Keith Norris

by Bonnie Kohleriter

A “Summit,” a conference called the National Wild Horse and Burro Management Summit, is being held in Salt Lake City August 22-24. 2017.

The “Summit” is by “invitation only” which is a cue that this is a conference with orchestrated propaganda to secure a desired outcome.

• Keith Norris will “frame the issues.” Keith Norris is the Chair of the National Horse and Burro Rangeland Management Coalition and Director of Wildlife Policies and Programs within the Wildlife Society.  The Coalition is made up of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the NRA, the Masters of Foxhounds Association, the National Association of Conservation Districts (Ms. Callie Hendrickson’s affiliation, our slaughter queen advocate), Elk, Mule Deer, and Safari Club groups, as well as The Wildlife Society.
• Keith Norris’s position is that the wild horses and burros should be brought to the AMLs, which means to their allowable numbers as stated in the Range Management Plans.  He doesn’t care that if only 17,000 to 26,000 wild horses and burros can be on our public lands, that then their existence as a species will be threatened moving toward extinction.  He doesn’t care that of the 168 wild horse and burro herds, 80%, if brought to AML, would be genetically unsustainable as stand alone herds.  Keith Norris thinks that any horse above the arbitrary numbers of 17,000 to 26,000 should be euthanized.
• Keith Norris shows up at National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meetings, meeting after meeting.  He speaks frequently using the word “science” as if that word give validity to his opinions and desires.  The problem is, his Coalition and his Wildlife Society, who seem to like to throw around that word, science, don’t seem to show the principles, methodologies, or proofs behind what is said that show real science.  Noted in his “Summit” workgroups this week, he uses the word science again, ‘On the Range Science and Management’ and ‘Off the Range Science and Management.’
• Though Keith Norris faithfully shows up at as a spokesperson for The Wildlife Society, where are the groups such as Wild Earth Guardians, The Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Fund, The Wilderness Society, and more, who are not attached to the welfare public lands ranchers on our public lands as are Keith Norris’s groups?

A few questions may be asked of Keith Norris’ group.  Are our public lands not to be used for multiple use?  So why are 3 million livestock on our public lands when only 17,000 to 26,000 wild horses and burros can be on our public lands, which is questionably a non-sustainable number, which is against FLPMA?

So why are millions of mule deer, 1 million elk, 750,000 pronghorn antelope allowed on our public lands when only 17,000 to 26,000 wild horses and burros are allowed?  So why doesn’t the Coalition and Wildlife Society work on adjusting the numbers of livestock and wildlife to preserve our range lands?  It seems the coalition of ranchers and the wildlife hunters would be experts in offering management decisions on livestock and wildlife, but from where comes their expertise on managing wild horses and burros?

Is Rick Denvir, a mainline speaker at this Summit conference, an expert on management strategies and approaches for wild horses and burros, when he has spent his livelihood on managing wildlife in a Mormon livestock ranch?