by Steven Long, editor of Horseback Magazine
Sen. Mary Landrieu, a friend to Wild Horses
The United States Senate has passed a tough new bill that orders the Bureau of Land Management to institute a new plan for its management of wild horses. The legislation was introduced by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D), La.
“Sen. Landrieu continued her efforts to protect wild horses by championing bill language to prohibit the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from using taxpayer dollars for the destruction of healthy, un-adopted horses and burros,” the senator’s office said in a press release.
The agency has one year to comply should the House pass a simalar bill. It would then go to the White House.
“At Sen. Landrieu’s urging, the Senate directed BLM to develop a new comprehensive long-term plan for wild horse populations by September 30, 2010.”
The language was inserted in a Department of Interior appropriations bill passed Thursday.
“Congress must work toward the goal of ending the slaughter of healthy wild horses,” Sen. Landrieu said. “At a time when there are so many demands on the federal purse, spending taxpayer money on this inhumane practice is inexcusable. There is simply no reason for the federal government to destroy these animals if viable alternatives exist.”
“Sen. Landrieu also supported language that encouraged all federal agencies that use horses to acquire a wild horse from the Bureau of Land Management prior to seeking another supplier. In addition, the Committee supports BLM developing an expedited process for providing wild horses to local and state police forces,” the release continued.
Landrieu took to the floor of the Senate in late September to blast the BLM in a brief speech. She also urged passage of the Restore Our American Mustang Act (ROAM) which would restore protections removed in the dead of night when former Sen. Conrad Burns (R), Montana, attached a rider to an appropriations bill that nobody read at the 11th hour before passage. The bill will repeal Burns’ legislative trickery and bring full compliance back to the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.
The House passed ROAM by a vote of 239 – 185.
In an exclusive interview with Horseback Magazine, Burns said he enacted the legislation at the behest of the now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, (D), Nevada who is facing a tough re-election campaign.
Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
there seems to be confusion about what was actually passed…..it’s my understanding that ROAM was NOT passed, that this was a totally different bill!
if ROAM has NOT been passed, we need to get back to calling, writing, faxing, & emaling!!! can you clarify?????
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You are correct, this insertion in the Senate bill is not ROAM, which was passed by Congress. The calls, writing and faxes need to continue…but the kind Senator from Louisiana has got the BLM’s attention and we need to stay focused on the issue!!
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Google – Omnibus Public Land Management Act horses, scroll the page you will see simply titled Bureau of Land Management – oen and you will find Senate Report 111-038 – DOI Appropriations Bill, 2010 :
The Committee recognizes the need for a substantial budget increase of $26,873,000 for the wild horse and burro program in 2010 and provides the requested level of $67,486,000. However, the Committee notes that the costs for gathering and holding equines to control populations on public lands have risen beyond sustainable levels. The Committee directs the Bureau to (1) consider private proposals for long-term care of wild horses and burros; (2) create a bidding process among such proposals, and (3) prepare and publish a new comprehensive long-term plan and policy for management of wild horses and burros that involves consideration and development of proposals by non-governmental entities, by September 30, 2010.
The Committee encourages all Federal agencies that need and use horses to fulfill their responsibilities to first seek to acquire a wild horse from the Bureau of Land Management, and, prior to seeking another supplier for usable horses, document why the Bureau cannot meet the needs of the inquiring Federal agency. The Bureau is also encouraged to develop an expedited process for providing wild horses to local and State police forces.
Bad news – (did’nt copy Title – but its on-line – From section 1501 – 1508 of Omnibus Pulbic Land Management Act of 2009 signed by Obama 3-30-09
(C) EXISTING ACTIVITIES- Consistent with section 4(d)(1) of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1133(d)(1)) and in accordance with appropriate policies, such as those established in Appendix B of House Report 101-405, the State may use aircraft (including helicopters) in the wilderness areas designated by this subtitle to survey, capture, transplant, monitor, and provide water for wildlife populations, including bighorn sheep, and feral stock, feral horses, and feral burros.
Good news – Also worth looking into Title VIII, Subtitle D, Section 7302 – may be grant money available to help the horses????
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Those of us that are not able to attend the adoptions today or the meetings next week –
1. I’m going to study the Omnibus Public Land Management Act and the Senate BLM 2010 Approriations Bill more closely for anything else that might help.
2. I’m going to GovTracks and try to post – HR ROAM has alot of posts, and a long list of supporters, not one against. Haven’t checked S ROAM, but last time I checked there were NO SUPPORTERS. This isn’t going to look good on Tuesday – If you have contacts try to get the House supporters also listed on the Senate bill in Gov Tracks.
3. Keep going to PBS Home (not directly to Cloud), then search Cloud and open every single one – we’ve slipped from page 2 to page 4. Every day that you open these they get moved up by the number of openings. We had over 10,000 petition signers, think of 10,000 PBS openings every day!
4. I’m going to also keep going to PBS and YouTube and every single even possibly remotely related subject I’m trying to find some relationship to Cloud, and posting there too.
What else can we all do this weekend through Tuesday? Keep up the calls, letters, faxes, e-mails – anything else?
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Dear Mary, Keep up the good, caring help you are engaged in. As a liberal free thinker and prior horse owner for 34 years, the only positive feelings I came away with when the good old boy, Ronnie Reagan said “There is nothing like the outside of a horse, for the inside of a man.” You have my financial support when I get my submersible hydrokinetic turbines off the drawing board and in production off South Florida in the Gulf Stream Current. It is 4 to 10 times as effective as either wind or solar. Respectfully, Rowen Negrin
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New Cloud Program Airs on Sunday & Roundups Continue
The BLM plans to remove over 35% (12,000+) of our federally-protected wild horses and burros this year & this must stop- roundup schedule here
1. Please watch the most recent report from CBS’s George Knapp, this short news story outlines how BLM has moved from over-management to the clear destruction of our wild herds. Click here to watch the one-hour report “Stampede to Oblivion”
2. Continue writing, calling and demanding a stop to these roundups (click here for your government & media contacts). An immediate moratorium is needed if we are to protect wild horses & burros into the future. Already less than a quarter of herds are genetically viable & 20+ million acres have been taken away from them since 1971. The BLM is acting illegally and clearly not following the Wild Horse & Burro Act- they must be stopped- these massive roundups are a cruel waste of these horses lives on the taxpayers’ dime. In Defense of Animals has an easy to use mailing form and great sample letter, click here.
3. Sign the Save Our Wild Horses Resolution petition & join the Cloud Foundation mailing list to stay informed (join us on Facebook & Twitter & check our Blog for frequent updates too).
4. Tune into your local PBS station on Sunday evening to watch “Cloud: Challenge of the Stallions”. Check your local listings for times and join Ginger for a live chat after the show online at PBS.org. Click here for more information.
5. Please continue to support the Cloud Foundation through your donations and your purchases from the Cloud store (the new Cloud book & Breyer models just arrived- donate for your signed books and models here).
6. Please share this with friends and family– wild horses were saved from destruction before, we have to do it again. Check the Cloud Foundation site soon for our new Kid’s page. Wild Horse Annie and thousands of children saved these horses before… let’s do it again, now!
Thank you for all of your incredible support and action. We hope you enjoy this next documentary and please let it inspire you to continued action on behalf of all our wild horses & burros.
Thank you Senator Mary Landrieu for putting the word out and your support
Our mailing address is:
The Cloud Foundation 107 South 7th St Colorado Springs, CO 80905
Our telephone:
719-633-3842
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Could this be why those mu-flawns dressed as phone repairmen broke into her office this week?
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Sept/2010 is nearing, and I don’t see no new plan, but the same old story, in an accelerated fashion. Does the BLM trying to exterminate the Wild Horses, so they would not need a “new Plan”??!
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The Senate version of the ROAM Act lacks a sponsor. It’s original sponsor, Senator Robert Byrd (D) West Viirginia became ill and died. It has no other sponsors. It has read twice in committee. I think the best thing we could do is to get our Senators to sign on as sponsors of this bill. I do not think that a lack of supporters of the bill necessarily means that no one supports it; it is just that there is no one to lead the charge. With Harry Reid as Senate Majority leader, I don’t think it has much chance unless we can persuade our Senators to sign on as Sponsors. Write, call, email, but at least ask your Senator to sponsor or co-sponsor the ROAM Act, SB 1579.
There was an article in East Coast papers last week about the USFWS’s plans to reduce the unprotected wild Spanish mustangs of Corolla, NC from 115 to 60. These horses are a successful example of how ecotourism revolving around wild horses boosts business and the local economy. They are cared for by a local non-profit, but I gathered from the article, that all or part of their grazing area is managed by the USFWS. The USFWS regards the horses as pests and says it needs to reduce the herd numbers to protect birds. Perhaps some eyes will open here in the East about the insidious nature of the Salazar’s wild horse holocaust.
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