Office, January 2007.
(3), (4), (5) Wild Burros of the American West, C.R.Mac Donald, February 2007, Pg. 6. Available on line at www.wildhorsepreservation.com , Learn More-A Study In Mismanagement, Case Study #1
(6), (7), (8) Clark Mountain Herd Management Area/Herd Area, Decision Record and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the Clark Mountain Herd Areas Burro Removal, Fiscal Years 2007-2012, CA-690-EA04-27. Department of the Interior, CA Needles Field Office, January 2007.

Last Chance

For the former Virginia Range horses who have made their home on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation since 2001.

The tribe gave International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros (ISPMB)

a 30-day notice that the horses must go and ISPMB has been frantically trying to find homes, space and money to prevent the 300 horses from being sold at auction where they risk a slaughterhouse fate.

With less than a week left, ISPMB has not been able to coordinate efforts to save them and has sent out another desperate cry for help.

Please do whatever you can to help ISPMB save these horses at http://www.ispmb.org/

This is their last chance……

It's A Beautiful Day In The Kudrna

It’s Kudrna Nevada LLC specifically; who in late 2005 purchased the 338,000-acre Soldier Meadows Ranch that neighbors the Sheldon Hart National Wildlife Refuge and impacts three BLM Wild Horse & Burro Herd Management Areas- Black Rock Range West, Warm Springs Canyon and Calico Mountains HMAs.

Reportedly, the new owner is a very wealthy developer out of Reno, NV that has urged the BLM to modify the current grazing system. The BLM Winnemucca crew (see last post) has been happy to oblige by proposing a new system that allows 800 cattle to roam year round gradually increasing the forage (AUMs) for livestock by approximately 33% versus the old system that fluctuated between 344 and 1,188 cattle depending on the time of year.

Again, BLM outlines guaranteed forage for livestock and big game animals but no mention is made of food (AUMs) for the wild horses in the area. BLM acknowledges the new system will significantly increase competition for food and water with the wild horses and burros, especially during drought or harsh winters, as they will have to survive on what the wake of cattle leave behind. The only question that remains is, which “Emergency Gather” reason BLM will use later to preserve the thriving ecological balance? The always handy “Save Them from Starvation” or the ever popular “Drought-Lack of Water”......

If that wasn’t enough, in order for the new system to work, another fence must be installed near Idaho Canyon, which is already surrounded on three sides - the new one will box it in completely. As a result, wild horses may become trapped during the winter, possibly causing them to freeze or starve to death.

No worries though, BLM has a PLAN! The protection of these horses depends on BLM making sure the gate is opened before it is too late (these are the same people that came up with this idea) or the new owner, Kudrna, can do it too.

In case anyone wants to know how Kudrna feels about wild horses, they kindly posted it on their website, http://www.soldiermeadows.com History Section, under the title, Help Needed, which is a request to write Congress and Legislators to remove wild horses from the area and contains such choice statements as-

*Thousands of feral horses have been breeding unchecked for years…

*Severe damage to springs is the direct results of these thousands of feral horses….

*They are non-native and akin to unwanted dogs, cats and other pets’...

*Unwanted animals are kindly put down.

Fortunately, the area won’t ever be horse free because Kudrna plans on raising domestic horses and the Soldier Meadows Guest Ranch includes four wheeling, SUVs and OHV use anywhere with special emphasis on hunting the “wildlife” the wild horses and burros threaten.

Meanwhile, back at neighbor Sheldon.....

Yesterday, the United States Fish & Wildlife released their new Draft EA for Horse and Burro Management at the Refuge, thanks to the lawsuit filed by In Defense of Animals (IDA) http://www.idausa.org/ who had the courage to speak “truth to power” by insisting USFWS follow the laws. The Draft EA can be accessed at http://www.fws.gov/sheldonhartmtn/sheldon/horseburro.html

and public input must be provided by September 26, 2007.

For a graphic expose on last year’s disastrous wild horse “management” at Sheldon, please visit American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, Learn More, Reality of Round Ups, Sheldon-2006-Attempt at a Cover Up at http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/testimonials.html

So let’s all go see what neighbor Sheldon is planning now…….

The photo used is of one of the "thousands of unmanaged, unchecked feral horses" removed by BLM in December 2004 from the Calico Herd Management Area in Nevada.

AUM

This is not some new age Buddist chant. AUM stands for Animal Unit Month and is one of the most critical tools used by BLM in rangeland management. An Animal Unit Month (AUM) is the amount of forage one cow, one horse or five sheep will consume during the course of a month. Here are some things to know about AUMs:

Not All AUMs Are Created Equal
The amount of acreage required to create one AUM greatly depends on the area. If the area is lush, it doesn’t take many acres to provide enough food to sustain a cow, horse or five sheep for a month. However, in more arid regions it may take up to 30 acres or more to provide the forage necessary to sustain the same animals.

AUM Pie
BLM managers take a section of public land and determine how much forage that environment can produce – this is the pie. Then they carve up the pie by giving some to wildlife, some to livestock, some to wild horses and burros and leave some alone in order to support healthy ecosystems.

AUM In
The old standard for issuing forage allocations used to be 50% for all rangeland users and 50% was left untouched. New studies have determined that allocating only 35-40% is “In” for healthy rangelands.

AUM Out
When BLM removes wild horses and burros, it is because they are now consuming more pie (AUMs) than what BLM gave them when they were cutting up it up in the “planning process”. Usually BLM issues most of the pie to livestock and often gives only a sliver of AUMs to wild horse and burro herds. This causes them to always be called “excessive”.

Jackson Mountain Herd Management Area (HMA)
The photo used is a wild horse removed in January 2003 from the Jackson Mountain HMA located in Northern Nevada with the BLM removing more this August. The Jackson Mountains HMA spans 283,699 acres with an allowable management level not to exceed 217 wild horses or one horse per 1,307 acres.

Currently, the BLM is in the process of “carving pie” for the Happy Creek Livestock Grazing Allotment, part of the Jackson Mountain HMA. The old plan gave 3,724 AUMs to livestock and 720 AUMs to the Jackson Mountain wild horses. The new plan still gives 3,724 AUMs to livestock, includes a piece for each big game species but now provides no AUMs for the Jackson Mountain wild horses.

BLM is also proposing a new fence that is projected to cause “serious and irreparable impacts to the Jackson Mountain wild horses and their habitat” including entanglement, injury and/or death, lack of access to areas they historically grazed and loss of genetic viability by cutting them off from the rest of the HMA and any other wild horses.

Preserve the Herds by September 15, 2007
If you would like to help wild horses stay wild, drop BLM a line before September 15th and ask that the Happy Creek Grazing Allotment include AUMs (food) for wild horses too, not just livestock and big game. Also, since BLM knows the fence will be dangerous, ask them to find another solution that helps everyone, not just the few, and take pride in your participation to Preserve the Herds.

-Contact-
Heidi Hopkins, BLM Wild Horse & Burro Specialist, at
Heidi_Hopkins@nv.blm.gov
Or fax it to: (775) 623-1503
BLM Winnemucca Field Office
5100 East Winnemucca Blvd.
Winnemucca, NV 89445
Phone (775) 623-1500

If you do contact them, remember your personal info and comments become part of public record and may be accessed as part of the public information process.