Public lands held by the National Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management in the Western US. Data from http://www.wildlandfire.com/docs/2007/western-states-data-public-land.htm. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Unedited Press release from the Bureau of Land Management,
Release Date: 03/28/12
Contact: Heather Emmons, 775-861-6594
BLM Seeks Bids for New Type of Contracts for Wild Horse and Burro Management
As part of its responsibility to manage and protect wild horses and burros, the Bureau of Land Management, in collaboration with the USDA Forest Service (FS), is soliciting bids for several contracts that will help manage wild horses and burros located across the western United States. The contracts are for a new bait trapping method that is intended to relieve areas of excess wild horses and burros where helicopter drive trapping is not an effective method. The bids are the first of their kind, in that they involve six zones across the West, with a potential for multiple contractors simultaneously bait trapping animals over an extended period of time.
Bait trapping is not a new method of gathering animals for the BLM; it has been implemented in areas where timeliness is not an issue, as bait trapping usually occurs over several weeks or months, and in locations where BLM personnel can easily monitor the progress from their duty locations. Many times it occurs in areas where water is already scarce and the animals are lured by the water provided, or in areas where a helicopter cannot easily move the animals out of densely wooded areas. Bait trapping involves capturing wild horses and burros by setting up panels and using food, water, salt or sexual attraction (a mare in heat) to lure animals into a trap. Allowing contractors to execute the bait trapping over lengthy amounts of time in a variety of locations simultaneously, however, is a new strategy for the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program.
“The BLM is committed to continuously improving its management of wild horses and burros,” said BLM Wild Horse and Burro Division Chief Joan Guilfoyle. “Deploying this new method of bait trapping enhances our ability to gather animals more effectively in certain areas of the West, while minimizing the impact to the animals.”
The concept of the contract is not to capture large numbers of wild horses and burros in a short period of time, but rather to capture smaller numbers over a long period of time. A benefit is that it reduces the impact to the BLM’s holding facilities—instead of large horse gathers with hundreds or thousands of animals entering the facilities at one time, this type of management involves very small amounts of animals trickling into facilities over a longer period of time. Each contract is from July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013, with an option for four additional one-year periods.
The work consists of the capture, care and transportation of wild horses and /or burros from Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming. It requires work to be accomplished in a safe and humane manner during all phases of the operation, including capture, handling and transport. The contract is not set up for holding wild horses and burros for any length of time, but to have the wild horses and burros shipped to BLM facilities as soon as possible. The contracts involve setting up a trap, capturing wild horses and burros and shipping them to the BLM preparation facilities. The capture, care and handling must be completed by those who are knowledgeable and experienced about the behavior and trapping of equines.
The zones are determined by the location of FS territories, BLM herd management areas and proximity to BLM preparation facilities. The goal is to employ contractors who live around the area where the wild horses and burros are located, so that they have short travel times from one trap area to another or to the BLM facility. There can be more than one contract per zone and one contractor can bid on more than one zone.
The BLM’s bidding requirements are posted in solicitation L12PS00229, the details of which are available at http://www.fedconnect.net. To obtain the solicitation: (1) click on “Search Public Opportunities”; (2) under Search Criteria, select “Reference Number”; (3) put in the solicitation number (L12PS00229); and (4) click “Search” and the solicitation information will appear. The solicitation form describes what to submit and where to send it. Applicants must be registered at http://www.ccr.gov to be considered for a contract award.
The BLM and FS manage wild horses and burros as part of their overall multiple-use missions. Under the authority of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the BLM and FS manage and protect these living symbols of the Western spirit while ensuring that population levels are in balance with other public rangeland resources and uses.
To make sure that healthy herds thrive on healthy rangelands, the BLM must remove thousands of animals from the range each year to control the size of herds, which have virtually no predators and can double in population every four years. The current free-roaming population of BLM-managed wild horses and burros is 38,500, which exceeds by nearly 12,000 the number determined by the BLM to be the appropriate management level. Off the range, there are more than 47,000 wild horses and burros cared for in either short-term corrals or long-term pastures. All these animals, whether on or off the range, are protected by the BLM under the 1971 law.
For a map of proposed bait-trap zones, visit http://on.doi.gov/GYyFqZ
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- BLM Appoints Another Slaughter Supporter to Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board (rtfitchauthor.com)
- BLM Puts Public in Holding (rtfitchauthor.com)
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- Petition: Tell Interior Secretary to Dump Pro-Wild Horse Slaughter Appointee (rtfitchauthor.com)
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- Horseback Interview: BLM Shuts the Doors by Hiding Wild Horse Traps on Private Land (rtfitchauthor.com)
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Categories: Horse News, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
This is more “managing for extinction” . The BLM is either removing our wild horses or leaving non-reproducing ones.
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Again, the entire effort is about REMOVING equines and replacing them with cattle (or sheep…although sheep populations are dwindling). It is a NONstarter from it’s very inception.
Horses herd cattle; cattle don’t herd horses…..talk about putting the cart before the horse.
Geesh!
p.s. it is also about water and controlling the land. Remember that it has been stated before, the wild equines are the proverbial canaries in the coal mine regarding land resources’ health. Justice Scalia said something about gutting laws regarding health care reform. I’ll try to find the exact quote. While Scalia wants to throw out the entire bill, I believe his statement is spot on regarding the 1971 Act for our wild equines.
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Yes Denise !!!!!!! Iron clan way the only way is to leave them where they belong and were given their own land , to Roam Free !!! with protection !!!!!
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The U.S. has money for this, but not for Universal Healthcare. Go figure….
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I am no expert on this matter, but I would rather see bait and trap gradually than the vile and cruel helicopter chases.This would be purely from the viewpoint that it would be less stressful and terrifying for the animals.
The mishandling of terrified horses when they are finally trapped is unacceptable. The stress and fear of the chase, and the ensuing crowding in the corrals is improper and definitely cruel and abusive
.It sickens me to see the struggles of the stallions to jump the fences, to see horses trampled by their own herdmembers out of extreme crowding and fear. The death and destruction to the young is also sickening and the aftercare is pathetic.
I do not know how this has gone on so long and why it is so difficult to stop it.There is something wrong with our system and our senate and house of representatives that they do not have the stones or the inclination except for a few great men and women, to put a stop to this and to stop slaughterand the export of our horses to Canada and Mexico..
I do know and agree with you that if BLM (bastards of land management) have their way, it would be genocide for the wild equines.
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I understand your points, but DOI/USDA’s removal numbers and inflated population counts, along with HMA reduction and state “anything” goes with migrating wild equines are the REAL problems. Until that is fixed, yeah it is better to bait and trap….but they are still being removed and die (STH, LTH, transport, ,medical neglect and yes, slaughter) regardless.
The bigger issue is the removal.
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You all are so right…no removal is good removal. I stand corrected.
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you sound like an expert to me! you’ve pretty much got it all down! it’s so hopeless at times. but we keep fighting.
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Can you spell PATHETIC? The BLM is obviously attempting to pacify the public by saying we’re going to remove them more humanely…problem is they are still removing them. The BLM says the range can only handle 38,500 horses and burros. Yet the millions of acres set aside could easily handle more…let’s analyze the BLM’s FAQ website claim:
“What Happened to the 22 Million Acres?”
Frequently Asked Question: In 1971, wild horses and burros were found roaming across 53.8 million acres of Herd Areas, of which 42.4 million acres were under the BLM’s jurisdiction. Today the BLM manages wild horses and burros in subsets of these Herd Areas (known as Herd Management Areas) that comprise 31.6 million acres, of which 26.9 million acres are under BLM management. What happened to the 22.2 million acres on which these animals were originally found roaming?
Answer: No specific amount of acreage was “set aside” for the exclusive use of wild horses and burros under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The Act directed the BLM to determine the areas where horses and burros were found roaming, and then to manage the animals within the boundaries of those areas. Of the 22.2 million acres no longer managed for wild horse and burro use:
6.7 million acres were never under BLM management.
(Yet the Act directed them to take control)
Of the 15.5 million other acres of land under BLM management:
48.6 percent (7,522,100 acres) were intermingled (“checkerboard”) land ownerships or areas where water was not owned or controlled by the BLM, which made management infeasible;
(if our wild horses roamed there the Act allowed for them to stay there)
13.5 percent (2,091,709 acres) were lands transferred out of the BLM’s ownership to other agencies, both Federal and state through legislation or exchange
(A HA, somebody sold out to cattlemen);
10.6 percent (1,645,758 acres) were lands where there were substantial conflicts with other resource values;
(Notice the lack of a definition of ‘other resource values’. The Act didn’t say to protect them only if it was convenient)
9.7 percent (1,512,179 acres) were lands removed from wild horse and burro use through court decisions; urban expansion; highway fencing (causing habitat fragmentation); and land withdrawals;
9.6 percent (1,485,068 acres) were lands where no BLM animals were present at the time of the passage of the 1971 Act or places where all animals were claimed as private property. These lands in future land-use plans will be subtracted from the BLM totals as they should never have been designated as lands where herds were found roaming;
(this has a real stinky smell to it)
and 8.0 percent (1,240,894 acres) were lands where a critical habitat component (such as winter range) was missing, making the land unsuitable for wild horse and burro use, or areas that had too few animals to allow for effective management.
(Did I read that right…the land could not support wild horses and burros yet by rule it was already supporting them. Too few animals for effective management…now that’s a crock…what do they have to manage if there is not threat or too few animals to bother with?)
The data above is current as of July 25, 2011.
Bottom line is there is 42 million acres was reduced via corruption to 26.9 million acres and they say that the range is overcrowded with the current free-roaming population of 38,500, which exceeds by nearly 12,000 the number determined by the BLM to be the appropriate management level.
Let’s do some math… 26.9 million divided by 38,500 = 698.7 acres per animal
Now the BLM say 26.9 million should be divided by 26,500 which = 1015 acres per animal.
Just who are they kidding? They are all INSANE!
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My official stance on the issue is as follows:
“I do not want myself, or our organization, to be associated with the capture of protected wild horses and burros in any way, shape or form as it is our contention that even a low impact means of capture may not be necessary at all.
The BLM continues to duck and dodge science and proper accounting in their EAs and their motives for removal of protected horses and burros.
Although not from Missouri, I want the BLM to SHOW ME why millions of privately owned cattle are allowed to graze upon our public lands and yet there is no room for a few thousand wild horses and burros.
Until the removals/roundups STOP and a proper accounting and justification is rendered to the American public I will not assist in the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Management to Extinction plans.”
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Please read this that Mar Wargo sent me. I have a concern with #1 also.
TWO MAJOR PLANS BY BLM TO PUT AN END TO OUR WH&B.
#1 “Objectives of the Plan include CONTINUAL removal of excess wild horses”
It appears that this is a new and upcoming strategy by BLM to get long term legal right to remove all wild horses and burros without doing an EA on each gather. This will give them a ten year blanket permit to remove any and all wild horses/burros any time they want until they are all gone and/or only non-producing herds are left on the public lands. This initial plan is for the Nevada Desatoya HMA and they have “buried” the WH&B capture plan in a document called the “Desatoya Mountains Habitat Resiliency, Health, and Restoration Project ” but believe that this is a test plan and will be used for all HMAs in the future. The comments for this Desatoya plan are due in about ten days (April 4), so this IS urgent.
Click to access Desatoya_Habitat_Restoration_EA_March_2012_No_appendices.pdf
This goes along perfectly with their 5-year bait trap federal contract (see below).
#2 $7 million federal contract solicitation for “bait-trapping”.
It will take a few more years to round up the larger herds as they have been doing with helicopters. Then there will still be some smaller HMAs and some bands left on the larger HMAs that they could not capture with the helicopters and it would not be financially profitable for a big helicopter outfit to spend all that money for just 20 or even 100 WH&B.
They will be starting this summer with this large-scale bait trapping (per contract) but it will continue for the next five or so years until all WH&B are all gone off of public property and/or become non-reproducing herds.
This contract is for 1 to 5 years with a bid estimate of $7 million.
$7 million dollars divided by $500 per head trapped (just used the $500 as a guess) would end up being 14,000 WH&B.
Also note that the contract says that the contractor will be in charge of security, which indicates that no members of the public or press will be allowed to observe anything that they do to any of these animals. No accountability at all.
https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=8504c92d7e67e12a3494e02b515234f8&tab=core&_cview=0
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Awesome RT !!!!!! I admire You !!!!!! Words of Wisdom are always yours !!!!
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I’d just like to say that I wonder when they’ll put someone in charge of the BLM that really gives a damn about horses. I also agree with most of you that why do cattle get to stay on all that land (greed) and why can’t they just give the land to the horses to roam free without roundups of any kind.
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The USDA in my state has a budget so low they can’t even inspect gas pumps but there’s money to contract wild horse removal??? This is genocide, THERE ARE NO EXCESS HORSES. THEY ARE ENDANGERED SPECIES. UGH.
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Picking them off one by one by one until they are all gone. Criminals and Thugs!
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“The contracts involve setting up a trap, capturing wild horses and burros and shipping them to the BLM preparation facilities.”
What are the wild horses being prepared for?
I totally agree that the horses should not be removed through any means. Only in rare cases where a horse is injured should BLM remove him.
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Is this bait and trap idea, just a way of appeasing those of us who are so against the helicopter roundups, but with the same objective—the removal of all horses and burroes?
And because we will never trust the BLM—-taking bids by contractors to trap animals they can’t get too with the coppers—will these contractors be associated with slaughter houses in any way? Just seems to be to much of a coincidence to me.
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I am so against removal. Bait trapping is a step toward more humane treatment, but why not just dart the mares with contraceptive and let them go back to the wild. Use all that money spent on keeping them in holding to improve the range with water holes and grasslands.
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I am so glad that you wrote and explained the thinking behind this proposal. I am not familiar with the devious ways of BLM, I only know what I read that is written by those who are actually there and witness the atrocities. I see that you know that they are not really concerned with making it more humane, only easier and less expensive for themselves (BLM and the contractors).
They also have set up a system that will ensure a huge dent in the population of the wild horse herds, a permanent disposal, since they are determined to sterilize most and kill the rest.
Thank you for your words, I see that they cannot ever be trusted.
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Here we go again…lets sugar coat the who capture process…I just don’t buy it..Gee, why do we not have any predators? Could it be that those stealing the land from the horses have killed them all off? And where the hell are they going to put them once they are bait captured? How many other rich ranchers are out there that need more government had outs? Do they think people are stupid? If they really cared and were concerned about a solution, they would involve all the Wild Horse Advocates…They surely don’t have money for anything else, but they sure find millions and millions of dollars for this.. Oh and by the way, now that they will be charging for visiting the Parks, I would like to know what portion of that will be for the long time care for our Wild Horses and Burros..
What kind of smoke screen is this? Safe, who knows, will the American people ever get to view these practices?
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Same Fox…different approach to the Henhouse
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That’s a good succinct summary, Louie.
I’m sure we’re all aware that this trend toward tyranny exists throughout the ranks of the federal government these days, as Chris Hedges makes clear here: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/8095-chris-hedges-|-totalitarian-systems — this is well worth reading.
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It is imperative that we continue to CORRECT the misconception that Wild Horses and Burros are “overpopulated”. The Public has been led down the wrong path for far too long.
This is an excerpt from an article in AMERICAN HERDS. This is JUST ONE example:
http://www.americanherds.blogspot.com/2010/10/fudge-factor.html
Cindy MacDonald
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2010
THE FUDGE FACTOR
Here we watch BLM mushroom the 172 wild horses from the Fox Hog HMA to an estimated 726 – and this was before USGS made the little “tweak” to revamp the estimate to 300 wild horses.
But it doesn’t stop there. The High Rock HMA goes from a direct count of 300 to BLMs “new” number of 747 and Massacre Lakes jumps from 148 to 220 as well. All totaled, BLM reports they are projecting to gather 1,735 wild horses from the High Rock, Fox Hog, Massacre Lakes and Wall Canyon HMAs next fall.
So, I tried to see if there were any way to make BLMs numbers work with real world math and big surprise, no matter what I tried, it just didn’t fly!
First, I totaled the Tri-State wild horse population (just from the July raw count data as BLM had yet to see the results of Program MARKs estimation when they released the Preliminary FY11 Gather Schedule). The results from the survey of the four HMAs were merely 707 wild horses.
So then I padded the “official” HMA populations by adding the entire 430 wild horses the Tri-State Survey cited as “outside CA HMAs” to this total. Yes, all the wild horses from the entire CA area. This brought it up to 1,137 wild horses.
Next, I subtracted what BLM was projecting to gather (1,735 wild horses) from what the Tri-State Survey had counted for these same HMAs (but also included all wild horses reported in the survey as “outside” now totaling 1,137 wild horses).
Then I tried adding a 20% reproduction rate to the original raw count of 1,137 wild horses because next spring will cause populations to go up – but the 20% reproduction rate couldn’t even come close. Okay, how about a 25% reproduction rate? Still not even in the ballpark. The fact of the matter is, the only way BLMs numbers would “jive” is by adding a 52% reproduction rate to the wild horses found in the Tri-State Survey. And don’t forget, BLMs estimate includes foals and weanlings that aren’t even capable of reproducing yet!
The methods BLM is now touting as bringing “more valid” population estimates to the Wild Horse and Burro Program resulted in merely a 2.3% adjustment by USGS and Program MARK. But by the time BLM got a hold of them, populations moved into the realm of pure fantasy.
And can’t ya just hear Salazar now. “Common Congress, ya just gotta believe us and give us the money to keep rounding em up – no questions asked! JUST LOOK AT THESE NUMBERS! Why, the wild horses are just positively overrunning the range! And they are based on the newest, most technologically advanced peer-reviewed census methods available!”
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Read carefully..they are in fact already giving these contracts to the rancher who has the cattle allotments on the Destoya HMA..they want people “who live in the area” who else do you think that is? the purpose of the 71 law was to give the wild hoses some protections against the ranchers and their self interest of ridding the poublic lands of wild horses..BLM has in fact-pturned the WHs back over to the ranchers and is paying them millions to erradicate the wild horses
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Sandra, as I said before, they need someone running BLM that gives a damn about wild horses and burros. The people running it now are just as bad as Wallis & Duquette. I know where I’d like to send the whole bunch of ’em.
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1947 documentary..fight of the wild stallions, filmed in WYO-the red desert wild horses, starring the famous Adobe Town stallion-Desert Dust…
This is the persecution that has gone on for years..Frank Robbins was paid to remove every last wild horse from WYO-by the cattle ranchers( from Jack Prices book on frank robbins..but frank fooled them and left a few wild horses everywhere he gathered..part 1 and 2
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part 1 &2 of the 1947 documentary-Fight of the wild stallions..adobe town stallion-Desert Dust
for decades the wild horses have been persecuted, that is why the 71 law was enacted..to prevent the ranchers who were serving their self interest in trying to eradicate the wild horses from public lands..we took that right away from them…BLM is giving them that right back and paying them to do it
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Frank Robbins was paid by the WYO cattlemans assoc in later years to remove all the wild horses from public lands in WYO..he out smarted them and took their money and intentionally left at least 20 horses in each area..this comes from Jack Prices book on frank robbins and the red desert horses..jack was a young lad at the time and he and his father mustanged with Frank..so it is first hand knowledge..The roan you see frank mounted on in the first video would be a “Robbins Roan” a breed of mustang found in the red desert and then bred by Frank into a breed
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The first part of this YouTube video was beautiful, watching wild horses free as they should be, and then, of course, even back many years ago here comes man again to destroy everything.
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God, these films are beautiful, yet absolutely sickening to see!!! This barbarism against our mustangs has GOT TO STOP!!! BLASTED cattlemen calling them scourge to the range and vermin is b.s.!!! TOUGH HIDE??? This announcer was really fed a line of crap!!! Horses have the thinnest hides of all animals!!!! About the only nice thing I can say here is they didn’t kill the foals by the way they were run in. Planes can’t stay right on them like choppers can, so they DID have time to slow down some and catch their breath too!! But it just makes me sick the way they buck them out and spur them like they did!! It kills me the way they front foot them to drop them like they did!!!
So many fell because of that unaccustomed weight on their backs….Absolutely repulsive!!! Makes me ashamed to be human………..WHY do the few remaining horses have to fear for their lives yet??? There is more than enough land stolen by the BLM for their cattlemen bed partners to use and abuse like they do so well.. This is horrible!!!
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Since these films are from the University of Wyoming, after watching and listening to them, you kind of know were Wallis gets her mind set from.
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Bait trapping will be done without any public access or oversight.
Who will know how many horses BLM/contractors will consider “club footed,”
old or whatever and “humanely euthanize” on the range? It could
also make it easy to ship off horses to slaughter straight from the range.
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First let me say that anyone that thinks that the new bait-trapping contract is being done because the BLM has decided to be “nice” to our WH&B needs to think again and think clearly and deeply.
It gets much worse.
The complete contract is now online and it contains some very disturbing information. Please view it for yourself at: https://www.fedconnect.net/Fedconnect/PublicPages/PublicSearch/Public_OpportunitySummary.aspx
Per the contract, the western states have been divided into 6 areas (see map) and each one has a minimum and maximum per year for wh&b captured per the contract. The minimum is 2,400 and the maximum is 12,000 per year. One or more contractors – so this means simultaneous trapping of many wh&b at many sites in addition to the planned helicopter captures.
Go to the “green box” on the right side and view each overview, solicitation and map.
Please read the contract section C.8 (page 12) that details public and media observation. In summary it states that “due to this type of operation spectators and viewers will be prohibited …” What does that tell us?
Now, take the “estimated” Feb 2011 BLM census of 38,497and then subtract the approximate 2011 capture of 8,000+ which equals approximately 30,000 and add in 2011 foals of 6,000= 36,000 as of “today”. (I don’t believe that over estimated number – but you can decide for yourself).
Think about the small HMAs that have recently been ignored by BLM capture – they will soon be “trapped” and will be gone and the HMA land changed to HA land – thus “lost” to our WH&B.
How many more years of massive helicopter captures in addition to the trapping do you think that we have before all WH&B are gone?
And is there anyone out there that still believes that some of our WH&B don’t “disappear out the back door”? If there is no accountability now – does anyone think there will be accountability for our WH&B with this new “contractor in charge of security and transportation” plan?
In my humble opinion, along with the helicopter captures in the next few years, this bait trapping of all small HMAs and obscure bands on large HMAs along with the helicopter captures will be the end of any viable herds left on our range.
I hope, hope, hope I am wrong but if you want to know the truth … follow the money.
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Does any one really know how many of Our Wild Mustangs are really in holding , does anyone know how many they have already SENT TO SLAUGHTER?????? These figures will be devastating !!!! People this and has been the hugest cover up of all time, They have given the death card to Our Wild Mustangs a long time ago and everything they have done so far, gives no other reason then complete eradication of our Mustangs , and we have been nothing but lied to from the beginning !!!! THEY HAVE DONE NOTHING BUT THROW US CURVES AND LIES, MEANWHILE THEY GO ON WITH THEIR PLAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now here is the Cruelest blow of all of them, letting the very people who want them gone have the control over them ?????/
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This new BLM approach to the “henhouse”, if they are allowed to go through with this, would slam the front door and the Wild Horses would disappear out the back door..NO PUBLIC INPUT, NO PUBLIC OVERSIGHT…NO PUBLIC INVITED…PERIOD….how clever.
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This Wild Horse REMOVAL plan is disguised as a “restoration” project. If allowed to go through, BLM would be able to remove Wild Horses for 10 years, WITHOUT PUBLIC NOTICE or PUBLIC OVERSIGHT. The Public would not be invited to this party…PERIOD, and the Wild Horses could just disappear out the back door.…follow the trail. Notice where the Fox is hiding.
Comments are due by April 4
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/march/blm_seeking_comments.html
Release Date: 03/05/12
Contacts: Lisa Ross , 775-885-6107 , lross@blm.gov
News Release No. CCDO 2012-21
BLM Seeking Comments on Desatoya Mountains Environmental Assessment
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Carson City District, Stillwater Field Office has completed the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Desatoya Mountains Resiliency, Health, and Restoration Project. Treatments would be IMPLEMENTED OVER A TEN-YEAR PERIOD on approximately 32,000 acres of public land in the Desatoya Mountains within Churchill and Lander counties of central Nevada. The public is invited to comment on the plan through April 4, 2012.
The treatments are needed to restore balance between sagebrush, riparian, and woodland plant communities, all of which provide certain resource values to the landscape including habitats essential for a wide variety of wildlife. Sagebrush habitats required for sage-grouse and other important wildlife species are being lost or degraded due to a shift from sagebrush to woodlands and are at risk from potential large, intense fires.
The greater sage-grouse, a BLM Sensitive Species, is also a candidate species for listing under the Endangered Species Act. In December 2011, the BLM issued Interim Management Policies and Procedures and a Land Use Planning Strategy to guide management for greater sage-grouse habitat during the next two years as the BLM embarks on and completes a 10 state process to conduct analyses through Environmental Impact Statements and amendments to incorporate greater sage-grouse conservation measures into land use plans and land management plans.
The Desatoya Mountains Ecosystem Management Plan was signed by the BLM in 1999. The purpose of the plan was to conserve, restore, and maintain the ecological integrity, productivity, and biological diversity of the Desatoya Mountains Ecosystem. Objectives of the Plan include CONTINUAL REMOVAL OF EXCESS WILD HORSES, improvement, protection, and maintenance of water sources, and maintenance and improvement of sage-grouse habitat. This project will help to meet these and BLM’s National Sage-grouse Habitat Conservation Strategy objectives.
Links to the EA and related documents are located on the BLM website at: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/carson_city_field/blm_information/nepa.html.
Interested individuals may send written comments to: BLM Carson City District Office, 5665 Morgan Mill Road, Carson City, NV 89701, Attn: John Wilson, or for wild horse specific comments Attn: John Axtell, or you can e-mail comments to desatoyaEA@blm.gov. Comments may also be sent via fax to 775-885-6147.
Public comments submitted for this project, including names and addresses of commentors will be available for public review at the Carson City District Office during regular business hours 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except federal holidays. Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment – including your personal identifying information – may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
For further information please contact John Wilson, Project Lead, at 775-885-6191. For wild horse specific information please contact John Axtell at 775-885-6146.
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Sad to say, we’re not the only country losing its wild horse population to ranchers: http://canadianhorsedefencecoalition.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/alberta-government-decimates-wild-horse-herds
I admire everyone on this post for having the intelligence to see through the BLM’s sugar-coating, for having the courage to tell the hard truth, and for having the fortitude to continue this battle. I realize that walking away is not an option for you true horse-and-burro warriors.
Wild Horse Annie would be mighty proud of y’all.
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All projected population increases assume a 20% annual reproduction rate.
[1] Population as of 2/28/07 reported by BLM for Herd Area (HA) and Herd Management Area (HMA) Data, Fiscal Year 2007, available at:
http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro/wh_b_information_center/statistics_and_maps/ha_and_hma_data.html
* Winter/Summer removal numbers provided by BLM National Program Office Final Gather Schedule Fiscal Years 2007 through 2010.
** 2011 removals extracted from projected removals via BLM National Program Office Fiscal Year 2011 Preliminary Gather Schedule.
***2012 Removals extracted from BLMs 2011 Budget Justification, Wild Horse and Burro Management Performance Overview, pg. IV-82, Longterm
Target 2012: 13,100 removals. Winter/Summer projections based on BLMs historical trends of removing 60% of total populations during
Winter Gathers and 40% of total populations during Summer Gathers.
C.R. MacDonald 11/20/10
Table is an excerpt from the Report to Congress, “Refuting FY2011 Budget Justifications & Request to Defund Roundups and
Removals through Appropriations for FY2011 and FY2012” November 2010
Fiscal Year
Winter
Removals* Pop as of 2/28 20% Foal Increase Pop as of 7/01
Summer
Removals* Pop as of 9/30
2007 N/A 28,563 [1] +5,712 34,275 -3,750 30,525
2008 -3,357 27,168 +5,433 32,601 -1,856 30,745
2009 -3,231 27,514 +5,502 33,016 -3,099 29,917
2010 -5,637 24,280 +4,856 29,136 -4,999 24,137
2011** -6,244 17,893 +3,578 21,471 -4,502 16,969
2012*** -7,860 9,109 +1,820 10,929 -5,240 5,689
Table 1
Wild Horse and Burro
Populations & Estimates
2007-2012
Based on applying BLMs 20% annual reproduction rates to reported national populations as of February 28, 2007, and subtracting BLMs
reported summer and winter removals as per National Gather Schedules and projected removals for FY2011 and FY2012. Fiscal Year is
10/1 through 9/30. Winter removals months: 10/01 thru 2/28. Summer removal months: 3/01 thru 9/30. (Note: BLM removes only burros
between March 1 and June 30 of each fiscal year.)
This is from the information prepared by Cindy MacDonald and Carla Bowers and taken to Congress. The whole packet can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/4evvefn
Our wild horses should be listed on the endangered species list as there may only be approximately 10,000 still free, and at least 85% of the herds are no longer genetically viable and sustainable. Bait trapping will capture what the helicopter roundups miss and mean the end of them.
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Response to Barbara:
You said, “Bait trapping will capture what the helicopter roundups miss and mean the end of them.”
This is the LAST thing that any WH&B caring person wants to hear but it is the absolute truth. All of our wild ones would be free to live in their world today if it were not due to the nasty greed of we humans. Mother Nature has always followed a plan that included death and birth and hardship and beauty … all without greed in her plan. Mother Nature does not know the word greed.
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