by the Cloud Foundation
Updated Roundup Schedules
Twin Peaks Wild Horses prior to stampede ~ photo by R.T. Fitch
This winter BLM plans to roundup 9107 wild horses and burros and remove 6,244 of them. After that they plan to roundup 5,548 wild horses in the summer and remove 4,502 of them- total of 14,655 rounded up and 10,746 removed for fiscal year 2010. On top of the $75 million BLM is asking Congress for (basically half to roundup these horses and half to feed what will be over 45,000 in government holding, BLM is requesting $42.5 million to purchase private land in the East to house captured, sterilized and separated wild horses. This is part of the absurd “Salazar Plan” that has been met with close to zero public approval and is likely not within the legal abilities of BLM. Over 24 million acres have been taken away from wild horses and burros over the past 40 years and those lands must be returned to the horses and the horses released back onto these “zeroed out” herd areas. Call on Congress to Rein in BLM Spending! TAKE ACTION HERE.
Excel file: Current Roundup Schedule 2010-2011 (11.2.10)
PDF file: 2010-2011roundups_schedule_11.2.10.PDF
past:
Excel file: 2009-2010 Roundups Finished_(11.2.10)
PDF file: 2009-2010roundups_11.2.10.pdf
Related Articles
- Salazar and BLM Sued for Contempt of Court in West Douglas Wild Horse Case (prweb.com)
- Groups sue to stop Colo. wild horse roundup (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
I wish we could herd these horses to private ranches. They are ours. This is pure insanity.
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No private ranches. Free on the land that belongs to them as much as us, just as the law states.
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Agreed, we need to stop this on the front end and insist on fair and equitable (correct?) management of our public lands. To date, I don’t believe that has ever occurred.
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You misunderstood. Private Ranch in form of an eco-sanctuary, where the horses are protected and can live their lives in their original habitat. Haven’t we tried to get back the public lands according to the law ? I am not sure how that will ever happen, with cattle permittees not being phased out. So what options do we have ? Create our own territory – so they are save, in form and shape as it would be found where they are now. The most ideal would be if they got their lands back, but that won’t happen in my lifetime I guess.
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You have a plan on how to do this?? It seems we are not able to pull this off. Is it not the horses we are trying to save?? If you can save the horses and give them a viable future but it is without those particular lands, would you gamble their lives for the lands because you think the two have to be together?? No lands no wild horses?? You are getting this now! Here it comes! Is that not what we all are doing?
Save wild horses, indeed! In Deed. Karen Sussman did not allow this, why should we?
mar
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They need to stay on Public Land in numbers that were in 1971.
There has been debate on ROAM.
There is only one way to decide for oneself and that is to lay ROAM side by side with the 1971 amended law and see – which I have done and put in a few hours and I think we need to be hitting the lame duck Congress to get ROAM passed. Now – the devil is always in the details – so for debate please if ROAM is bad be detailed in objection.
Here is ROAM as of August 2009 – S. 1579 – nothing newer I guess? Be sure to read the tab marked All Information and Summaries as well as the bill. I could not get on Gov Tracks for some reason, but they usually have a Pro and Con section – will try again later.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:s.01579:
and here is the current1971 law:
http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/news/resources/216-whbact
Here are some summary points from ROAM:
“SUMMARY AS OF:
8/5/2009–Introduced.
Restore Our American Mustangs Act – Amends the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act to revise provisions concerning the management of such animals.
Requires the Secretary of the Interior (for Bureau of Land Management [BLM] administered lands) or the Secretary of Agriculture (for Forest Service administered lands) to: (1) ensure that acreage available for wild and free-roaming horses and burros is at least equal to the acreage where they were found in 1971; (2) update the inventory of such horses and burros annually and make it publicly available on the BLM website every two years; (3) take specified actions to manage such horses and burros and to achieve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance on lands where such horses and burros are found; (4) identify new rangelands, arrange for supervised protection on private lands, and establish sanctuaries or exclusive use areas for such horses and burros; (5) report to specified congressional committees on the effects of new ranges, sanctuaries, and exclusive use areas on rangeland health, riparian zones, water quality, soil compaction, seed bed disturbance, native wildlife, and endangered or threatened species; (6) research, develop, and implement enhanced fertility control for mares, stallions, or both; (7) exhaust all practicable options of maintaining a thriving natural ecological balance on the range before removing horses and burros; (8) take specified actions to promote the adoption program; (9) temporarily remove horses or burros from the range if their immediate health or safety is threatened; (10) remove horses and burros determined to be a threat to the health and well-being of native plant or wildlife species; and (11) provide specified public information on animal removals, range changes, and treatment.
Revokes provisions that allow the Secretaries to destroy: (1) old, sick, or lame animals; and (2) excess horses and burros for which an adoption demand does not exist.
Requires adopters of such horses and burros to affirm that adopted animals and their remains will not be sold or transferred for consideration for processing into commercial products. Prohibits: (1) containing such horses and burros in corrals or short-term holding facilities for more than six months while awaiting disposition; or (2) destroying such horses or burros unless the Secretaries determine that the horses or burros are terminally ill or fatally injured.
Removes the limitation on the number of titles to horse and burros that may be transferred to qualified individuals.
Expands the membership of the advisory board on the management and protection of such horses and burros.
Applies criminal penalties to any person who transports a live or deceased horse or burro for processing into commercial products.
Lifts a restriction on the authority of the Secretary to relocate such horses and burros to public lands where they did not exist at the passage of such Act.
Sets forth new reporting requirements on the management of such horses and burros.”
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Yet, we all want to save them on their own land are we willing to allow this land to be the death knell to the last wild free roaming horses and burros? Why are we accepting this and allowing them to be cut and pzp’d?? Their land is what is killing them and is the cause for the removals and the BLM mission to steal their future by castration and PZP.
What about saving the viability of these wild ones so there will be a future?
This is War and it must be won and the horses allowed to have a future no matter where it is… a future with foals and not some glorified sanctuary where they will die off and be gone forever.
Look at what Karen Sussman did. She saved whole herds. Are we not considering this at all????? mar
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RT why are you censoring me? I have asked you off blog to discuss this and tell me why you are not liking what I have said…
Are the lands and the horses so inseparable we would lose the horses because we can’t keep them on their lands??
Karen Sussman did not allow this and she saved herds because their lands were being taken. That is what is happening now… their lands are being taken. They need to stay in the West and they need us to save all who are now threatened by BLM cutting and PZP. mar
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ps private ranchers are the very ones who contact the blm to conduct a roundup…but I know what you mean; some boundaries have to exist for the mustangs own protection; on millions of acres!
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It’s time to round up the BLM with the helicopters and run their butts across the desert straight to their prison cells.
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This gets more disgusting the more I read of the BLM and their coherts. These horses are ours and we should be dictating what happens to them — to be put back on the ranges where they belong and for us to demand that they get supplement food and water when need be. This Salazar is a JOKE. He must be mentally deranged for what he is doing. And, to think that Nevada citizens think he was so great – just listen to one of the elected officials elected this week when he referred to Salazar. Are all these people NUTS? I’m beginning to believe that they must be to sanction what is going on here.
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They will not do this. We will take it to the streets, to the hills, to the White House!
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We had better! mar
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There is only one answer at this point. It is to not stop just one round up. We must stop the entire 2011 schedule. This is government sanctioned and planned extinction of the wild horses. Time is running out. There just aren’t that many left to justify these numbers.
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They are now saying there are 40,000 wild free roaming horses! That is a joke. This next round will wipe them out!
Stop BLM lies and removals. Save wild horses, in deed. mar
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Funny how their population figures they state never go down (and now seem to be increasing!). They have been stating for several years now that there are 38,600 wild horses left after annual removals of 10,000 one year, 12,000 this year etc. This would put their reproduction rate at close to 60% in order to stay at the same population figure they state.
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It’s a dumb spider web for these horses. The White House?!
Obama, PLEASE! This is YOUR administration, your appointee! This destruction is not happening without YOUR knowledge!!!
Give it a break!!!
OMG!!
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OK, OK…..!
We’ve got to have a concert for the horses!
A concert for Help and to generate awareness of the destruction of our Nation’s wild horses and little burros. (and our public lands)
Can anyone help with how to go about doing this?
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Willie Nelson did it for Farm Aid.. Maybe he’d be willing again?
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Maybe Willie Nelson would advise one of us how to go about arranging a national television event. Or if anyone knew someone or someWAY to ask George Clooney how to get a national telethon in the works. Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell are great friends and defenders of animals, they would probably even be easier to get a message to then Clooney. But things are getting worse for our beloved horses and little burros. Yes, one herd just got a reprieve, but for how long? I feel the need to start getting LOUDER at protests. We always are saying this..WE HAVE GOT TO DO SOMETHING REAL QUICK LIKE!
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This is something that I’ve been wondering for a LONG while now..
Didn’t we (The horses), have Sheryl Crow, Willie, Viggo Mortensen, Darryl Hannah, Wendy Malik and probably others I can’t remember now; speaking up and out for them when they were making Disappointment Valley?
WHERE ARE THESE HIGHLY PUBLIC PEOPLE NOW??
I haven’t heard anything from them, like if they are helping behind the scenes or what? If they are, it’s awesome but NOT hearing them or seeing them NOW, they really aren’t doing much at all!? Doing the movie was great but we NEED them to ‘follow through’ and be OUT THERE! Not JUST promoting the film, but helping us get Our Wild Ones voices heard.
I’m really frustrated by this.
Sorry, I know this is sort of ‘off topic’ cause we were talking about Public Land and sanctuaries.. etc… But it’s really been buggin’ me for the last couple months.
I think it’s an AWESOME idea savewildhorses… Like you though, I don’t have the first clue as to how to get something like this off the ground…
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I can.
If someone will arrange for the place, give me a range for possible dates, and establish specific uses for the funds raised that I can agree to, I believe that I can gather a quite impressive roster of artists to perform at said concert. (Many years a manager of top tier celebrities in Nashville, et al.)
This is no small feat. Organizing a concert is a massive undertaking, is best set outdoors (and winter’s coming), and requires Herculean efforts on the parts of many, many people.
If you (someone out there) can handle those logistics, I can bring the talent to the cause.
OR- in lieu of that massive and timely undertaking, why don’t we all get busy asking everyone we can find, to give us just $1.00. With $100,000.00, I (and a team to be organized from the most versed advocates in America) can compose a “Letter To America” that will include the needed ‘heart’, information, and pictures for proof- AND solutions, and have it run in a FULL PAGE AD in PRIME SPACE in the SUNDAY issue of the NEW YORK TIMES. (With lots of advance work done to alert critical media principals, we can, by the following Monday, have all of America talking about the wild horse crisis. We can get camera time on Good Morning America, Today, CNN, FOX, Larry Kind, Rose, etc etc etc. and MAYBE Oprah (I haven’t spoken to her in years.)
I have been very concerned for some time that there are so many groups, organizations, and individuals who care deeply about this deadly crisis, but until ALL pull together in a UNITED front, with the Power in Numbers formula applied, I don’t believe that there’s any way to stop BLM from their obsession for killing off America’s last mustangs.
I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s figured out that BLM’s next move is to set a schedule to euthanize the penned horses claiming that they’re suffering without shelter in the winter weather. There’s no chance ‘tween hell and high water’ that BLM is going to feed tens of thousands of horses in feedlots for the next 30 years! Watch for it.
There is not a minute to spare!
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BTW, I also have a plan that will allow the horses to stay on their lands, have enough to eat in areas where it’s questionable, put people to work doing what they love, and save the government tens of millions of dollars a year. And, it’s all done within the Dept of the Interior with the tools they already hold in their hands- and I don’t mean guns, ropes, whips, or helicopters. I mean existing programs. Sadly, there’s not a soul to tell that plan to, as there seem to be no humans employeed at BLM.
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Maybe Madeleine would have an idea on location? and may have some contacts in this area?
Perhaps someplace around the Houston area, where the temperatures may still on the warm side?
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Elaine, I meant to say how very happy I am to hear that you have the knowledge and ways to pull something like this together!!!
I have wanted to write to Paul McCartney and ask him to help, but did not know how to address the money part of it.
If tickets are to be sold, funds could be given Grass Roots Horse for legal expenses, The Cloud Foundation for the Freedom Fund horses, to purchase land since the Government will not allow the horses to stay on their designated ranges, to Habitat for Horses, etc., but most of all a concert of this magnitude would be to build more awareness and spotlight the need for an immediate moratorium on the roundups and the release of captive horses carefully, without further incidences of injuries and deaths, back to their homelands!
If we could have a huge concert with many, many artists, a video could be filmed for sales and distribution to further this effort.
Maybe an organization of folks needs to be established from different other organizations for this purpose. R.T., Laura, Ginger, James, Willie, Madeleine, John, Jerry, etc. who could manage and distribute funds for the main organization representing all the other organizations and people all over the country, who need this destruction to end and lawful protection be given to our country’s vanishing wild horses and burros?
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Elaine–my vote is for the publicity generated by a New York Times ad–Washington Post–California —
Concerts are great but time is of the essence—
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Elaine, RT, I’ve been pushing for unity now for weeks to no avail. It’s imperative!
and without it we may as well be loading the trucks ourselves.
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Something to think about and possibly related to our horses loss of freedom and life:
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Hi Jill:
thanks alot for the video: Gaslands (in the badlands); i heard the author’s interview on NPR and i wanted to see the trailer; I heard the part about how you can light a flame from your water faucet!
eeeriee…huh ? what do we do with all this Gas? too much energy!
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Thank you everyone who loves freedom and life:
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salt wells, released 41 mares, 39 were PZP, what are the odds the 2 released were too old to get in foal? While people are focused on getting sterile sanctuarys set up to take wild horses..for all the goodness and love in your heart, you are carring out the same policys of the BLM…a home for sterile horses..We have to stop the BLM by demanding that the WHs be restored their rightful lands, validate their claims with proven science and methadology for accurate counts, take them to court using their ‘own” administration rules of “multiple use” and force them to either apply that and put wild horses on cattle allotments and if not-remove cattle from the HMAs..simple cut and dried legal argument. the addition of land will allow for new AMLs to be issued, that will reincorporate the removed horses back onto the public lands. In the meantime we need to start saving these stallions with bands so we have some genetics to return. There is a mass sterilization going on in these horses being returned..so there will be NO reproduction. no herds, no genetics..Sheldon is doing an experimentation…vasectomies of stallions..so you will never know stallions have been reduced to geldings..to all outward appearences..they will appear stallions..wake up people!
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Sandra, Yes, this is worth pursuing. It is a way to have on record we have reestablished legal lands for the wild ones. Meanwhile we have wild ones losing their
ability to reproduce. Dead end. We need to intercede when the roundups occur and get those horses to safety away from the vets and contractors.
One can qualify for a grazing allotment by leasing land. This is a first step to what Sandra is suggesting and to what I am saying; save the viable wild horses. mar
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Amen, sister!
(Read my comments, above. Real and possible, if there were ears to hear.)
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Elaine, love your ideas. Celebrities will help our cause go a lot further. A concert would be great; get a new audience and promote our cause between numbers as their own.
Can we also get a few interested celebrities more educated and paired up with a well spoken advocate to go the talk show circuit? Laura is great, but won’t get listened to alone like she would sitting next to a celeb expanding on “their” cause. This is the way to get the totally uninformed public on our side.
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If R.T. would represent us on a talk show circuit, he would be perfect!
Articulate, knowledgeable, he has a wonderful voice, he is gentle, but strong and exceedingly committed. He would be a great representative for us all and his words would be heard!
Wow, what a fantastic idea! Wonder if he would go for it? Wonder if his wonderful wife and loving creatures at home could part with him this long?
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I do support all the efforts being made for the wild herds. I am not satisfied with the fate of LTH horses, sanctuary or not. I am hoping for legal steps and success in court.
The fact still remains we need to become a far more cohesive group and go after the solutions we are lining up just as those have done in court. There IS NO time. Not anymore. We lose wild horses daily to the machinery of removals.
mar
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So what we are saying is a little scary but so are the removals and the deaths and the gelding and the promised use of PZP-22.
I do not know that any famous personality can come forward and save the day. That is like saying you do not think we can do this. How can you put that pressure onto one person?
mar
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MANY famous personalities and not so famous personalities, joining together to help Fight for Freedom!
Force in numbers, advertising, exposure, additional support from, Caroline Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, President Clinton and others who work behind the scenes. Can we get Bill Gates involved?! I bet he would help too!!
A huge concert could attract much attention depending on how it’s promoted.
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First, I agree that the horses and the land are inter-related. We must save the horses, and we must save our land.
Second, we must get a moratorium on all round-ups by whatever means necessary that are legal, moral, and ethical.
Third, I believe that blaming Ken Salazar for all of this is a misreading the dynamic at work. Based on my research, I strongly believe that the Secretary is merely a minion for the President. The President wants to be known as a great President like he believes Lincoln and FDR were. In his mind, he has brought us health care, so part of his legacy will be known as Obamacare. Next he wants to be the Green Energy Genius President, so he wants the horses off the land, so he can turn the West into Wind Farms, Solar Energy Panneled Plains, Geothermal Networks. He also wants to mine the very valuable rare elements from the land that are used in chip technology. Furthermore, he would like to explore and exploit the land for oil and natural gas resources. There was 41 billion dollars in the stimulus package for this which is why there is the big rush about now. It is the President’s agenda that is driving this, and the Secretary is only to happy to obllige.
The reason I say the land and the horses are intermarried is because if the horses go, the government will take the land, and it will be leased to national and international companies with few ties to the West. The result of this transformation will be the polluton of the water system both surface and sub-surface systems. The byproducts from almost all forms of mining are extremely toxic. Some types of mining such as mining for natural gas can end up raising the water temperatures of rivers and streams killing the fish and other species. We are talkling some serious environmental issues.
I believe we need a four pronged approach to this attacking the removal of horses from their lands in court, legislatively, through the media, and through other means of public awareness.
My congressional represenative has an office in the city where I live. I am meeting with him next week face to face. I will have some downloaded documents, some talking points, and some pictures of the mustangs that I have known through equine rescue.
My concern is to stop the round-ups now, and I want information from my representative about how this can be accomplished. Furthermore, I want to let him know why the round-ups must stop now. Nothing may come of this meeting—that is not my hope, but it is a possibility. But it might open the door to another conversation, and then another.
The President’s lack of first hand experience traveling the West as a private citizen or ever having a relationship with a horse or living on a farm, may make him easy work for the Secretary, but make no mistake. Salazar is carrying out the President’s agenda, and that is why he is still there. He should have been fired after his failure to do due diligence in the Gulf or for altering the conclusions drawn by seven scientists who independently and voluntarily peer-reviewed the administration’s initial findings on the Deep Water Horizon disaster. That is definitely a violaltion of scientific integrity, not to speak of personal integrity. There are big stakes and big, over-sized egos involved here. The arrogance of one man deciding that he has the right to destroy America’s wild horses should drive us all into the streets.
This arrogance and failure to listen did drive us into the voting booth, and for the first time in over 100 years, this state changed parties in both chambers of the legislature. Our disgust and unrest is palpable.
If it were possible to use our resources to buy up land and adopt these horses to sanctuaries we would save a few more horses in the short run perhaps, but we won’t have enough left to fight the fight that must be fought for the horses and for us. We, the horses, and the land are all part of the same story.
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Christie–you have expressed my thoughts exactly—this is all a part of the energy program to “jump start” the economy. Please let us know how your meeting goes and give us a list of your talking points. Since reduction of spending seems to be the issue of this past election I hope we all contact the House and Senate Appropriations Committee links as listed above and let them know that we do not want these needless roundups funded but please be very careful to add that the captive horses in long term holding needed to be included in the budget—just stop the roundups!
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I support all efforts. I wish you could say the same. The horses can live on wild and free one day even if their designated land is swallowed up. Karen Sussman has shown us it can be done. There are those of us willing to do the work for the rest of our lives.
It is a little less romantic and glamourous as concerts. Arlene is having concerts already to raise money to keep up the fight. Don’t forget the fight! Don’t forget the wild herds and the foals we should be saving NOW! mar
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Mar, no one is stopping that action. If that is the solution that your heart drives you towards then do it. Maybe Karen Sussman or you or others can take all 40,000 in holding. I can’t take even one or have one penny to go to help any rescue operation.
A moretorium is what is needed and eventually public funded sanctuaries put in place such as New Mexico is doing. I think what New Mexico is doing is what you are advocating – is that correct?
Or are you proposing removing all/most/a few horses fully reproductive from the Public Lands and somehow supporting them all on private property? Besides the initial cost of land and roundup where is the safety net to assure ongoing financial ability to care for them? And if I had money to give to Private Property sanctuaries I would want to be able to see the horses – would that be guaranteed?
I understand the stress and passion to save them right now. But even to get them to private property still requires roundups. I understand the fear that BLM is removing all the horses. But I just don’t see that happening, not in any immediacy – only where they have zeroed out I believe is for energy projects (and lets stay real on this – we need the energy independence and renewable energy and that will come by and large from Public Lands – or turn off all computers and all elecricity right now, and stop driving anywhere, no more shipping, etc.). Using the same methods BLM is using on wild horses, but in overdrive, are being used in Pt. Reyes, CA to eradicate non-native white deer, but even more PZP, and a much smaller number of animals, and they estimate it will be 2025 before that is done. Besdies this is a cash cow for BLM Cattoor and Cook. They are removing to a level just enough to spur over breeding – the best constraceptive is only good for 2 years and roundups are scheduled every 5 years or more. Skewing sex ratios they know causes chaos that results in over breeding. BLM knows all these things – don’t let their stupid demeanor fool you. Other contraceptives are at least 6 years away from production.
Others see other solutions that their heart drives them towards. Number 1 is to stop the roundups and skewing sex and age ratios on the range (I’m undecided yet on contraception – still studying – to date does not seem to be working well on the free range – probably ok in rescues), stop sale authority, get back their righful ranges legally so that cannot be tampered with again, and do a better adoptoin program. My preferred place for the horses is to designate the Public Lands where they resided in 1971 as the Sanctuaries funded at a fraction of the current spending levels. ROAM does all that.
The Tea Party should be held to their promises and welfare ranching is the perfect place for them to start – pound away at them unrelentlessly on this. Doing that one thing alone would strip, in my opinion, the whole of the roundup scam.
We have to change the law like Wild Horse Annie did – then be ever vigilant to keep it the way it needs to be. A “Society” can do that.
Form a “Society” that raises money and volunteer manpower to watch dog the law, maintian lobbyiests, figuratively adopt herds on the range, get the public out to the range and do range improvements, record horses locations and movements, check water, check the range conditions, etc, etc. Base it somewhat on Boy Scout badges/Park stamps – maybe Audobon even does something like this with birds – make it interactive and competative – that will bring in money and create an intimacy between the public and the horses. I think such a Society could steam roll right over BLM – Audobon did it for birds and has been sustainable and weathered many recessions.
I would throw the name Velma Johnson Society into the hat. Of course all these things need “seed” money, “start up” money – such a society would need a trust of some sort. That is always the catch – money. Willie Nelson, Carrie Underwood amonst others must have the abiltiy to pull off something like this? Produce a movie where they do the soundtrack – proceeds to this society? There must be a way.
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NO! This is where we all disconnect! #1 are the horses coming off these ranges, injured, removed from family, Processed; gelding and PZP, older horses to sale authority and then the few to adoption. This represents a Herd Destroyed! This represents LOSS of our wild horses. Karen Sussman specializes in managing wild herds she has rescued. They do reproduce. She does use the 1 year pzp. She leases land. She saved whole herds.
Are we saving Our Horses?? Can you tell me that you are even considering saving any horses except those left on their ranges?? Why are you leaving out the recent victims?
I support al efforts to save wild horses still on their ranges but they are not the only viable animals and if we act quickly we save those coming off the ranges today. If you want to try, that is.
By the time you have a concert the state of the suits will be known and who knows where we will stand. If you have a big successful concert and make lots of money where will you be using it?? Things will be worse by Spring. Not better. They are about to get worse this winter. We are bleeding wild horses into the nether world of failed adoptions, sale authority/slaughter and LTH.
If you all insist that you will only fight for the horses on the range you are seemingly condemning one herd after another to oblivion. IF you stop the roundups you may save them. IF. mar
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Obama may well be a one-term President. Jimmy Carter was another Washington outsider with good ideas, but little Congressional support to get them implemented. Solar and alternative energy, moving toward universal healthcare, reducing dependence on foreign oil by requiring higher vehicle mileage (and lowering speed limits … which WORKED!) – we could have been much further along, but, as with Obama, the programs he put forth threatened “the powers that be”.
Now Obama is talking common ground and compromise, but the only way anything will get done is if he abandons “HOPE” and totally caves to the opposition. The rape of our public lands will be “fast tracked” as never before. Every president is concerned with his (wish I could say his or HER) legacy. The only way Obama can possibly save his legacy is to claim he was the Presidental “dog” wagging the Congressional “tail” and let history be the judge.
BTW: John Stewart did a good interview with President Carter last week, and Steven Colbert spoke with Doris Kearns Goodwin. Both had some advice for Obama and are well worth watching if you can find them online.
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Linda thank you – good points. I would like to expand. First Obama is not the only one bowing his head right now – the Republicans have made same admissions – that losing their incumbants to Tea Party candidates has been a wake up call for them also. For those of us that are behind the change we wanted when Obama took office I say chin up! These are points I have come to belive from what some analysts are saying: Either the Republican/Tea Party will stay on their current single minded platform of getting rid of Obama and they will look unpatriotic doing so and get nothing done. And/or the Republican House will stay their past and current course of grid lock and nothing will get done. Either way they will not have fullfilled the Tea Party promises and will assure Obamas re-election.
Make no mistake about this – it was independents and Progressives, not Republicans or Tea Partiers who ran this election and ‘any failure’ of the Tea Party they voted in will assure a return to a Democratic House in 2012 (and I don’t want to hear any whining about thats only 2 years – not enough time to get things done – they themselves set the goal post already at 18 months).
If they should on the other hand actually work for the people, I mean real people, not corporations, and Obama is more receptive to compromise also, it could be a win for the people and our elected reps by reinstating some respect and faith in them, regardless of party – they have both failed us so far (but I do think many great things have been done in spite of the grid lock – these horns need to be tooted more).
Problem is Corporations are “people” too – if the Tea Party and Obama are sincere in changing “the way things are done” they will address that immedialty. Can they pull that off?
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Roxy, back attcha with the good points. Personally, I wonder how long the alliance between the Tea Party and the Republicans will last. It seems more a “marriage of convenience” than true love.
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Chrisie, you have explained this very well.
The only thing, and a minor one in the bigger picture you have described, is that the escalation of removing wild horses came immediatly after Bush’s election, alongwith gutting many conservation measure that Clinton had put in, so it is not “this adminsitration”. This adminsitration has not, ‘yet” addressed the problem, but I have not given up hope. One thing Obama did with the first thing he signed in, The Omnibus Wild Life Act (or something like that) was to consolidate conservation issues into one binder so that inconsistancies and greivances can be more readily identified and delt with – a possible first step to gutting the corpoate benefit junk science that Bush put in place – but then other things consumed Obamas time, unfortunatly. He is not done yet – I’m keeping the faith.
I have this question – do lame duck congressional sessoins usually produce more consrevation measures or less? Anyone have a pulse on this?
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http://www.blm.gov/ca/media/video/twinpeaksgather-2010/Day8-fertilitycontrol/
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http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en.html
Proposal from Madeleine Pickens for Wild Horse Ecosanctuary (under review by the BLM)
Madeline Pickens will be accepting only Geldings and Mares; this way she will not be “breeding excess Mustangs;
I hope she will make a million acre sanctuary for Stallions too;
so when the herds get too low; you use Stallions to increase herd
this is called Herd Management; even though there is enough public hand out there to have Wild Herds; the blm does not know how to manage them; so they should be stopped in their tracks;imo
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Looks like the Elko Nevada County Commissioners are opposing Madeline’s Sanctuary. Not surprising—they just don’t want horses on former cattle ranches. Question–if someone purchases a cattle ranch and chooses to put elephants on it–what’s it to them? Personally, I find the state of Nevada to be pretty disgusting and sorry for anybody who lives there. Sounds like their economy is in the dumper and they like polluted water, torn up mining land owned by international corporations as well as corporate “cowboys”.
http://www.magicvalley.com/news/local/state-and-regional/article_a547f180-3755-5e13-803f-a4d38103493e.html
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From what I understand, they would lose their rights to the Public Land. Its a mess of a catch 22 – if they don’t graze cattle they lose that lease and that leased property is intragal to the property value of their private land ownership. Its gastly! Especially in the checkerboard – I repeat – WHAT A GASTLY MESS!
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PS
Lets design a new license plate for Nevada – instead of the beautiful mustang rearing in front a breath taking mountain range – a dead baby horse with a helicopter over it with an oil well in the back ground on top of a topped off flat mountain and a tiny little casino off to the right side – lets face it – one can go gambling almost anywhere in the country now and see headliner shows – you could not pay me to go to Nevada for any reason other than a BLM meeting or protest perhaps – and I’ll bring my own food and camp out (I was once thinking of retiring to Carson City/Reno – ugh! Now I’m seriously thinking of New Mexico – dang I wish they had a beach within a day ride!) – my fathers favorite route from AZ to Oregon for winter is through Nevada, I am trying to talk him out of that route.
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Some of you may have already read “Madeleine’s Recap” of the meeting. I haven’t received a post yet, but found it when I was “snooping around” a few minutes ago.
http://www.madeleinepickens.com/news/madeleines-recap-from-the-elko-county-commission-meeting-on-november-3rd/
I wonder if some of this is about property taxes. Will the Foundation own the ranch from the outset or at some time in the future? If so, the non-profit status could be one of the reasons for opposition.
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http://www.kenvtv.com/
Several videos from Elko Co Commissioner meeting and Madeline–
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Did I see Don Glenn in the audience?
The commisions comments do not even make sense – for example why should taxpayers pay to house these horses? Does he not know that already occurs?
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Plus I have some un printable words for the Taylor Grazing Act – if the 1971 Act can be amended so can Taylor!
They say “Taylor Grazing Act” like its in the bible protected by threat of going to hell – I say “who gives a ____ about the Taylor Grazing Act!
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Elaine, Please, let the wheels turn, and in high gear!
A location on public lands would be nice, if possible….. (but cold).
The Houston Astrodome might be good?
A warm location in Florida could possibly be located, but so far away from the horses affected by all this.
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Like I said, I can offer to help with the talent, but the rest is up to someone else. Lining up talent for that is huge, and one person can’t do the whole thing.
Honestly, raising $100,000.00 for a “Letter To America” via the “Just $1.00 Will Save The Horses” plan will work faster and generate more attention than anything, I think. It’s unique, fast, and will make much more of a stir than a concert. Besides, a concert can only help sustain several small activities for a while, and would not solve the problem.
Just saying…
I can be reached at HoldYourHorses@aol.com if anyone wants to contact me directly. I’ll try to answer within a few hours. Also, http://www.ElaineNash.com is my blog site.
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How about combining the MARCH ON D.C. with a hugh concert–all of the people who are good organizers, and there are many, could collaborate. Each and every protest rally has organizers and those are the people who have the talent for putting these things together.
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I love the idea of a March on Washington combined with a concert. Heck, we could have a rally to Restore Our American Mustants on the Washington Mall like Jon Stewart and Glenn Beck. The only reason I did not go to the last one is because we scheduled the day before Easter recess. I think we need to look at the Congressional calendar to see when would be a good time. That might include findng out if a rally could coincide on Congressional hearings.
Mar, it is not that I don’t support you and what you are doing. You live in the West and are networked with other people who can get to auctions and have rescue property. You are doing what you can do and using the resources that you have available. I am in North Carolina, and our rescues are at capacity right now nor are many of us set up to take a number of horses long term. Sometimes it ends up that way for some horses; they spend the rest of their lives with a foster. But we work through fosters—private farms or care givers who can afford to board a horse for us and take care of it.
However, as I have studied this issue from the vantage point that I have, my belief is this. By an large wild horses need to be kept in the wild with their families and in their narural habitat. There are some animals that can be culled from time to time, but I think herds need to be studied and the horses that are culled should be those with the potential to be adopted. It might be tha if the horses were culled differently than they currently are, more might be made adoptable. People who love mustangs truly love them. However, there are those wanna be cowboys who don’t understand the strength and vulnerability of the horses, and they destroy them psychologically.
Anyway, I am not against what you are doing. It is just that the more I look into this issue, the more I see it as symptomatic of many, many things wrong with the way this administration is conducting the public’s business. When I began looking at this, I had no idea what all I was about to learn. There are very important issues that must be addressed for the welfare of our horses, our public lands, our environment, and the future of our respective species. The moral and ethical issues that surround the plight of the horses are far reaching and touch us in all kinds of ways. Of course, the safety of the horses is paramount, but so is the safety of our country. I am not against change. We all know we need more energy sources. But we need leadership that understands how to manage our lands and our natural resources.
I did not mean to be disrespectful of your efforts. You are doing what you can from where you are with all your heart, and I guess what I was trying to do was make a statement about the importance of the big picture. My hope is that if we can fix the big picture, we can then turn our resources into creating the types of rescues that will serve the needs of horses and humans. I know that excellent rescues already exist. I have been going to their web sites for several years now. Also, from my work here in the East, I know that some of the people who say they are going to rescue a horse, are truly anything but a reputable rescuer, and we have gotten horses after they have been to some of these places, and they are truly wounded mentally. That is all. I am not walking in your mocassins; I don’t know your path; I must focus on walking the trail that I can find. That’s all.
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I am literally speechless! It’s incomprehensible to me. You might as well have told me that monkey’s were flying today. That would have at least been somewhat amusing and novel. no words
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Christie, I have never worked with a rescue and have never mentioned using one. I see if you misunderstand then others must. We are in a Rescue Mode at this point to save our wild herds whether on their lands or especially those being pulled off. I do not want these families broken up and the adults made sterile with gelding or PZP-22. Like Karen Sussman, I do believe we should be saving herds and putting them on leased lands until we can put them onto grazing allotments, as Sandra is pursuing. We are losing them NOW! For heavens sake, by the time you get a concert and a DC rally you will have done nothing for these horses who are being destroyed NOW.
Horses are being PULLED OFF THEIR NATURAL HABITAT AS I write this. What of them?? There are only so many left in the wild and this time next year if we have 5000 in the wild I will be amazed!
Stop reading something into this that is not there.
Their lands are covered with grazing allotments NOW. They should be able to use them and stay on their own land or land just like it if they have been removed already because of mining and other private industry!
We need to be cutting appropriations. Cloud Foundation has a click to comment at their website and we should all be using it.
This IS the Big Picture; You are losing your horses NOW! Guess what? I am wanting to do this Because IFS DO NOT FLY! IF you can fix it? That does not help the NOWS being pulled off the range to lose family and LAND and reproductive ability as we write!!!!!
Why is everyone so sure they can FIX anything at this point??? Why are you not trying with all your strength to go through the ONLY legal means BLM has left open to us to save these horses? No resistance there! Where is your sense of Urgency??? These are the last wild horses being run off their ranges now! By the time you get to DC and have a concert it will be a cleanup operation for the wild ones. You are not seeing the urgency here. What are you all waiting for?? Your path should be tyo save the wild horses. Unconditionally.
You have Misunderstood me Completely. Your misunderstanding will cause others to be confused!
It is my impression of many of you that you have got to to catch up to Reality and stop dreaming. Do the Ad in the NYT:
Half page on Sunday is; $83,160. if we are under a .org or several .orgs. For the same ad on standby, requesting Sunday but no guarantee is; $30,000. Color costs more and I have that coming to me now. Please remember you are at the mercy of the News of the day… if a bomb goes off somewhere very few people will care about the ad.
This money could lease a ranch where we could release adopted and sale authority horses and we would then have the Primary land needed to lease grazing land where we can then release more horses. Intact wild horses we have SAVED from Gelding and PZP… get the picture now? Even as we all fight for the wild ones left on the range we have those coming of it and these could be placed in safety and be whole and continue to reproduce! On lands near or just like where they are BEING REMOVED NOW! Please try to understand and reread before saying anything. This is what I mean by rescuing! There is no other word for it. But I am never meaning
rescues… they are overlaoded and way too small and cannot acommodate Wild Horses! mar
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You make some good points, but it’s hard to even read through your letter because you seem to literally be screaming at the very people who are just as concerned and caring as you are. Talking down to a group of concerned, caring, worried adults as though all but you are children really isn’t productive. I’m sure that we all care just as much as you do, Mar. No one is prepared to take marching orders from another, I don’t believe, and leaders lead, not shove. We’re each doing what we can, and trying to make as much happen in favor of the horses as possible. No offense, but we don’t need ‘preached’ to.
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If you say so, Elaine. You feel this for your own reasons but I was telling someone who had just misunderstood me- what I meant so it could be understood. The
situation is extremely urgent. Actions are needed now and people need to make the most of their energy and commitments. I really do want you to understand what I am saying, and Sandra, also. If you wish to take this jab at me I can take it.. because I even want you to understand some of the ramifications of your actions. For the price of a half page NYT ad for the horses, B&W, on standby is $30,000. The only people who have gotten paid that much money on the side of the advocacy have been lawyers. That is a very large sum for a one day plea. That is a lot of money that would go further doing many other things. I support RT and Terry’s effort and GRH for supporting Laura Leigh. And the Cloud Foundation for fighting the fence and saving the Forest Service herd. There are good actions that need much more support, right now. As everyone was so nice to point out to me, I am free to pursue other paths to help save our wild horses. I think you have plenty of choices, too. As I had said before, if one person got me that wrong others would have to. Sorry for the redundancy. I think the horses are worth it and $30,000. would proactively save
a group of wild horse families. Now… So, if 30,000 of you would like to try to help save wild horses you might send a dollar to RT or GRH or Cloud to help them keep going as they are the front and need your support. mar
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I am not a leader. I am just trying to get inside peoples heads, I am not worried about anyones heart and have no need to expound on such things. If I can’t shake you up sometimes who will? And I am not here to ask for money. Make your decisions carefully but try to help the horses. mar
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I feel Christie is quite right that Obama is giving the orders and Salazar is only carrying them out. The President does not care about the horses he only wants the lands in the west for oil, mining, etc. and he is going to have it that way. That is why Salazar wants sanctuaries in the East for he knows what the plan is but also for his own benefit. There must be other sanctuaries open in the West if we are to save the horses. Some Governors are getting together and taking legal action to take public lands out of the hands of the DOI and back to the States. Personally I feel this is a good idea for the States will be getting the revenue and not the Government. When you think that the media is going to pick up freely on the protection of the horses remember who controls them and it is not that easy. A concert is a different story as the media could easily acknowledge and assist. I would suggest a large hotel in Las Vegas. You might be able to get the owner to offer his live theater at a discount. You might even try talking to Mr. Winn as he owns one of the largest hotels in Vegas. Get the entertainer from Nashville and some of the Hollywood crowd to come. I am certain Sherly Crow, Willie Nelson and others would assist with this. Use the money from the concert to buy land for sanctuaries and take the horses in. Putting the horses back on the range in there rightful home is something we all want but I am afraid under this administration it will not happen.
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Shirley, Thanks for trying to kill two birds with one stone!! Yes! mar
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According to the BLM, they state the western lands can only support approx. 27,000 wild horses. I assert they have reached this goal and then some. So by their own standards, they need to take a break for a while. Why are they seeing the need to round up 15,000 more starting this winter? This would put their reproduction rates at 60-70%, or a birth for every single year for every single mare.
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Why? Because they can and they would like it if the ‘problem with horses’ would not persist or return in the future to annoy them! mar
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Mar, I apologize if I have confused anyone. It was not my intent. I understand what you are trying to do, Mar, and I also share your sense of urgency. I believe that it is possible for you to keep wild horse herds in tact, and if you can do that, and you have or have contacts who can do that now, then do it. That is what you should do. That is what your heart is calling you to do. Maybe you are right. I will prayerfully consider my relationship to your approach. However, I own no land other than my home. I pay to board my adopted and foster horse, and I have paid for expenses for other mustangs as well. No one I know has any room right now in this area, but it might be possible, if I were to brainstorm, to think of someone who has land who might be interested in working with us. But that would be probably someone in my home state of WV. Let me explore that and get back to you.
The rest of this entry has to do with the big picture, so don’t feel like you need to wade through it if you aren’t interested in trying to understand the forces we are up against.
What I have been trying to understand is the why behind all of these round-ups. Why the sense of urgency by the government? Why so many round-ups? Why so many horses? Why the sterilization overkill? So many questions. I have searched diligently, and I believe I am close to the answer.
The President wants to be the leader in making America less dependent on foreign oil. He wants to be part of the new “green” energy movement, and put America in a place of leadership in developing these technologies. There is a mood in this country that we should be developing more environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels. The difference between fossil fuels such as oil and gas and green energy, is that fossil fuels do not require large amounts of land to produce their product. On the other hand, so called green energy industries require huge amounts of land. So in choosing to move to greener technologies we have to recognize that the cost to us will be the disturbance of formerly undisturbed lands and large areas of land. What can not be known at the experiemental developmental stage is whether the environmental impact of disturbed thousands of flora and fauna species will ultimately be more devestating to our environment that the production of green house gases? What if it turns out that some of these plants, insects, and animals actually absorb and consume C02?
The government is opening up vast stretches of land to solar thermal energy in the Mojave desert. There are Wind Turbines in the Calico Mountains, and bigger turbines are replacing smaller turbines. There are many other projects—all requiring land, and the DOI has been clearing the way for these projects. Green energy projects are being fast-tracked in while our horses are being fast-tracked out. Why the rush? Well, in order to qualify for government loans and stimulus money, construction must begin by the end of this year.
So when Secretary Salazar made the comment that wild horses did not belong in the West, he was not joking—as absurd a statement as that sounds to us. He meant it, and I guess to avoid the political firestore that would surely ensue if the BLM were to start actually killing horses, except accidentally or as a casualty of the round-ups, the President has approved Salazar’s request to purchase lands in the East and Midwest where the forage is richer. At least that is what he said. What he didn’t say, is where the land is not full of all the resources needed to build the Obama Energy Empire.
Which brings me to the most disturbing part of this research– Has anyone ever heard of the Chicago Climate Exchange? I hadn’t before a conversation with my step-sister this afternoon. I googled it, and found out that it is cutting its work force. Why should I care about that? I don’t. But I care about why. It seems that the work force is being cut because Cap and Trade didn’t pass in the Senate, so the CCX which was founded for the purpose of trading in carbon credits on a world wide basis, is doing less business than expected. Still talking free market, so that is OK. But things are about to get murky. It seems that an Illinois state senator sitting on the board of the non-profit Joyce Foundation several years ago, persuaded the Joyce Foundation to provide the seed money for the start-up of the Chicago Climate Exchange. That Senator became an investor in the Chicago Climate Exchange along with Al Gore who would go on to capitalize from the idea that climate change is a result of man-made actions (I am not taking a stand on this right now). However, the information in the articles I reviewed indicated that the President and his cronies stand to profit enormously if Cap and Trade passes by trading in “air” credits. One article I read said that the President had resigned his position with CCX, but still CCX and other companies such as General Electric and other utilities such as Duke Energy down the road from me stand to profit by charging the public higher fees because federal regulations are going to force them to use a certain amount of green energy to meet their customers utility needs.
Much to my further surprise, this is not a new story. It’s been out there, just never picked up by the mainstream media.
So how does this influence the narrative of what is happening and can happen to our wld horses and our public lands? Well, it ties the President’s past actions and activities to the elimination of wild horses and burros from publilc lands, so that these heretofore untouched and pristine lands, habitats for so many wild species of plants and animals, can be turned into his Green Giant Grid-land. It underscores that Salazar was not chosen to be DOI Secretary despite his relationship with cattle of farmers, but because he is willing to do what the President wants him to do to open the lands for his new vision of America. That he stands to profit from this vision along with Al Gore, Bill Ayers, and some other names we have heard before, makes the narrative a darker one. This transformation of our West has been on the drawing board for years.
By the way, the heir who created the Joyce Foundation where the little known state senator from Illinois served on the board inherited her money from Timber Interests, so we need to look (or not) at how forest and timber interests are being served. Could this have anything at all to do with Cloud’s fence?
I share this with you, so that we can understand what we are up against, and craft a series of strategies that will give us and our horses a fighting chance. This is not a partisan issue to me. I realize that George Bush started us down this path by opening up the Grand Canyon for uranimum mining. But this administration differs from previous administrations in the speed and the intensity of these wild horse removals. The second and more sinister way it differs from previous administrations is that this administration is sterilizing entire herds, and creating an entire system of management that has obviously been designed to make the wild horse extinct.
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Christie, Thanks for telling me what we are up against! mar
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The President knows that Cap and Trade won’t pass this gridlocked Senate. I do not believe for one minute that people like the President and Al Gore are pushing this because they want to make money. Goldman Sachs will be the one to make the billions and other Wall Street firms, as usual and multinational energy conglomerates. Without serious energy policy we all stand to lose everything, Other countries are getting serious about this, but we refuse to. We are running out of oil, need to get off fossil fuels and we are warming up the planet to the point of no return if we do not act. Cheney decided our past energy policy is secret, put all his pals in influential positions, opened up the West and the and relaxed regulations. This President wants us all to take Climate change seriously. But we just refuse to do so.
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savewildhorse, I’m with you on this one.
I am anti oil no matter how little land it takes compared to green energy. I am pro doing green energy correctly with as little damage to the ecology as possible. There is no reason wildlife cannot coexist with energy on Public Lands if done correclty (first though, why build solar farms – just put the dang things on the roofs across the USA).
I did some research too – The CCX is proving that cap and trade works and makes money (why wouldn’t Goldman Sachs invest – they are about making money right?) – the opposite of the fear mongering against cap and trade.
Ever see The Insider about dirty tricks and corporate takeover of the news?
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I’ve decided to contribute each month to the Freedom Fund horses, which will also help the Cloud Foundation use their resources for the fight. There are few better equipped to lead this fight than Cloud Foundation, R.T. and Laura. I will still meet with my Senator soon. I haven’t given up on the political side, far from it! I won’t go to any rally in D.C. and take the chance my temper will blow or I wind up with my picture in the FBI’s gallery, LOL. Count me out on that one! I would much rather give what a D.C. trip would cost to save mustangs and send them to a sanctuary or use the money to buy land, so Mar keep me informed of any developments where I can help!
I signed a petition for a horse that was beaten and left for dead in Paris, IL on the Petition Site. Low and behold, there’s a petition to remove the judge who refused to provide a TRO in the ASPCA case and then found in favor of the government! There are only 60 signatures so far but they are from ALL OVER THE WORLD! That should tell us something. We have allies – an army – in Canada, France, Ireland, everywhere! I am computer challenged so can’t provide a link, sorry! Thought R.T. might want to know!
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Do you have a link to the petition to throw that judge out?
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Never mind – I was speed reding – you don’t have the link – but do you remember which petition site perahps?
PS when you are on a site that you want to share, open a word doc, then all you have to do is highlight the entire http address on the top of the web site (see the http//rtfitch.wordpress.com above?) by puting your curser on it and left click the mouse – it will darken, then right click, select ‘copy’, then move your curser to the word doc and select ‘paste’ – wa la – then just copy and paste it by the same mothod to R.T.s site – or copy and paste it directly to one of these comment blocks – it should become a hyper link automatically (usually works, sometimes not). so you don’t need to figure out how that works – I can’t do that either.
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Christie, your analysis on this whole situation, I believe, is “right on”. No doubt in my mind, President Obama is behind this and for reasons you point out, is why they’re moving as fast as they can. Their objective is to eliminate as many horses as possible, as quickly as possible. Because of the media, unfortunately, a lot of issues are not being brought to the public, but in spite of it all, the truth will prevail. I believe the idea of a massive concert IS just what we need! With all the celebrities, humane organizations, etc., it would generate the excitment and enthusiasm to stop this tragedy from continuing. The more our citizens know, like anything else that’s un-American and this is un-American, the more support and attention will be made to help bring it to an end.
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Sorry, but 12,000 horses scheduled to be removed in this year were scheduled 2 years ago. Number of horses scheduled ot be removed in this next cycle starting this last July can be attributed to Obama’s Administration and from what I am reading here that is 9,000 – which of course is unacceptable, but less that Bush..
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Can’t seem to find the comment about “marching orders”, but I think that’s exactly what’s needed. Not real “orders”, but priorities and timelines – short, medium, and longterm – and clear strategies (explored by committees of more than one) for making them happen.
When I worked in reprographics at Brown & Root (UGH!) I was really impressed by the clarity of a flow chart. Some were 40′ long! Each phase of a project had its place in the chart so everyone was on board with what was supposed to happen when – from inception to completion.
IMHO, we don’t suffer from a lack of ideas, we suffer from a lack of organization.
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Linda, you are so correct. Now if we could jsut come up with an idea that could be implemented to get us organized – uh.
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Okay, ideas ARE the idea – does that sound wierd? Between doing other things, I’ve started going back through my emails and compiling ideas that sound good to me. The result goes something like this … MONEY, awareness, MONEY, exposure, MONEY, philosophy. MONEY, MONEY MONEY! Maximum return on investment and NO investment with a 100% return if humanly possible.
I think we need a tiered approach starting with things that will provide cash ASAP. A big thing may be good, but so is an accumulation of little things and little things can be done much faster.
More later. I’m tired.
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Not weird to me.
Things as small as car washes are a start – put people in catchy outfits on the street corners with banners, pass out a few flyers, collect money. This is not rocket science.
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I’ve started a list of ideas that could make a difference.
1. Apparel and other items on Cafe Press. The Cloud Foundation and HerdWatch have a couple of designs, but not many items. My point … every advocate is a potential “walking billboard” for the wild ones. I’ve started working on some slogans/images. Could be conversation starters, then we provide a handout to people who are interested (ala Rob Pliskin[SP?]). Not too complicated or it could overwhelm the target audience.
2. Downloads folks could print at home for bumper stickers (there’s Injet paper for this)/signs for vehicles/return address labels and other uses.
3. Voter-based contests for MONEY!
“Pepsi Refresh Project” gives about $1.3 MILLION A MONTH to folks with good ideas. This is the current leaderboard:
http://www.refresheverything.com/leaderboard
HSUS is #4 for $2.5K.
ASPCA is #17 for $2.5K. Sure would like to see THEM in the top two, considering what they’ve done for us!
I have more info on the Pepsi contest if people would like me to put it up. It’s somewhat complicated, but, if we could get 10 ideas up for the wild ones and vote for each of the 10 EVERY DAY, we might get some real $ on board. Of course, we can’t win if we don’t ENTER!
P.S. – November Contest voting ends the 30th.
The “Animal Rescue Site” is another voter contest. Not as much $, but every dollar helps. You can sign up for a daily reminder and the process is pretty simple.
I’m exploring more contests and will put info up info if fellow advocates think it’s worth it. If so, I may need some help to do things right ASAP.
And I certainly welcome constructive suggestions. Please contact me at:
lckhorn3@sisna.com.
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Linda, – this is great – we all know about Cafe Press but need reminders – and new people join us here all the time.
I will be looking into these contests too.
HfH also recieves money from some internet shopping site and there are many products to buy – good to showcase right now for Christmas shopping – please anyone recall this website? Then please ad to your list.
I recommend posting this every 3 or 4 Articles – for new visitors to this web site and good reminder to us all.
Linda – great thinking and doing!
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Perhaps a HUGE free concert with the option for donations. Or, a concert with tickets at a reasonable cost?
A concert for America’s wild horses, American public lands, and our rights as citizens of the United States of America!
Elaine, you are right… this will take MUCH to organize!
But, Let’s try to do it on the “fly”! We need some help… Madeleine Pickens, Bill Gates? Someone who cares, with funds to spare!
How about we advertise in the NYT for the horses AND the concert, and let the funds pay for the advertising? Maybe the NYT would give us a break?!?
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No such thing as a free concert unless someone is willing to go in the hole for the whole thing or the acts are good enough to make a CD or movie from it that will pay back the costs and maybe more. Even if the acts came on for free and donated all needed equipment, there are union wages for the workers, there is electicity, the permit costs alone are huge, security, porta potties, etc., etc..
What is the purpose of the concert? To raise awareness? Or to raise money for legal, rescue, etc? Or both?
I have mentioned concerts, CDs,and movies forever now (fund raising in general – could just be car washes) – all could raise huge amounts of money and raise awareness. If only those in the know and with capabilites could just pull it off and get the seed money from someplace that is willing to risk losing some or a lot of money – because it could go that way also – then you just have public awareness.
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Or, American Wild Horse Concerts Across America.
Multiple concerts from coast to coast, to allow many more individuals to come together in support of America’s horses, who are unlawfully losing their freedom and their lives.
The organizers for local protests would surely help in organizing locations for combined protests and concerts!
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I have spent several more hours reading more about the Joyce Foundation, the Chicago Climate Exchange, the GIM founded by Al Gore, and found several articles from different sources about the relationships among all these people, many of whom are in positions of influence in the White House.
With all my heart, I wish I could agree with Save Our Wild Horses about the President’s motives. Of course, we never really know what motivates a person. The only thing we have to go on is what a person actually does, and this President has turned a deaf ear to the pleas of hundreds of thousands of American voices for the wild horses. I still believe he could stop these round-ups, at least put them on a long pause, with a phone call. He doesn’t hesitate to step around rules, regulations, and laws that he doesn’t like. This doesn’t require hours and hours of negotiation or research on his part.
We will eventually run out of oil, but we are not going to run out any time soon. In fact, in one of the former President’s speeches, he stated that he believed that the West is full of vast resources of oil. Now I don’t just love the idea of putting oil wells all over the West, but this would be a more environmentally friendly alternative with regard to wildlife and the land than taking up millions of acres of land with solar energy panels. Another less costly alternative to solar and wind technology, coal, and oil, is nuclear power. Nuclear power is also far more efficient. So it seems that there is a cost to these green energies that I am not sure I want to pay. Of course, the President is not invested in coal, oil, or nuclear energy (he could be, but he sure isn’t advocating them; he is trying to shut them down). However, he does have a long, well-docmented history with the players in Green Energy, and yes, Savewildhorses, that does include Goldman Sachs, and the numerous former Goldman employees who are working for the President in his administration. If he thought what Goldman did was so abominable, would he have them working in his Obaminable Administration? No. They are there for the same reason Secretary Salazar is. You don’t have to agree with me. Google “Chicago Climate Exchange” or “The Joyce Foundation”. Then ad the President’s name. Add Al Gore. Add George Sandor. Add Van Jones. See what you find.
I take no joy in writing any of this. In fact, it makes me nauseous. If the President were a private citizen, and his friends or employees were abusing, neglecting, or killing these horses on his privately owned land, transporting them from state to state for the purpose of engaging in unlawful activities or for the purpose of killing them, he would be guilty of a felony animal cruelty and he could go to prison and be subject to a large fine. But no, he is the President. He is allowing his employees to abuse and mistreat our horses on our lands, and some of his employees are harassing and killing these horses on our lands, or then taking them from state to state, and some of them will end up being killed.
Maybe while he is visiting Ghandi’s home in India he will read the quote about how the character of a nation can be judged by how it treats its animals.
Peace. Let’s get some rest, and go save some horses.
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Speaking of saving horses, the two geldings on the feedlot aren’t out of the woods yet. $300 to go. Unlike so many others, these boys have a place to go and a way to get there.
Again, it’s a matter of MONEY. If 30 people give $10 each or 60/$5, they’ll be out of jail by Monday’s deadline and on their way to a good home.
If you choose to contribute by PayPal, make sure to check that it’s a “gift”. Otherwise PP will take 3%, and every dollar counts!
http://forums.delphiforums.com/alexbrown/messages/?msg=52367.1
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The 2 blm branded horses that were in a horse-slaughter feedlot are ‘saved’ . I have a small flock of ‘free roaming pasture’ laying hens that donate eggs to food banks. Any extra donations we donate to help animals, mainly horses. The final tab was paid by “The Hens of Laurel’ fund for animals.
2 more BLM branded mustangs pulled off the horse-eaters dinner plates!!! That should be the BLMs job..they are supposed to be ‘helping’ wild horses!! instead the BLM exterminate wild horses and are worse than the worse ‘rescues’ on the entire planet.
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Laura, thanks to you and your “girls” for putting this effort “over the top”. Two beautiful mustangs will be off to “greener pastures” (vs. a dirty feedlot) tomorrow (I think). “Hens to the Rescue!” How and when did you come up with this innovative idea? If I were closer, I’d be buying all my eggs from you rather than the tasteless ones from the supermarket.
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we won’t need oil if we can get more advanced with thermal heat pumps and more ‘green’ methods of power.
Imagine, just a steel pipe sunk deep in the ground, conducts ‘cool’ or ‘heat’ depending on where its buried.
Problem is the oil companies do everything they can to block the use/start-up business of free/ cheap energy. Like the solar business last year blocked by oil lobbiests in washingtondc. No worries though, he went to china, was welcomed and the new business has hired thousands of chinese workers.
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Laura, what do I Google to find this buried pipe technology?
A very sad and unecesary loss of USA jobs.
Same has happened with solar – Germany has taken our USA invention and is making it a European wide industry – but not by building solar farms, but using existing structures.
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Roxy, what Laura is referring to is called “Ground Source Heat Exchange”. Terry and I had such a system on our farm in Louisiana. Instead of an exterior coil type heat exchanger it uses buried pipes, 8 feet down in our case, that circulate the refrigerant. The ground temp at our location was a consistent 52 degrees Fahrenheit year round. For AC it worked great as it was VERY cheap to operate as there are no compressors just a pump and the fan in the unit to circulate, plus it did not pull the moisture from the air which was pleasant. The downfall is that they are not very efficient in the winter and must rely upon internal electric heat strips to keep the temp up in the 60s. Another major downfall is that the initial cost was staggering but carried out over 20 years it pays for itself…we loved it.
Just another note, energy companies often get a bad rap…there are US energy companies that are expending a great deal of capital in building solar, hydro, geo-thermal and even the new waste methane plants in an effort to diversify as any good business person knows that this must be accomplished to survive as a company and to be sustainable in the future. It is unfortunate that we were brought up on guzzeling oil but we just can’t turn that faucet off, yet. We must take steps to wean ourselves off from the liquor as we explore new sources…and outside of the BP disaster the business of extracting oil from the ground is much more environmentally sound and safer than it was in the “good ole days”. We might be taking those “little foal steps” but we are at least headed in the right direction.
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R.T. Thanks for that info. Did the 20 year pay back include depreciation tax write off? This would seem a very good investment for communities to include in bond elections for buildings and campuses that are expected to have at least 50 year life spans (which usually means 100 or more) such as fire and police stations, public schools and other municipal buildings that pretty much stay the same use for life.
Of course you are correct there are many USA green industries, many are starting to do very well and it is growing – but could be growing much more. I saw a tv program that there are even “green” mutual funds that are doing well also, in many cases better than the usual staples – there is much to be hopefull about.
I was just pointing out that other countries have been doing so much more overall and have taken much USA R & D from as far back as 40 years ago and improved it leeps and bounds where we have been more stagnant (as the other comment indicated much green progress gets stoped by big oil – I think less now than even 10 to 20 years ago though).
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And I meant to add – I agree – we are the energy guzzlers, the consumers – its kind of ironic (that not the best word – but best I can come up with right now) to blame the energy suppliers for trashing our seas and our country to supply our addiction – I do try my best to be as green and energy conscious as possible.
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Sent a short note to Madeleine and am writing Bill Gates, can anyone think of anyone else who might be willing to help sponsor a concert?
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You should ask El Paso Corp and BP and even BLM as they sponsor events for their cronies. Barrick Gold. All the bad guys should be willing to help… What is your goal, by the way?? Educate? Support the wild horses through who? Help with the legal costs others are struggling to cover? mar
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To get the roundups stopped!!! Yes, through education, mass exposure, more media attention and pressure put on the current administration through this.
Nothing else is working! Do you have an idea that might?!
Miracles are few and far between… a concert would be a miracle, so in the meantime, maybe you can think of something!
This idea or vision may never come to be, but sure as there are dark and evil influence on earth, the horses are dying and losing their young, their family members and their freedom and no doubt their health, for we have no idea where they are, or who is caring for them… or if they really are alive (all 45,000 of them +), supposedly in our wonderful government’s holding pens.
Talking of a far fetched idea of a concert has found that Elaine has the knowledge to plan such an undertaking, maybe with a little luck it will somehow come to pass.
Anyway, something different needs to be done SOON! Something that may change the tide.
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We need a united front. Beth Slagsvol proposal several weeks ago was brilliant. We need to stop acting as “independents” with so many individual groups and create a united front. Then and only then will we truly be “one voice” for our horses.
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Well, it seems that people want to do different things. But the central theme should be to support each other and there are people needing our support now. Many of us believe different options are available and others feel the urgency of events. It is one thing to say this and another to do. I have suggested a professional organizer who would have to create their own pay and be, much as we are, dedicated and committed. Who will follow and will this person find a whole new level of support if we have this person with us? What is your suggestion?
I do believe we are one group part of the time. We can also fight on more than one front at a time because we must. If there is someone in Particular Beth wants us to get behind she can make that suggestion here. It may be you are not aware of the silent majority who is reading and listening and making their own way to support what is done by those represented here. They may be the ones who have given the most. I do not know. To be one front would be to fight one fight together. The fight in DC is the one we are fighting together. With Cloud we were more driven to fight each thing as it came up. This should continue to be the main front as those with no funds can still express themselves to reps and committee members. They are the backbone of the the campaign.
The advocates who have been here a while know the drill and get all kinds of things done on their own. One thing I know is the people here rarely know about what others do off the blogs. There is activity a plenty there and people pull together if they can help, quickly.
Unless we can be united behind a well funded organization we are doing the best we all can. Still open to suggestion.
Maybe you should dig up what Beth said… I think I missed it?
mar
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Yes, this needs to be done.
Individuals from all organizations need to combine their efforts into one.
This will take time to apply for yet another non-profit. But, it needs to be done.
WILD HORSES UNITED
For example, if a concert happens (and it should!) any funds raised through artists donating their talents could go to this one organization who could dispense the proceeds to legal funds, land purchases, medical expenses, relocation fees, advertising, transport expenses, etc.
A board and officers from all over the country, from all organizations and walks of life need to be involved and voted upon if needed.
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Shoot! I’m sorry!
I should have added Jill also, to my great idea comment I just made!
Sorry Jull! :o)
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Jeeez! Then, I can’t even spell your name right! *blush* Sorry JILL! (Sleep deprivation..)
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