Salazar Seeks Congressional Support for Sustainable National Program to Manage Iconic Wild Horses

http://www.doi.gov/news/09_News_Releases/100709.html

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today proposed a national solution to restore the health of America’s wild horse herds and the rangelands that support them by creating a cost-efficient, sustainable management program that includes the possible creation of wild horse preserves on the productive grasslands of the Midwest and East.

“The current path of the wild horse and burro program is not sustainable for the animals, the environment, or the taxpayer,” Salazar said in a letter outlining his proposals to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and eight other key members of Congress with jurisdiction over wild horse issues. Salazar said he is “proposing to develop new approaches that will require bold efforts from the Administration and from Congress to put this program on a more sustainable track, enhance the conservation for this iconic animal, and provide better value for the taxpayer.”

Bob Abbey, Director of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), commended the Secretary for his initiative, saying, “The proposals we are unveiling today represent a forward-looking, responsive effort to deal with the myriad challenges facing our agency's wild horse and burro program.” Abbey added, “We owe wild horses and burros on Western rangelands high-quality habitat. We owe the unadopted wild horses and burros in holding good care and treatment. And we owe the American taxpayer a well-run, cost-effective wild horse program. Today's package of proposals will achieve those ends.”

The challenges to the BLM associated with maintaining robust wild horse populations in the West have been recognized by the Senate Appropriations Committee, which has warned that gathering and holding costs have risen beyond sustainable levels and directed the BLM to prepare a long-term plan for the program. The Government Accountability Office also found the program to be at a “critical crossroads,” affirmed the need to control off-the-range holding costs, and recommended that the BLM work with Congress to find a responsible way to manage the increasing number of unadopted horses. In response to Congressional direction, Salazar’s proposals aim to achieve a “truly national solution” to a traditionally Western issue.

In four decades under the BLM’s protection, wild horses that were fast disappearing from the American scene have returned to rapid growth. “As wild horses have no natural predators and herds grow quickly,” Salazar said in his letter, “more than 33,000 wild horses live in 10 western states. Unfortunately, arid western lands and watersheds cannot support a population this large without significant damage to the environment.”

The BLM works to achieve an ecological balance on the range by removing thousands of wild horses and burros from public rangelands each year and then offering them for adoption. Unadopted animals are cared for in short-term corrals and long-term pastures. With the sharp decline in wild horse adoptions in recent years because of the economic downturn, the Bureau now maintains nearly 32,000 wild horses and burros in holding, including more than 9,500 in expensive short-term corrals. In Fiscal Year 2008, the cost of holding and caring for these animals exceeded $27 million – or three-fourths of the FY 2008 enacted funding level of $36.2 million for the entire wild horse and burro program. In the most recent fiscal year (2009), which ended September 30, holding costs were approximately $29 million, or about 70 percent of the total 2009 enacted wild horse and burro program budget of $40.6 million.

A key element of the Secretary’s plan, designed to address concerns raised by the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Government Accountability Office, would designate a new set of wild horse preserves across the nation. Citing limits on forage and water in the West because of persistent drought and wildfire, Salazar said the lands acquired by the BLM and/or its partners “would provide excellent opportunities to celebrate the historic significance of wild horses, showcase these animals to the American public, and serve as natural assets that support local tourism and economic activity.” The wild horse herds placed in these preserves would be non-reproducing.

In his letter, Salazar also proposed:

* Managing the new preserves either directly by the BLM or through cooperative agreements between the BLM and private non-profit organizations or other partners to reduce the Bureau’s off-the-range holding costs. This coordinated effort would harness the energy of wild horse and burro supporters, whose enthusiasm would also be tapped to promote wild horse adoptions at a time when adoption demand has softened.
* Showcasing certain herds on public lands in the West that warrant distinct recognition with Secretarial or possibly congressional designations. These would highlight the special qualities of America’s wild horses while generating eco-tourism for nearby rural communities.
* Applying new strategies aimed at balancing wild horse and burro population growth rates with public adoption demand. This effort would involve slowing population growth rates of wild horses on Western public rangelands through the aggressive use of fertility control, the active management of sex ratios on the range, and perhaps even the introduction of non-reproducing herds in some of the BLM’s existing Herd Management Areas in 10 Western states. The new strategies would also include placing more animals into private care by making adoptions more flexible where appropriate.

Noting that his proposals are subject to Congressional approval and appropriations, Salazar said he and Director Abbey look forward to discussing them with members of Congress “as we work together to protect and manage America’s ‘Living Legends.’”

A copy of the letter is online at www.doi.gov and can be found here . For background information on the national wild horse and burro program, please visit the BLM’s Website at www.blm.gov.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/07/AR200910...

http://rgj.com/article/20091018/NEWS/910180347/Wild-horse-management-pla...

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20091126/NEWS/911259954/1070&ParentP...

By SANDRA CHEREB, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 25, 4:00 pm ET

CARSON CITY, Nev. – The Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday postponed a planned roundup of thousands of wild horses in Nevada because of a lawsuit and to allow time for appeals of its decision.

BLM spokeswoman JoLynn Worley in Reno confirmed that the roundup planned to begin Dec. 7 has been delayed until Dec. 28.

In Defense of Animals, a California-based animal protection group, filed a lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., seeking to halt the roundup. The suit said wild horses are an integral part of the natural ecosystem and should remain on rangeland throughout much of the West rather than be herded into long-term holding pens.

The suit also argued that the use of helicopters in massive roundups is illegal because they "traumatize, injure and kill" some of the animals.

"We welcome this moratorium on the capture and inhumane treatment of the Calico horses," said William Spriggs, an attorney representing plaintiffs in the suit, which include Craig Downer, a renowned wildlife ecologist.

"We are confident that the court will agree that America's wild horses are protected by law from BLM's plan to indiscriminately chase and stampede them into corrals for indeterminate warehousing away from their established habitat," Spriggs said.

BLM still plans to round up about 2,700 animals from the Calico Complex Herd Management Area near the Black Rock Desert north of Reno, Worley said, adding that the agency will issue its formal decision Tuesday.

The agency received more than 8,000 comments concerning the plan, she said, and the three-week delay will allow time for the court case and any appeals of the formal decision to be filed.

"We are giving that process a little bit of time to play out," she said. Ultimately, the BLM wants to reduce the herd size to between 600 and 900.

Springs said Justice Department lawyers agreed to the delay by late Tuesday. Motions seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction against the roundup were filed Wednesday, he said.

Mustang advocates say the roundup violates the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act, which Congress passed in 1971 to protect wild horses and burros as "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West."

The BLM estimates 36,600 mustangs live on public lands around the West, about half in Nevada. It wants to reduce the population to what it considers an "appropriate management level" of 26,600.

In 2008, the BLM said it would have to consider euthanizing wild horses because of escalating numbers and costs of caring for them in long-term holding facilities. But earlier this year, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the agency instead would pursue shipping horses to pastures and holding corrals in the Midwest and East.

The agency estimates there are now about as many animals in long-term holding corrals as exist in the wild.

http://rgj.com/article/20091205/NEWS/91205005&OAS_sitepage=news.rgj.com%...

SPARKS (AP) — Dozens of wild horse advocates plan to go before a federal advisory panel here on Monday to try to persuade public land managers to change their plan to relocate thousands of free-roaming mustangs from the West to preserves elsewhere.

They plan to press the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board for alternatives to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s plan to move about 25,000 mustangs to preserves and pastures in the Midwest and East. They insist the plan is based on faulty government data that exaggerates the damage the horses do to the range, as well as the extent to which they are suffering from a lack of forage.

Horse defenders have stepped up their efforts in recent weeks, suing to block a proposed roundup of 2,700 horses in northern Nevada and lining up the support of celebrities such as Sheryl Crow, Lily Tomlin, Bill Maher and Ed Harris.

Crow took her concerns directly to Salazar in a telephone call this past week.

“One of the first things he said was something must be done because the horses are starving. We (advocates) don’t believe it,” Crow said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“Part of the problem is the information he’s getting is skewed,” she said. “My main concern is that the horse numbers not be dwindled down to the point where they can become extinct. I think he’s very concerned about it as well.”

Salazar made no commitment on ending the roundups, but he pledged efforts to have a horse advocate appointed to the national advisory board, which has been less than supportive of the cause in the past, she said.

“I’ll still be pulling and working for an end to roundups,” said Crow, who has adopted a mustang herself.

Ginger Kathrens, executive director of the horse advocacy group Cloud Foundation based in Colorado Springs, Colo., said advocates believe the BLM’s figure of 37,000 horses in the wild is grossly inflated.

Kathrens said their own analysis indicates there may be only 15,000 horses on the range, and she fears herds will no longer be healthy and genetically viable if too many horses are removed.
She’s calling for an independent audit to determine the actual number of mustangs both in the wild and in holding facilities.

“I don’t think there’s anywhere near the horses they’re saying,” said Kathrens, an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker.

BLM spokesman Tom Gorey said a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office last year found his agency was undercounting mustangs.

“There’s no evidence for the (advocates’) position. It’s mere speculation,” Gorey said. “We’re certainly open to refining our counting techniques, but there’s no indication an outside audit is needed.”

Gorey said his agency removes horses before they become starving as part of its “pro-active management on the range.”

“The fact that there would be horses not in emaciated conditions is not surprising,” he said. “We’re not going to manage them in a way so they can get to that point.”

BLM officials said they plan to remove 11,500 wild horses and burros from the range throughout the West over each of the next three years because booming numbers of the animals are damaging the range.

The agency has set a target “appropriate management level” of 26,600 of the animals in the wild, about 10,000 below the current level. An additional 32,000 of them are cared for in government-funded holding facilities.

Madeleine Pickens, wife of billionaire Texas energy magnate T. Boone Pickens, questioned the wisdom of gathering more horses at a time when holding facilities are full. She opposes relocating them far from their natural habitat.

“This proposed gather schedule threatens the very survival of the remaining horse herds in the Western United States and must be stopped,” she said.

Critics argue that the real motivation for ongoing roundups of the mustangs — and Salazar’s proposal to ship thousands to preserves in the Midwest and East — is pressure from ranchers who don’t like the horses competing with their cattle for food.

Salazar has said his plan unveiled last month would avoid the slaughter of some of the 69,000 wild horses and burros under federal control to halt the soaring costs of maintaining them.

The animals are managed by the BLM and protected under a 1971 law enacted by Congress. Soaring numbers of horses and costs to manage them — expected to jump from $36 million last year to at least $85 million by 2012 — have prompted Salazar to propose a new approach.

Clarence Basso sent a message using the contact form at
http://www.blackrockfriends.org/friends/contact.

Re: Will Roger Peterson's "Feral Horses…," Black Rock/High Rock News, Fall/Winter 2009

Two misconceptions form the basis of Mr. Peterson's discourse: (1) horses are not a native species and (2) wild horses are feral.

Horses are native to North America, having evolved over the past 60 million years, some living in close proximity to Pyramid Lake as recently as 25,000 years ago (see Nevada State Museums Anthropological Papers No. 21, 1988). For unexplained reasons, fossil records of the native horse are missing for the time frame 8000-10,000 BP. Possible explanations for the disappearance of these fossil records include reductions in herd sizes due to drought conditions, disease or over exploitation by native populations. In any event, the horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish conquistadores in the
sixteenth century were re-introduced to a land that fit them and vice versa.

The fact that the horses are native excludes the feral argument; by nature and now by law, they are a wildlife species.

Whether the wild horses should be harvested as a means of population control is a more subjective matter. Perhaps the answer may be found in the sagas of the American bison and bighorn sheep (both of which, by the way, are not native species but are now protected), or in studies of the history of the wolf in Yellowstone National Park and the failed program of coyote trapping in Nevada in the 1950s. The diversity of wildlife that some individuals want in the extended environment is not necessarily what Nature intends.

Clarence D. Basso

The early American horse was game for the earliest humans and was hunted to extinction about 7,000 BC, just after the end of the last glacial period. It was about the size of a German Shepard. It is a stretch to equate them with horses that were later imported by Europeans. To suggest that this larger, different species was "reintroduced" and that the land "fit them" is a bit disingenuous. If the fit was so good, the earlier species would not have failed.

Whether they are wild or feral, the next issue is whether their numbers are in balance. It seems that the value we place on animals is directly proportional to our subjective, human needs. Would you also support the "reintroduction" of bison back to their pre-European numbers in the millions? Would you ban the sale of their meat? There is no one correct answer.

http://bit.ly/8Bgnir

Editorial: Wild horse advocates aren't doing the animals any favors

December 9, 2009

If the Bureau of Land Management's numbers are correct, wild horse advocates are doing their charges no favors by delaying the BLM's plans to round up thousands of horses across the West in the coming months.

Left on the public range to fend for themselves, those horses quickly could run out of the forage they depend on for food, and, yes, many will die from starvation. So will other wildlife that can't compete with the horses for the already scarce resources.

And the BLM, accused of wildly overestimating the number of wild horses on the ranges and mistreating those it rounds up, will be blamed for that, too.

This battle, which has been going on for decades, is one that the BLM needs to win but cannot.

# o o

It's not a fair fight, of course.

The opponents of the roundups have the power of mythology on their side -- the romanticism of the free spirits racing across the West, a throwback to the days before man put up fences (although supporters of reducing the numbers of wild horses insist that most are simply horses that were once tame but either escaped their owners or were set free by those who didn't want them any more).

The BLM has ranchers (vilified for ruining the public lands with their cattle) on its side. It has hunters. It has rural residents.

But the opponents have Hollywood stars on their side. They have folks who love the idea of wild horses, even if they know little about the reality. They have children on their side. They have the Nevada quarter.

Also on the advocates' side is many years of the federal government's own ineffective and absurdly expensive efforts to control the wild horse population in Nevada and throughout the West.

The BLM's current estimate is that there are 37,000 wild horses and burros on public lands in the West, about half of them in Nevada. (Opponents of the roundup believe it's more like 15,000.) However, nearly that many, 34,000, are kept in government-run corrals and pastures. Already this year, the BLM has spent $50 million to manage the wild horses in the West; last year, it was $36 million. As the numbers increase, so do the costs.

Finally, the advocates have pictures on their side -- pictures of horses desperate to escape the terror of helicopters chasing them into pens and pictures of cowboys roping them and leading them into captivity.

Given all of that ammunition on the advocates' side, it's surprising that anyone spoke in favor of the roundups at the hearing held by the BLM's National Horse and Burro Advisory Board in Reno this week. Who wants to dash the dreams of children, after all? Who wants to destroy the "symbol of Nevada"?

Yet, it does no good to pretend there are no problems with giving the horses free rein throughout the West. Nor does it do any good to demonize anyone who argues that the horses need to be controlled, for their own good if for no other reason.

It's long past time to put an end to these disputes, which accomplish little beyond making the plight of the horses worse -- whether they're on the range or in government corrals. It's time to temper the romanticism with a little reality. It's time for a policy that may not make everyone happy (that's probably impossible under the circumstances) but will protect the horses from their own fecundity.

Leaving them to starve to death on the range is not the way to honor them.

Release Date: 12/07/09
Jeff Fontana, (530) 252-5332
News Release No. CA-N-10-16
http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/info/newsroom/2009/december/NC1016_horsedeat...

BLM Investigating Possible Shooting Deaths of Wild Horses in Northern Washoe County, Nevada

Investigators from the U. S. Bureau of Land Management are looking into the suspected shooting deaths of up to six wild horses on public land along the Nevada-California border about 45 miles northeast of Susanville, Calif.

The carcasses of six mustangs were discovered Saturday, December 5, by a helicopter pilot working on a wild horse gather operation in the BLM’s Buckhorn Herd Management Area in Washoe County, Nev. BLM staff members who went to the scene said five carcasses were found in one area, and another was found about a half-mile away.

Officials said several of the animals had evidence of gunshot wounds. They estimated the animals had been dead for about two weeks.

BLM special agents are continuing to investigate. They asked anyone with information to contact the BLM in Cedarville, California, at (530) 279-6101.

Wild horses are protected by a federal law, the Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, which prohibits anyone from harassing, capturing or killing the animals. Violations are punishable by a fine of up to $2,000, up to a year in prison, or both.

http://www.nevadamagazine.com/index.php/issues/read/wild_horses/

Wild Horses

Mustangs in Nevada have long been at the center of unprecedented controversy. And with their population rising above the Bureau of Land Management’s sanctioned number, the debate carries on.

By CHARLIE JOHNSTON | January/February 2009

As I climb into Willis Lamm’s Ford pickup I briefly glance back at the mustangs. With my excitement ebbing, the gravity of the previous few hours sinks in. I was temporarily a part of that band—an awkward two-legged outsider nonetheless—permitted to walk among one of the West’s proudest symbols. Early last fall, Lamm, president of Least Resistance Training Concepts, and Bonnie Matton, president of the Wild Horse Preservation League, took me to the Virginia Range east of Dayton to introduce me to some of their closest friends, Nevada’s wild horses.

Anyone who has read a Nevada publication in the last couple decades knows that wild horses, and the issues surrounding them and their range, remain among the most controversial topics in the state. Although the controversy has evolved into an emotional, convoluted collection of opposing viewpoints, everything relates to two main issues: the horses’ sharing of land and resources with free-ranging livestock and the methods with which state and federal government manage the mustang population. Those issues are closely related to the niche wild horses fill on the range, where they fall in the spectrum of animals sharing the habitat, and the debate over whether they should be considered a feral (introduced) or reintroduced species.

According to Jay Kirkpatrick, director of the Science and Conservation Center in Billings, Montana, ancestors of modern horses started evolving in North America about four million years ago. The most recent ancestor to exist on the continent, Equus lambei, went extinct about 12,000 years ago. Kirkpatrick goes on to say DNA analysis shows that this extinct species is the genetic equivalent of the modern horse that was reintroduced into North America in the 1500s by Spanish explorers, and that modern horses, E. caballus, could have evolved nowhere else but North America. Kirkpatrick’s findings point to wild horses deserving consideration as indigenous, not feral—as common belief for more than a century suggests—animals.

By 1900, there were as many as 2 million wild horses in North America. During the following decades, that number fell sharply as the horses were increasingly captured and domesticated for private and military use and slaughtered for consumption. During the 1950s, activists such as Velma Johnston, better known as Wild Horse Annie, pressured government to pass a bill prohibiting the use of aircraft or motorized vehicles to hunt wild horses, and in 1959 the Wild Horse Annie Act went into law. The decree only stoked the flames of public outcry, and The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 was implemented. In its declaration of policy, Congress said, “Wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these horses and burros are fast disappearing from the American scene.” Under the law, mustang populations around the country were protected from capture, branding, harassment, and death. The Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service (most herd areas are under BLM jurisdiction) were charged with implementing the act and managing herds on public land with an emphasis on maintaining a “natural ecological balance.” Counts conducted following the passage of the act set the number of animals that the BLM and Forest Service were responsible for maintaining.

According to Susie Stokke, Wild Horse and Burro Lead for the BLM, there are about 18,800 mustangs in 102 BLM Herd Management Areas (HMAs) across Nevada. That number does not include close to 1,000 wild horses on state-owned and private lands. She says the ideal number—to maintain the aforementioned balance—is about 12,600. “We have been trying to get to the proper number (of animals) for the last decade,” Stokke says, and according to BLM studies and counts, that can only be accomplished if the surplus animals are removed from the range. Currently, roundups are the primary method with which the BLM attempts to control population. “We want healthy animals and healthy range lands,” Stokke says. She is well aware that the BLM’s wild-horse program elicits strong emotions. “People are very passionate about the horses,” she says. “We’re very passionate about them, too. I love them.”

A dozen Nevada roundups in 2008 removed 3,837 horses according to BLM Deputy State Director Michael Holbert. The number of animals captured each year during roundups in 2006 and 2007 were between 3,000 and 4,000 as well. Once the horses are gathered, they are transported to holding facilities, such as the Palomino Valley National Wild Horse and Burro Center, about 20 miles north of Sparks, and are prepared for adoption. But they are not being adopted in large enough numbers.

Stokke cites the nation’s struggling economy as one of the biggest factors contributing to a steadily declining rate of adoption. This means that the horses are held in facilities like Palomino Valley for much longer than intended, a situation that cost the BLM about three quarters of its $37 million budget in 2008 and prevented the agency from having enough funding to properly manage other parts of the wild horse program, according to Stokke.

Advocacy groups, such as The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, argue that the range can support even more horses than it currently does, making adoptions and holding facilities like Palomino Valley unnecessary. The groups claim that the BLM gives preferential treatment to livestock—such as cattle and sheep for which ranchers lease grazing privileges—on public lands around the state, resulting in an inaccurate assessment of the appropriate sustainable numbers for wild horses. Furthermore, according to Lamm, the horses can graze in areas where cattle and sheep cannot survive, and wild horses are not responsible for overgrazing. In Paula Morin’s book, Honest Horses: Wild Horses in the Great Basin, Bob Brown, a retired wild horse specialist for the BLM’s Ely Field Office, argues to the contrary. He says that when horses graze they bite small plants low enough to remove the roots, making it so the plants have no chance to regenerate. “If horses were left unchecked, they would be the last to survive out there,” he says. Independent studies support the arguments of both sides, contributing to this fundamental discrepancy that has yet to find a compromise.

In 2004 the controversial Burns Amendment was enacted to provide an alternative to long-term holding. The amendment changed the language of the 1971 legislation to allow for the open sale of horses that have not been adopted after three tries. This is an attempt to defray some of the costs—each horse held at Palomino Valley costs the BLM $4 to $5 per day according to JD Parsons, assistant facility manager—and alleviate pressure on holding facilities. Activists strongly oppose the amendment on the grounds that horses put up for sale stand a greater chance of being slaughtered, as horse meat is regularly consumed and considered a delicacy in countries such as Belgium, France, and Japan and still used to feed zoo animals and exotic pets worldwide.

Stokke emphasizes that the BLM does not want any of the horses it sells under the amendment to be slaughtered, but that it is a possibility if the horses are sold without limitations. She adds that even though the law mandates that horses that are not adopted after three tries can be euthanized, killing these horses remains an exceedingly unlikely option. “I know of no BLM employee who would want to be in the position of having to put down a healthy horse,” she says. Failing increases in adoption rates, the best option for the BLM seems to be more funding. “The BLM needs about $60 million to operate this program in 2009,” she says. Congress has proposed a budget between $35 and $36 million. Stokke points to rising costs of hay for adoption facilities and fuel for transporting the horses as the main reasons the agency needs a larger budget.

Some people, such as Ely rancher Hank Vogler, say they have seen starving mustangs and are open to humane slaughter. “The horses are the ones that suffer,” he says. “Starvation is a terrible, agonizing death. It’s a travesty.” Vogler adds that restrictions on humane slaughter in the U.S. (the last three horse meat abattoirs were ordered closed in 2007 according to an Associated Press article) encourage some people to ship horses to Mexico, where he says slaughter practices are downright gruesome. In a video on The Humane Society’s Web site, a horse is repeatedly stabbed in the neck until its spinal column is broken.

Brown contends that slaughter in the U.S. is a more humane option. “The animals (sheep and cattle) go down instantly, there’s no chance for them to feel anything,” he says. In the U.S., slaughterhouses use what is called a captive bolt gun which thrusts a heavy steel rod into the forehead of animals, leading to a quicker, less painful death. In September 2006, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption. The bill, however, was not taken up by the Senate.

The amount of mustangs on the range can vary greatly year to year, adding further challenges to effective population control. Statistics concerning wild-horse reproduction and survival rates vary greatly depending on their source. Regardless, there is no refuting that if unchecked, wild-horse populations have the potential to climb even farther above the number set by the Free-Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act. In a 1982 National Academy of Science report cited by the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, wild-horse populations throughout the West experience annual increases of less than 10 percent, while the 1971 study conducted on behalf of the BLM suggests an annual increase of about 20 percent. A 2004 essay from the USDA National Wildlife Research Center titled, “Evaluation of Three Contraceptive Approaches for Population Control in Wild Horses,” puts the rate between 15 and 20 percent. A difference of five to 10 percent might seem small, but when dealing with tens of thousands of animals over many years, it can equate to huge discrepancies.

A 1992 article in RANGE magazine points to an episode in Southern Nevada on the Nellis Air Force Range in which a herd of 1,000 horses increased to 10,000 in “little more than a decade.” The article, “Wild Horses: No Home on the Range?” describes the sickening condition of many of the removed horses that suffered from extreme dehydration and starvation. “Down at Nellis there were colts that were just dried as prunes, not one but dozens of them,” says Dave Cattoor, a contractor for the BLM who worked on the roundup. “Their little mouths were caked with mud. We had to rinse the mud out before you could feed them,” he says. This population explosion represents an annual increase of more than 25 percent.

With adoptions dwindling and the strong sentiment opposed to any kind of slaughter, many see fertility control as a viable and acceptable means to prevent such extreme situations as that which occurred at Nellis. The USDA essay regarding birth control aimed to find contraceptives that were safe, potentially reversible, effective for several years, and had minimal affect on reproductive or harem maintenance behavior. The study concluded that the two tested vaccines prevented pregnancy in all of the 27 mares tested, while the other contraceptive prevented pregnancy in 10 out of 15. The study also found that none of the contraceptives had adverse effects on the health or behavior of the horses. According to the essay, further research is needed to evaluate the longevity of the birth-control measures, and only one of them is currently approved for use.

A continuing barrier to this method of population control, according to Stokke, is the cost and logistics of administering contraceptives that, for all intents and purposes, are not proven beyond one-year effectiveness. The horses still must be gathered, and the time and potential risk involved in administering birth control is far greater than that for regular roundups.

Stokke says that the BLM wouldn’t be able to treat enough animals for the contraceptives to help control the population. “We have to catch the horses, bring them in, and apply it,” Stokke says. “We turn them back out and won’t catch them again for four or five years, so there is currently no practical means of remotely applying fertility control to thousands of horses across millions of acres.”

The question of whether there is a viable solution remains. Although there are situations in which the conflicting factions work together—advocates that protest BLM roundups also help by promoting adoptions, and the ranchers pay close attention to the range so that it can sustain both their livestock and wild horses—certain key issues remain uncompromised on. Are there too many horses on the range? Is it worse to slaughter mustangs or risk their starvation when and if their numbers grow too unwieldy for the range to support? Is birth control for wild animals a realistic answer to population control?

But, for all of their differences, practically everyone involved with Nevada’s wild horses shares a common goal: to ensure the wellbeing of these magnificent animals. The horses have no control; their fates lie in the hands of these people and the hope that they can continue to work together on behalf of the animals they all care for so deeply.

As we left the band of Virginia Range horses, I thought about the future of these animals and wondered if such compromises were possible. My reflection was interrupted when the lead mare cautiously approached me. After a moment of eye contact I surmised that it was safe to raise my hand toward her face. She gave it a few sniffs and allowed me to lightly stroke her nose. Lamm and Matton were astonished; apparently she doesn’t let just anyone pet her. I like to think she knew I was there for a good reason.

Water Shortages

In the Virginia Range east of Dayton, water is sparse in late summer and early fall. With more and more water being used to hydrate the ever-growing suburban areas around Reno and Carson City, domestic cattle and wild horses in the area are faced with increasing challenges to their survival. That is where people like Willis Lamm and Dell Brandt come in. The two volunteer countless hours to provide watering troughs for animals in the region. Lamm makes it clear that they provide water only, not food. While the horses use the troughs just as they would a natural spring, feeding them would create a dangerous dependence on humans. “Feeding these animals would be a death sentence,” he says.

Adoption

“We don’t see sick horses coming in off the range,” says JD Parsons, assistant facility manager at the Palomino Valley National Wild Horse and Burro Center. “These animals are much hardier than domestic horses.” The mustangs taken to adoption facilities such as Palomino Valley are prepared for adoption by BLM staff and volunteers. In addition to giving the animals all the necessary vaccines, the facility occasionally offers a $100 price cut from the regular $125 adoption fee. Parsons adds that another advantage to adopting mustangs is that with the proper attention, they take to training very well. “They’re basically a clean slate,” he says.

If the only thing keeping you from adopting a mustang is the challenge of training it, a prison horse adoption might be for you. Prisoners at the Warm Springs Correctional Center in Carson City work with mustangs for 120 days before the horses are put up for adoption. The adoptions can be successful—the last one, in October 2008, found a home for every horse. The next adoption is set for February 21.

CONTACTS

Palomino Valley National Wild Horse and Burro Center
http://wildhorseandburro.blm.gov
775-475-2222

Nevada Department of Corrections, Warm Springs Correctional Center
http://doc.nv.gov/wscc
775-861-6469

Bureau of Land Management
Nevada State Office
1340 Financial Blvd., Reno
http://blm.gov/nv
775-861-6400

The American Wild Horse
Preservation Campaign
P.O. Box 926, Lompoc, CA 93438
http://wildhorsepreservation.com
877-853-4696

Wild Horse Preservation League
P.O. Box 1858, Dayton, NV 89403
http://wildhorsepl.org
775-220-6806

Least Resistance Training Concepts
http://whmentors.org

The Humane Society of The United States
2100 L St., NW, Washington, D.C.
hnttp://hsus.org
202-452-1100

State of Nevada Commission for the Preservation of Wild Horses
885 Eastlake Blvd., Carson City
http://wildhorse.nv.gov
775-849-3625

WORTH A READ

Honest Horses: Wild Horses in the Great Basin, by Paula Morin. University of Nevada Press, unpress.nevada.edu, 775-784-6579. 408 pages. Visit “Battle-Born Books” for a review.

They're destroying state's high desert
http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009912140304

Nevada is one of the most environmentally sensitive states in our great country and deserves better than to be turned into a horse corral.

There are feral horses dying today in the Black Rock Wilderness. The sad part is that for every horse that dies probably 10 native wildlife animals die because the horses have eaten the food they need to survive the winter.

In the mid 1970s, over 500 horses starved to death not far from my home in Gerlach. Unknown numbers of deer, antelope, sage hen and other native wildlife species died because of unmanaged feral horses that year. There are no horses in Yellowstone, Yosemite National Parks because they would destroy the parks like they are destroying Nevada's high desert and it native wildlife.

You are probably thinking, this guy doesn't like horses! Not true. I have never owned a cow, but I have owned over 20 horses in my 65 years. The difference is I managed mine.

Remember this! When the horses and Nevada's native wildlife start starving, Sheryl Crow and her Hollywood crew will jump on their private jets and go back to their warm and fuzzy mansions!

Tony Diebold

Gerlach

Managing Feral Horses, Mustangs & Burros In The West
On Thursday December 10, SCI’s litigation team filed for intervener status in the D.C. District Court to join the  Bureau of Land Management in defending its decision to capture 2400 excess feral horses from the Calico Mountains Complex in Nevada. There are approximately four times as many horses on the complex as the recommended carrying capacity and these excess horses have been causing constant ecological harm to native game species such as mule deer, antelope and Sage-grouse. Horse protectionist groups are opposing this scientifically and ecologically necessary translocation. SCI will announce more in a future “In the Crosshairs.”

I've learned that some of the earlier horse species were actually similar in size to modern horses. I just want to correct that assertion. I also learned that the ecology is very different in Nevada now that when those earlier horses were here, so it's not the same ecosystem to which horses were introduced as it was for the ones that went extinct.

Judge allows wild horse roundup in Nevada
Dec 23, 5:49 PM (ET)
By MATTHEW DALY
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091223/D9CP9SP80.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration said Wednesday it is going forward with a contentious plan to round up about 2,500 wild horses in Nevada.

A spokeswoman for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said herds in the Calico Mountains Complex in northwestern Nevada are overpopulated and need to be reduced to protect the horses and the rangelands that support them.

"The current population in the five Calico herd management areas is three times what the range can handle, so this gather will ensure high-quality habitat for the wild horse and burros and other wildlife while protecting the public rangeland from overuse," said spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff.

She called the dispute over the roundup "yet another clarion call to develop and implement a long-term solution to the challenges we face concerning wild horses and burros on our public lands."

The Interior Department announcement came after a federal judge on Wednesday denied a request to block the roundup, saying opponents had failed to demonstrate that removal of the horses would violate federal law.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said the agency is obligated under a 1971 law to carefully manage wild horse herds to prevent overpopulation.

The mustang roundup planned for Monday would be one of the largest in Nevada in recent years. Officials plan to use helicopters to force the horses into holding pens before placing them for adoption or sending them to long-term holding corrals in the Midwest.

The roundup is part of the land management agency's overall strategy to remove more than 10,000 mustangs from public lands across the West and ship them to greener pastures in the Midwest and East. The Bureau of Land Management estimates about half of the nearly 37,000 wild mustangs live in Nevada, with others concentrated in Arizona, California, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.

Another 32,000 horses and burros are cared for in corrals and pastures in Kansas, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Mustang advocates had sued to block the roundup, saying that use of the helicopters is inhumane because some of the animals are traumatized, injured or killed. Opponents also contend that the bureau is grossly inflating horse numbers to justify their removal from the range.

The lawsuit says wild horses are an integral part of the natural ecosystem and should remain on rangeland throughout the West rather than be herded into long-term holding pens.

A state wildlife agency sided with federal land managers, arguing in court papers last week that the mustangs have "severely degraded" the range and adversely affect Bighorn sheep and other wildlife that compete for scarce water resources in the drought-plagued region.

Friedman sided with roundup opponents in one aspect of his 25-page ruling. He said federal officials likely were violating federal law by stockpiling tens of thousands of horses in long-term holding facilities in the Midwest. The judge invited both sides to offer more legal arguments on the issue but said Congress ultimately may have to get involved.

Since the bureau has no money to euthanize the horses and no authority to hold them in a long-term facility, "it would face an inescapable conundrum" in conducting the roundup, Friedman said. The dispute is best solved by Congress, he added.

William Spriggs, a lawyer who argued against the roundup on behalf of California-based In Defense of Animals, said he was disappointed that Friedman allowed the roundup to go forward, but added: "I'm elated the judge at least bought one of our arguments."

Spriggs said President Barack Obama should issue a "holiday reprieve" for the mustangs and block the Nevada roundup until the legality of the long-term holding facilities is decided.

"The BLM's policy of stockpiling tens of thousands of horses in the Midwest - off their rightful Western ranges - is contrary to law, the intent of Congress and the will of the American people," Spriggs said.

http://www.rgj.com/article/20091220/OPED04/912200329/1098/OPED

December 20, 2009

Hot Topic: Fresh approaches are needed for managing wild horses

I'm forced to take issue with the RGJ's editorial headline "Wild horse advocates aren't doing the horses any favors." The lead phrase, "If the Bureau of Land Management's numbers are correct," does characterize this issue precisely. Beyond that the editorial completely missed the mark.

I've been involved with wild horse issues for nearly 20 years. I have worked on projects with BLM and with many of the wild horse groups. Both sides in this "dispute" present viable arguments. However, lasting solutions are not likely to be found so long as significant decisions are made based on estimates and assumptions.

Much of BLM's program has been reduced to guesswork. The agency has neither the funding or the personnel required to conduct what many consider to be proper range assessments: to accurately determine animal populations and range resources. Funds that should have gone to placing animals in private care have been diverted to rounding up horses. The end result is an unsustainable and unaffordable management strategy that even the courts are starting to recognize as being problematic. It would be simple to just blame BLM. However the present dilemma has been shaped greatly by congressional budgets and executive branch land-use priorities.

It's neither accurate nor fair for the RGJ to take the traditional "cheap shot" at wild horse advocates. Mainstream groups devote a huge amount of time and resources towards range improvement projects, getting horses placed and developing alternatives to expensive "trap and toss" horse management. The suggestion that advocates simply want to see horses infinitely multiply on our ranges demonstrates a lack of understanding as to what this "dispute" actually involves.

When one reads the lawsuits filed against BLM, the arguments are not about whether BLM has the authority to remove excess wild horses. The arguments address "irreparable harm" issues. History has shown that "traditional" management strategies have not materially improved range conditions, and they have produced significant long-term costs.

Wild horse advocates are calling for a moratorium to force an honest discussion regarding the present path to chaos and to bring some semblance of practicality back to wild horse management. There are practical alternatives being presented from all across the spectrum that get lost behind the shopworn and irrelevant "trap, don't trap" argument.

These fresh approaches include such concepts as reserve design, development of alternative habitats that may be more appropriate to manage, resource-based management to allow better utilization of public ranges by all grazing animals, temporary immunocontraception, seasonal movement of horses between adjacent ranges to more evenly distribute grazing pressure, and range quality-based private management contracts. Such alternatives will likely require more science and intellect than are being applied presently, but would demonstrably reduce BLM's overall costs and could produce a positive impact on range conditions while still preserving viable horse herds.

It's time to quit calling names and deal with facts and science. The RGJ should be leading the call in this regard, not entrenching ill will.

Willis Lamm lives in Stagecoach.

http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009912270414

December 27, 2009
Ranchers, activists at odds over mustang roundup
By Frank X. Mullen Jr.
fmullen@rgj.com

Bob Depauli, whose family has been ranching in Nevada for four generations, remembers a wild horse he saw in the Nevada desert one drought-parched year in the late 1970s.

"The herds were really poor that year, starved," he said. "I saw (a dead mustang) whose two hind legs had quit working and it had use of only its forelegs. It had walked in circles and dug a hole in the ground with its hindquarters."

It dug its own grave.

Depauli runs cattle on federal allotments, including one about 30 miles north of Gerlach in the area where the federal government plans Monday to start rounding up 2,500 wild horses of the more than 3,000 in the area.

The government said the roundup is necessary to check overpopulation. Opponents said the land mangers exaggerate the number of mustangs and the damage they do to the range, and that gathering horses using helicopters traumatizes, injures or kills the animals.

About 32,000 wild horses are in government holding pens waiting for adoptions that, for most, will never come. Range managers plan to remove another 10,000 from ranges in Nevada and elsewhere in the West next year.

The government, Depauli and others see the wild horse gathers as necessary to ensure the health of the rangeland, water supplies and native species. Opponents say the horses are a symbol of America and are being swept aside for the benefit of cattlemen like Depauli.

"I'm basing my position on years of experience," said Depauli, who runs about 300 head a year. "I'm in business to stay in business, not to overgraze. I move my cattle around. Horses stay in the same areas 24, seven, 365 days a year. Right now, we've got four to five times the number of wild horses that the land can support. Cattle are manageable. We need to manage the horses, too.

"Overpopulation of horses impacts everything: cows, wildlife, the horses themselves, everything. If this continues, we'll all be in a mess."

Depauli's son, Robert, who works in his father's cattle operation and hopes to have his own ranch someday, said the arguments against managing the wild horse population are based on emotion and the romance of the wild herds, rather than the reality of range damage.

"There's opposition to the gathers all over the country, all over the world," Robert Depauli said. "What do these people know about conditions in Northern Nevada? How can they have even have an opinion on something they know nothing about?"

The last wild horse?

In Defense of Animals, based in San Rafael, Calif., and wildlife biologist Craig Downer of Nevada filed the lawsuit last month to halt the roundup. Equine advocates contend the agency is grossly inflating horse numbers, a charge the BLM denies.

"There are millions of cows and thousands of horses," said Terri Farley, a Reno author who joined the lawsuit against the BLM roundup. "So tell me, who is eating the grass?"

Farley, who said she has observed range studies and researched the issue for years, said the BLM "needs to look at its science on this." She said the gathers, coupled with birth-control methods used on horses that remain on the range, will eventually "zero out" the ranges, leaving no wild horses at all.

"(The BLM) says they are doing it for the good of the horses," she said. "I lean towards the conclusion they are doing it for the good of the cattlemen.

"People may remember when they saw their first wild horse, but will they know when they've seen their last? I think the last wild horse may already have been born."

She said the argument that activists are fighting the government gathers on the basis of romance alone -- the iconic image of herds running free -- is easy to make, but not accurate.

"It can be a persuasive argument because it fits in with the idea of crazy cat ladies and things like that, but that's why I've made it a point to educate myself," Farley said. "... I'm not buying the BLM's numbers. It's as though they are being eliminated on a whim. If it's about range damage, then look at that. If it's about a different political issue, then we need to look at that."

Alan Shepherd, BLM wild horse program leader in Reno, said the agency would like to release more horses to adoption, but in the meantime, they are stockpiled and the gathers continue.

"We receive a lot of criticism for what we do," he said. "We feel that the way we manage the animals and the way we have to gather is the most humane method possible."

He noted the Nevada Division of Wildlife, hunting groups, conservation organizations and wilderness advocates have endorsed the need for roundups.

"We want to have healthy horses and a healthy range," Shepherd said. "We can't have that if the range is overpopulated. There are other users out there. We can't let one resource determine what happens to every other resource."

He said the horses affect sage grouse, trout, songbirds and every other species.

Reserves proposed

Craig Downer, the ecologist who initiated the lawsuit against the latest roundup, envisions self-contained reserves both in and around the originally established federal herd areas. With such reserves, he has said, "drastic roundups could be avoided, or at least greatly minimized."

Downer wrote that the reserves be habitats of sufficient size for each to support a long-term viable wild horse or burro population of around 1,000 interbreeding individuals.

"Within each such natural sanctuary, the wild equids will be respectfully treated as the "principal" presence, not relegated to mere token numbers and deprived of basic resources in order to accommodate a monopoly of livestock and/or big game, as is currently the case," he wrote.

Rancher Jim Kudrna, who voluntarily kept cattle off his grazing allotments in the Calico area to minimize range effects, said overpopulation is a severe problem in Northern Nevada.

"I think we all love to see horses on the range. It is thrilling and a source of enjoyment for all who observe them," he said. "The real issue out here, however, is the management of the water resources."

He said in the Calico area where the roundups are scheduled, the horse population has exploded and wildlife numbers have dwindled.

"The horses simply outcompete all of the other wildlife for the region's limited water resources and cause damage to the water sources," he said.

Kudrna said the mustangs' large, flat hooves compact the ground around the area's seeps and springs to the point that the water stops flowing.

"I know the horse-only folks say that cattle do the same; they are simply incorrect," he said. "Cattle have pointed hooves, the same as the predominant wildlife such as deer, antelope and sheep."

He said "we have actually observed seeps and springs which were not functioning be reopened by cattle hooves" puncturing the compaction layer around the springs.

Kudrna said horse overpopulation must be controlled and the damaged to water sources repaired, so the wildlife populations can recover.

"We believe the citizens of Nevada care about all the wildlife and would prefer to see a harmonious balance," he said.

Wild horse facts

# In 1971 Congress passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, which declared the animals to be "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West." It is the "policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death ..." and that they are "... an integral part of the natural system of the public lands."
# The Bureau of Land Management maintains and manages wild horses or burros in "herd management areas." Regulations require that herds of wild horses and burros be considered comparably with other resource values within the area.
BLM management
# In 2000, the population of wild horses and burros managed by Nevada was more than 25,000 head, about 85 percent higher than the estimated appropriate management level (AML) of about 13,500 head.
# This year, the BLM estimates there are 37,000 wild horses in the nation, about 20,000 in Nevada. Activists say the agency grossly inflates the numbers of wild horses to justify roundups that benefit cattlemen. Nevada's management target is about 12,600 animals.
# Usually using helicopters to herd the animals, the BLM has gathered an average of about 10,000 horses per year nationally. Gathers have occurred in all 10 Western states, with about half of those animals gathered in Nevada.
# The Calico gather, set to begin Monday, targets 2,500 of an estimated 3,100 horses in the area. Ranchers said the area has grazing permits for about 2,000 cattle.
# Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the coming mustang roundups in October, part of a plan he said would avoid the need to kill any wild horses. Interior Department officials warned last year that slaughtering some of the 69,000 wild horses and burros under federal control might be necessary to combat rising costs of maintaining them.
# Salazar said the current program is not sustainable for the animals, the environment or taxpayers. The BLM wild horse program cost about $50 million this year and is expected to rise to at least $85 million by 2012 if the program isn't changed.
Adoptions decline
# The BLM has granted adoptions of more than 225,000 wild horses and burros since the program began in 1973.
# Adoption demand/success has declined over the past decade. In the 1990s, adoptions numbered about 10,500 horses and burros per year. Nationwide, citizens have adopted about 3,500 wild horses and burros this year.
On the Web
# www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov
# http://nvwildhorses.ning.com/

http://www.rgj.com/article/20100103/OPED04/1030329/1098/OPED/Bob-Abbey--...

www.rgj.com
January 3, 2010
Bob Abbey: The BLM shares wild-horse advocates' goal

A small, but vocal, group of wild horse advocates has sparked some very emotional responses to the Bureau of Land Management's plan to remove excess wild horses from overpopulated herds on drought-stricken public rangelands. Often lost in the rhetoric is the fact that we essentially share the same goal, preserving healthy wild horse herds on healthy Western rangelands as a legacy for the American people.

So why not, as our critics have proposed, stop the roundups and leave the wild horses and burros alone?

Simply put, the range could not withstand the resulting impacts. Wild horse and burro herds, which have virtually no natural predators, grow at a rate of about 20 percent a year, which means herds can double in size every four years. Currently, the free-roaming population of 37,000 horses and burros on Western rangelands exceeds by more than 10,000 the number that the BLM has determined can exist in balance with other public rangeland resources.

Congress envisioned horse overpopulation issues and thus mandated the removal of excess wild horses and burros from the range in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The act requires the interior secretary to determine whether and where overpopulated herds exist and, on making that finding, to immediately remove excess animals from the range so as to achieve appropriate management levels.

That is why we are gathering excess wild horses in the Calico Complex in Northern Nevada over the next few weeks. In Calico and across the West, wild horses are removed not to make room for more cattle grazing but to ensure or restore ecological balance. Keep in mind that wild horses and cattle are not the only animals that depend on the range. The BLM manages rangeland habitat for a variety of wildlife, including elk, deer, sage-grouse and migratory birds; the agency also protects threatened and endangered species.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and I have proposed a forward-looking plan that would benefit the horses, the public rangelands and the American taxpayer. It includes humanely caring for excess horses in new preserves, especially on the productive grasslands of the Midwest and East, while applying fertility control to slow growth rates of wild horse herds remaining on Western public rangelands. (Details are at www.blm.gov.)

By moving in this direction, we will promote the health and well-being of America's wild horses and burros, protect public rangelands and provide Americans with a well-run, cost-effective program. But to get there, we will need to continue removing excess wild horses from the public rangelands in areas where the land can no longer support them.

Robert Abbey is director of the Bureau of Land Management. He served as the BLM's Nevada state director from 1997 to 2005.

America's Pro-Horse Coalition Supports BLM, Salazar Efforts To Rein In Feral Horse Population

CHEYENNE, WY-- The United Organizations of the Horse (UOH) applauds the efforts of federal officials to control the overpopulation of wild horses on public lands, and urges the enactment of responsible policies for the management and disposition of excess horses. The UOH, a nationwide coalition working in the best interests of horses and horse owners, and for the rejuvenation of the equine industry, is the largest organization of its kind in the U.S. Its members and supporters are petitioning Congress to support the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in its mission to manage public lands, not supervise a "welfare state" for excess feral horses held captive and warehoused in private feedlots and holding facilities off of public lands at enormous taxpayer expense.

"The BLM's primary directive is to manage the land, to establish and maintain a sustainable balance of resources on public lands, including wild horses, native wildlife, grazing, fisheries, forests, energy development, and recreation," said Sue Wallis, UOH Executive Director. "It should not be using its taxpayer resources to support excess animals of any species."

The BLM currently pays for the care of some 32,000 wild horses in short- and long-term holding facilities, at a taxpayer cost of $29 million in fiscal 2009-more than 70 percent of the agency's total budget for the Wild Horse and Burro Program. Although the agency strives to place horses in the hands of qualified owners, the demand for adoptions has plummeted in the current economic downturn, and has never come close to the annual natural increase of the herds.

Left unchecked, feral horse herds will roughly double their population every four years. Although the BLM estimates the current free-roaming horse population at 37,000, recent evidence from the General Accounting Office proves that the herds have been under-counted. In addition, the BLM routinely gathers significantly more horses than expected during scheduled roundups at any of its 108 Herd Management Areas.

The UOH unwaveringly supports the presence of properly-managed wild horses on public lands. However, the unchecked growth of feral herds has severely upset the environmental balance on public, private and tribal lands. Paired with the mounting numbers of unwanted domestic horses, many turned out to fend for themselves and dying of starvation on public and tribal lands, equine overpopulation has reached crisis proportions in the U.S.

Besides removing the excess horses to reassert a proper balance on the ranges, the UOH advocates the BLM adhere to responsible management practices such as: Holding wild horses in captivity for a maximum of 90 days. If they cannot be sold, adopted or otherwise permanently disposed of within that time they should be sold without restriction to the highest bidder. All revenue should be rolled back into the Wild Horse and Burro Program to better manage the wild herds and the resource base. Restore humane and regulated equine processing facilities, to provide federal, state, and local agencies; tribal groups and the general public an option for humane disposal of unwanted excess horses, without needless taxpayer expense or needless suffering for horses otherwise likely to face starvation or abandonment.

The United Organizations of the Horse, a mutual benefit organization, is committed to the well-being and humane treatment of horses, and the viability of the equine industry in the United States of America. Its companion non-profit group, the United Horsemen's Front, is a charitable and educational non-profit 501c3 organization.

For more information, visit:

http://www.UnitedOrgsoftheHorse.org

http://www.UnitedHorsemensFront.org

Activists decry wild-horse roundups
Updated 12/29/2009 1:22 AM
By William M. Welch, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2009-12-28-horses_N.htm?...

Federal officials have begun rounding up at least 2,500 wild horses from Nevada rangeland, triggering protests from animal advocates who say the trapping endangers these symbols of the American West and condemns them to lives in captivity.

The protesters are organizing demonstrations around the country Wednesday to pressure the Obama administration to impose a moratorium on roundups by the Bureau of Land Management. They want to halt the practice of sending captured horses to Midwestern pastures and holding pens, where some are adopted but most remain for the rest of their lives.

"We are very, very disappointed this is happening under the Obama administration," said Suzanne Roy, program director at In Defense of Animals, a group that has sued in federal court to halt the roundups. "This will devastate the herd and have a devastating impact on the horses left behind."

The BLM contends the roundups are necessary because there are more wild horses than Western lands can support. Allowing the herds to grow unchecked will lead to starvation and suffering by the horses while destroying grazing land used by cattle ranchers, said Tom Gorey, spokesman for the BLM in Washington.

"Herd sizes double about every four years," Gorey said. "To put a moratorium on gathers (roundups) would be untenable."

Helicopter wrangling

The BLM and contracted horse wranglers used two helicopters Monday as they began trapping wild horses that have roamed on more than 850 square miles of rangeland in northwestern Nevada.

Heather Emmons, spokeswoman for the BLM in Nevada, said 20 or more horses were captured by midday and the roundup would continue for as long as two months, until at least 2,500 horses are taken off the range.

The helicopters skim the ground to chase horses into pens, where they are trapped and trucked to holding facilities at Fallon, Nev., for evaluation, veterinary treatment and branding, Emmons said. She said the agency intends to leave 800 to 900 horses from this herd on the range.

Older horses will be sent to permanent holding facilities in the Midwest while younger ones go to short-term facilities and will be put up for adoption. Rates of adoption have been falling, and Gorey said the agency expects about 3,500 horses to be adopted in the next year.

More than 34,000 wild horses and burros are kept by the federal government in corrals and pastures, primarily in Oklahoma and Kansas. The government estimates that 33,000 wild horses roam on BLM-managed rangelands in 10 Western states, half or more of them in Nevada.

About 30 protesters gathered Sunday at a conservation area near Las Vegas, demonstrating against the roundup. In Defense of Animals said it was organizing a demonstration Wednesday outside the San Francisco office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in the hope of spurring political support for their call to halt the roundups. Other protests were planned in Chicago, Boulder, Colo., and elsewhere, said Makendra Silverman, associate director of the Cloud Foundation, a Colorado-based group that tries to protect mustangs.

'Situation is unpatriotic'

The fight over taking wild horses off federal land has intensified in the past two years since the BLM under the Bush administration proposed, then backed away from, a plan to euthanize unadoptable wild horses in captivity.

Under the Obama administration, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar proposed buying land to create national preserves and sanctuaries in the East and Midwest as permanent homes for mustangs. Horse advocates have opposed Salazar's plan as a dressed-up version of the status quo combined with aggressive roundups they say would threaten the future of wild horse herds.

"The situation is unpatriotic," said Deanne Stillman, author of Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West. "What represents freedom more than wild horses? We are a country born in hoof sparks. … I do think most Americans are not happy about this stripping away of our heritage."

Celebrities including singers Willie Nelson and Sheryl Crow and former Playboy models Shane and Sia Barbi have tried to call attention to the issue.

"We must act now before the BLM has managed these magnificent animals into extinction," Nelson said.

Advocates say that trapping in winter threatens the horses' health because of cold temperatures and rugged terrain, and that the actions separate foals from mothers.

Emmons of the BLM said winter trapping is better because the animals are at lower elevations and can be captured in shorter distances with less stress.

ForTheWildOnes wrote: 1/1/2010 6:45:22 PM

Call for a moratorium now on all wild horse/burro roundups by BLM until Congress works with we, the people, to re-protect our wild horses/burros on their legal Western lands. We need an improved version of the original 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses & Burros Act before our herds are managed to extinction. Here’s why:

1) Our wild herds are NOT overpopulated, are NOT destroying the rangelands, are NOT in "excess" & are NOT starving as BLM claims. Compare 30-36K (independent sources say 15K) horses left on public lands to 1-4 million cattle, 950K elk, 780K pronghorn antelope, 70K bighorn sheep, tens of thousands of mule deer, etc., on the public lands. (Note, per BLM, a cow & calf are counted as ONE & a horse & foal are counted as TWO.) Or, compare BLM’s yearly 8.6M AUM's of forage allocated to cattle & only 397K AUM's of forage allocated to the wild horses/burros, a mere 4.6%. So, what is really overpopulated? What is really destroying the rangelands? The numbers don't lie.

2) BLM's Don Glenn recently said a wild horse needs 150 acres of semi-arid Western lands to graze/year. The original legal herd areas of 53M acres would support 353K horses; the BLM's illegal reduction to 32M acres presently would still support 213K horses. So, how can 30-36K be overpopulated?

3) BLM has already zeroed out over 100 herds. Was this even legal? Now, if only 30-36K horses remain in the wild & BLM plans to remove 10-12K/year for the next 3 years, that leaves zero on the range. If there’s only 15K on the range, they’ll be gone in just over a year. If that's not managing to extinction, I don't know what is. America, please wake up here!

4) Wild horses do NOT reproduce 20-27%/year & their population does NOT double every 4-5 years as BLM claims. The National Academy of Sciences' researched number is 10-15%/year. Independent calculations using BLM's own numbers confirm 13.8%/year average. BLM is over-estimating numbers to fast track removal of as many horses/burros as possible. Why? For the cattle (& yet, only 2-3% of total U.S. production!), big game & energy industries on public lands.

5) DOI is fast tracking energy development on OUR public lands. Getting rid of OUR wild herds FIRST makes it easy for industry to take over OUR lands without the NEPA requirements of extensive EIS's dealing with our wild herds. In the EIS's, they would have to legally address the significant impacts to our "protected" wild herds & would be required to fairly mitigate those impacts financially & environmentally. This is what DOI & the energy industries want to avoid to save time & potentially millions of dollars at our public lands’, wild herds’ & taxpayers’ expense.

6) BLM is charged by law to manage the public lands for "thriving natural ecological balance". Cattle are not natural or native to our Western lands, but our wild herds are. There's scientific evidence to prove that fact. They were re-introduced by the Spanish in the 15th century & are
direct descendants of horses that previously lived in N. America. Plus, the wild horses/burros are supposed to be protected by law no matter what label you put on them as "an integral part of the natural system of the public lands". The cattle are permitted on our public lands as a privilege, not a right. Our wild herds are designated legally to be on our public lands. So, what needs to go? The answer should be obvious.

7) How can a "thriving natural ecological balance" even be attained when the National & State Wildlife Services purposefully kill off thousands of predators/year (mountain lions, bears, wolves, bobcats, coyotes) to protect the cattle industry at taxpayers' expense of $5-8M/year?

8) We taxpayers have been reamed for decades. Grazing fees are still so low that we pay $125M/year for BLM to run that program, i.e. welfare cattle grazing (& yet, a $76B industry in 2008). We pay an additional $50M+/year for BLM to inhumanely roundup & imprison our wild horses/burros in concentration camps around the U.S., non-free, non-wild & sterilized to boot. Also, many can slip through the cracks & end up slaughtered in Mexico & Canada. Ranchers pay $16/year to graze a cow & calf on public lands, up from $14.76/yr in the 1960's! They would pay $156-360/yr/cow & calf to lease private lands. Taxpayers dole out $1,825/yr/horse for short-term holding facilities & $500/yr/horse for long-term holding facilities (ranches)! Is this what we taxpayers want or deserve? Our wild horses/burros have Western public lands allocated to them legally for FREE. That's where they need to stay.

We true wild horse/burro advocates have no financial gain in all our efforts. Ours is a labor of love that takes time, energy & personal funds to save our herds from extinction & to guarantee their important presence as wild & free roaming in the West for generations to come. Our intention comes from a moral obligation to honor & respect these indomitable animals, symbols of freedom, family, spirit & our Western heritage. Our intention is pure & right & what the majority of the American public want. For everyone else, it's all about lining pockets of the cattle, big game hunting & energy industries & the Congress, DOI, BLM, USFS & DOA employees--all at huge & unnecessary taxpayer expense.

There are solutions:

1) Reject the Salazar Plan to permanently relocate our wild herds to the Midwest & East in zoo-like preserves completely sterilized, non-free & non-wild. Why should the taxpayer dole out another $100-200M to buy land elsewhere + spend millions more for care yearly when we have millions of acres of BLM land in the West where the wild horses/burros have a legal right to be & where they have evolved & adapted for centuries? BLM manages about 256M acres, the cattle graze 160M of those + 52M acres USFS lands, & the horses/burros are now only allocated 32M acres & are far outnumbered by cattle there as noted above.

2) Create exclusive large sanctuaries on the herds' legal Western public lands utilizing "reserve design" without the multiple-use requirement, i.e., retire some of the welfare grazing allotments per Title 43 CFR 4710.5(a).

3) Raise AML's (Appropriate Management Levels) to a minimum of 75K wild horses in their legal Western public lands' sanctuaries, permanently allocating a minimum of 900K AUM's of forage to them. Manage large, genetically viable herds in these sanctuaries.

4) Develop & improve year-round water sources & be prepared to supplement feed on the range when necessary since the herds won't be able to freely roam outside sanctuary boundaries.

5) Return the "non-excess" 33K captive horses/burros to their legal Western public lands' sanctuaries (the stallions are already gelded & the mares could be treated with contraceptives).

6) Implement minor roundups for the adoption program & a minor sterilization program for population maintenance on the range if natural predators are not re-introduced.

7) Create eco-tourism opportunities to create jobs & keep those profits in the West.

Remember, the President, Congress, DOI/BLM & all other government work for US. WE must demand what WE want. Congress has to work with US, the American public, to re-protect our wild horses/burros. Then, the DOI/BLM has to follow the laws passed by Congress. Right now, Congress is only working with the DOI on behalf of the cattle, big game hunting & energy industries. This is surely a path to extinction of our herds.

America, demand solutions now from Congress before it's too late. Get educated; get active. For more info & how you can help, go to: www.thecloudfoundation.org; http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/issue.html;
http://www.idausa.org/campaigns/horses/index.htm l

http://www.blogher.com/wild-horse-roundup-stirs-emotion#comment-148056

A perspective from the Black Rock Desert

I am the director of the Friends of Black Rock High Rock and I live on the edge of the Black Rock Desert. From the so-called "horse advocate" side, I often hear anecdotal evidence of skewed BLM inventories & collusion with ranchers. There is a pervasive suggestion that habitat is being stolen from horses to give to cattle. This fits easily into a cynical wordview where access to land is prioritized solely to meet the needs of humans, and where moneyed interests (in this case, supposedly, ranchers) rule policy. While I generally don't reject that worldview, I want to point out some facts that disrupt this comfortable frame.

First, neither horses nor cattle are truly indigenous American animals. The horse advocates point to a species that died out at the end of the last ice age, over 10,000 years ago, when Nevada was mostly grassland and not the sparse sageland it is today. Cattle are only allowed to graze on pubic lands under tight restrictions for 3 months of the year, and their diet is largely supported by alfalfa that is grown on farms. Feral horse herds are taxing limited resources all 12 months of the year, and their aggressive behavior prevents wildlife like antelope and mule deer from gaining access to springs. So it's true that human livestock are disrupting wildlife-- those livestock are abandoned feral horses.

In 1971 an Act of Congress was created to protect wild horses and burros, and BLM's management is restricted by these policies-- policies which certainly reflect the worldview of the "advocates." It is illegal to slaughter horses in the US (although I understand some are sold abroad for this purpose), and roundups are conducted with an abundance of consideration for the well-being of the horses. No where in the policies related to horses and burros is "extinction" stated as a desired management goal, and suggestions otherwise are hyperbole. With the advent of the Industrial Age, horses are less and less valuable and useful to people. Many horses on the range today are abandoned by people who can no longer afford to care for them. In one case, friends of mine went out on their horses and came back to find 4 horses tied up to their trailer. They did the responsible thing and took them home, at considerable expense. Many people do not behave this way.

Supposedly the ranchers are fat cats getting rich on government subsidy, but the reason this is in the media is because of significant moneyed interests. All these Hollywood stars and T. Boone Pickens put together are quite wealthy, and very successful at promoting their views. I find it interesting in reviewing all of the information that neither side accepts the science and premises of the other, and there is deep distrust and strongly held emotional attachements to each perspective. It's true, I tend to understand the "rancher" side of the argument because of my proximity to those perspectives. I think everyone agrees that healthy wild horse populations are desired in the West, it is much more difficult for everyone to agree on just what that means, or how we should act for the benefit of all life— man and animal, wild and domestic. The Friends of Black Rock High Rock does not take one position or the other on this issue, but instead encourages civil discourse among all interested groups and objective study to evolve satisfactory solutions.

We have a pretty good collection of articles on the issue on our website, including an opinion piece from our board President.

Matthew Ebert, Executive Director, FBRHR

http://zekesaysso.blogspot.com/2009/12/wild-horses-as-metaphor-for-freed...