Join us on Wild Horse Wednesdays®, Sept. 28, 2016
6:00 pm PST … 7:00 pm MST … 8:00 pm CST … 9:00 pm EST
Listen to the archived show (HERE!)
You can also listen to the show on your phone by calling (917) 388-4520.
You can call in with questions during the 2nd half hour, by dialing (917) 388-4520, then pressing 1.
This show will be archived so you can listen to it anytime.
Laird Lucas, Exec. Dir., Advocates for the West
Talasi Brooks, Staff Attorney
Our guests tonight will be Laird Lucas (Executive Director) and Talasi Brooks (Staff Attorney) of Advocates for the West, a public interest, nonprofit environmental law firm with an 85% record of legal success protecting the wildlife and wild places of the American West.
Advocates for the West are fighting to protect wildlife, land, water and air. Their wildlife cases wield the Endangered Species Act and other environmental laws to stop and prevent habitat destruction, from unchecked grazing to motorized vehicles to industrial degradation. Advocates for the West are protecting sage grouse. They fight damage to our public lands from logging, mining, and countless other degradations. Their water-focused cases employ the Clean Water Act, the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act, other environmental laws, and basic common sense to stop pollution, protect streams and watersheds, and improve water quality. Advocates for the West utilize the Clean Air Act and other environmental statutes to stop toxins, waste and pollutants that go airborne, so we can all take a breath of fresh air.
This show will be hosted by Debbie Coffey, V.P. & Dir. of Wild Horse Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation.
To contact us: ppj1@hush.com, or call 320-281-0585
TO LISTEN TO ALL ARCHIVED WILD HORSE & BURRO RADIO SHOWS, CLICK HERE.
1/20/16 – Carol Walker, Dir. of Field Documentation for Wild Horse Freedom Federation, on BLM’s plans to sterilize wild horse and burros. Listen HERE.
1/27/16 – Marjorie Farabee, Dir. of Wild Burro Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation, on threats to shoot wild burros in Arizona. Listen HERE.
2/8/16 – Representatives of 4 major wild horse & burro advocacy groups and advocates speak out against BLM’s plans for barbaric sterilization experiments on wild mares. Listen HERE.
2/10/16 – Jonathan Ratner, Western Watersheds Project’s Director for Wyoming, Utah and Colorado, talks about the environmental toll of privately owned livestock grazing on public lands. Listen HERE.
2/24/16 – Kirsten Stade, Advocacy Director for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), on BLM’s skewed data minimizing the effects of livestock grazing on public lands. Listen HERE.
3/2/16 – Marjorie Farabee, Dir. of Wild Burro Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation, Equine Mgr. of Todd Mission Ranch (TMR Rescue) & founder of Wild Burro Protection League, joined by local wild burro advocates fighting to save the wild burros of the Black Mountain Herd Management Area in Arizona. Listen HERE.
3/23/16 – Carol Walker, Dir. of Field Documentation for Wild Horse Freedom Federation interviews Susan W. Watt, Executive Director, Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, located in South Dakota. Listen HERE.
5/4/16 – Gail A. Eisnitz, author of the book “Slaughterhouse” and Chief Investigator for the Humane Farming Association (HFA). Listen HERE.
6/22/16 – Charlotte Roe, Founder of Wild Equid League of Colorado, on BLM’s cruel experiments on wild horses and burros, including sterilization of pregnant wild mares, that are a launching pad for widespread use as “population suppression.” Listen HERE.
8/3/16 – Marjorie Farabee, Dir. of Wild Burro Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation, Equine Mgr. of Todd Mission Ranch (TMR Rescue) & founder of Wild Burro Protection League with guests. Listen HERE.
8/10/16 – Gene Baur, Pres. & Co-Founder of Farm Sanctuary, on factory farming and the Farm Sanctuary. Listen HERE.
8/17/16 – Advocates Carla Bowers and Bonnie Kohleriter on why 83% of wild horse and burro herds are on the brink of collapse. Listen HERE.
8/31/16 – Steve Hindi (President and Founder) and Janet Enoch (Investigator) of SHowing Animals Respect & Kindness (SHARK) on rodeo cruelty and more. You can see all of SHARK’s rodeo exposés on YouTube by clicking here. Listen HERE.
9/7/16 – Carol Walker, Dir. of Field Documentation for Wild Horse Freedom Federation , on BLM plans to remove all wild horses from three of the largest remaining herds in Wyoming. Listen HERE.
9/14/16 – Susan Wagner, Pres. & Founder of Equine Advocates, on how the upcoming Presidential election can affect the fate of wild and domestic equines and horse slaughter. PLEASE SIGN EQUINE ADVOCATES’ PETITION HERE. Listen HERE.
9/21/16 – MAE LEE SUN, co-author of “Brumby: A celebration of Australia’s wild horses” and CRAIG DOWNER, wildlife ecologist and the author of the book “The Wild Horse Conspiracy” on the culling of the brumbies (wild horses) of the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales. Listen HERE.
Categories: Horse News, Uncategorized, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
I have seen sage-grouse and wild horses and burros all in the same area without any apparent conflict with each other. My question for tonight’s guests is: how will the sage grouse on public lands “fit in” with the wild horses and burros – legally? In other words, what will the effects be on wild horses and burros on their legal lands, with current/future litigation and actions and plans to save the sage grouse and sage grouse habitat?
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BLM WEIGHS WILD HORSE IMPACT MUCH MORE HEAVILY THAN CATTLE
Agency Sage Grouse Review Puts Thumb on Scale to Magnify Wild Horse and Burro Effects
Posted on Sep 16, 2014
http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/blm-weighs-wild-horse-impact-much-more-heavily-than-cattle.html
The agency’s assessment is part of a 2013 report on factors influencing conservation of the Greater Sage-Grouse, a ground-dwelling bird whose numbers have declined as much as 90% across the West and which is under consideration for protection under the Endangered Species Act. That report concludes that twice the area of sage grouse habitat is negatively impacted by wild horses and burros than the area negatively impacted by livestock. A PEER appraisal of the methodology found –
BLM calculates the “area of influence” of wild horses and burros on sage grouse habitat based merely on their presence within Herd Management Areas in sage grouse habitat, while it considers livestock impact to have occurred only when livestock grazing allotments fail the agency’s Land Health Status (LHS) standard for wildlife;
If the agency used the same approach for calculating the area of influence of livestock within BLM grazing allotments on sage grouse habitat as it did for wild horses and burros, the area of influence for livestock would be roughly 14 times that given in the report and more than six times that of wild horses and burros; and
Within BLM’s own grazing allotment LHS database records, livestock grazing is cited as a cause of failure to achieve a land health standard 30 times more often than are wild horses and burros.
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In addition to what the PEER report states, I know for a fact that BLM “studies” are highly biased as I explain here:
You may remember that a few years ago the BLM Director’s Challenge awarded $300,000 to assist field offices in on-the-ground volunteer field research about our wild horses and burros and our public lands. When contacted, the Eagle Lake (Twin Peaks) field office representative stated that the volunteers would be assigning ALL use and/or abuse found on the public lands range to the wild horses and burros. When asked how the usage would be differentiated between the domestic livestock (about 82% per BLM AUM data) and the wild horse and burro usage (about 18%) the BLM representative said again and again that ALL usage discovered and documented would be shown as wild horse and burro usage – regardless of the fact livestock was permitted about 5 times more than the permitted wild horses and burro usage. No kidding!
BTW, per information I acquired, the Eagle Lake/Surprise BLM field offices never approved a single volunteer for this project although they did KEEP $ 9,000 of the $ 25,000 that was supposed to go to this research.
http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/march/nr_03_22_2012.html
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U.S. Interior Secretary: Rangeland fire the biggest threat to sage grouse
By Brett Prettyman The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published May 19 2015
http://www.sltrib.com/news/2530976-155/us-interior-secretary-rangeland-fire-the
U.S. Department of the Interior officials claim scientists and wildlife experts have identified rangeland fire as the greatest threat to the survival of the bird in parts of Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and California.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell released a final report Tuesday with strategies to address the threat of wildfires to sagebrush ecosystems during a press conference in Boise.
“We now have a fully integrated strategy among federal, state, tribal and community partners that provides a set of actions to take now and in the future to fight rangeland fires across the West,” Jewell said. “This roadmap takes a comprehensive and scientific approach to protect against some of the most intense wildfires that are damaging the American West’s productive rangelands and sagebrush landscapes.”
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Grants are being awarded for everything else. This is long overdue.
Wild Horses Eating Cheatgrass – A Wildfire Mitigation Study
https://openinterior.ideascale.com/a/dtd/32778-7034#idea-tab-comments
I would like the DOI to undertake a study on the relationship between wild horses, invasive grasses like “cheatgrass”, and wildfires, especially in the Western United States. Also, I would like the reports and conclusions of the study to be made available on the DOI website.
I have submitted a number of ideas and comments regarding wild horses on our public lands. One of the issues that frequently come up in wild horse discussion groups is the invasive plant commonly called “cheatgrass”. As I understand it, this grass is extremely opportunistic. It grows in the early spring and then dies, providing dried ground fuel that helps spread wildfires.
There have been observations that wild horses feed on cheatgrass when it first emerges, before seed heads have a chance to develop and disperse. There have been professional firefighters who consider the absence of wild horses on areas where cheatgrass has taken hold actually increases wildfire danger.
READER COMMENT
I think this type of study could provide important information on mitigating the available fuels that contribute to the dangerous and destructive wildfires that ravage our lands, and might find our wild horses are more than icons of the West. They may be a natural, widely available, and economical fire brigade.
We have been able to reduce and almost eradicate the cheatgrass in our pasture by grazing the horses(10)and a small herd of goats (9),part-time, in the early spring to keep it from going to seed. They love it when it is green and tender and seem to prefer it so it gives the other grasses a chance to come on. We are in our 5th year of re-habilitating a severely overgrazed dryland pasture. We do not irrigate because there is no water with the land. They graze together and our pasture has never looked better.
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And this letter was written SIX years ago – but apparently – any answer that gives wild horses credit for something is undoable in the DOI’s mindset! Like the BLM’s “Directors Challenge”! How long is this bureaucracy going to be allowed to overrun common sense? Disregarding the livestock corporations – this corrupt government agency needs to be brought down – somehow! As it stands now, any public land range that has been overrun with livestock takes something like ten years to recover – if it can. And that’s if livestock has been removed! The idea that only wild horses are responsible for damage to sage grouse habitat would be laughable if it weren’t so darn serious!
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The People versus Corporate greed…it’s all connected
Native Activist Winona LaDuke: Pipeline Company Enbridge Has No Right to Destroy Our Future
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Dakota Access, LLC
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
http://ir.energytransfer.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=106094&p=irol-govboard
James R. Perry
Director
JAMES R. (RICK) PERRY. Mr. Perry has served as a director of our general partner since February 2015. Prior to joining ETP, Mr. Perry served as
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF TEXAS from 2000 to 2015. Mr. Perry served as Lieutenant Governor of Texas from 1998 to 2000, and as Agriculture Commissioner from 1994 to 1998. Prior to 1994, Mr. Perry also served in the Texas House of Representatives. The Board selected Mr. Perry to serve as a director because of his vast experience as an executive in…..
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I agree I have used my mare herd to graze down the cheat grass, it is the first green that comes up in early spring and it will sometimes come back in the fall if there are rains in the high desert
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Gov RICK PERRY’S Office Says “NO” to Petitions to Stop Shooting Wild Burros
Jan 19, 2012
story By Patrick Beach of the the Austin Statesman.com
https://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/01/19/gov-rick-perrys-office-says-no-to-petitions-to-stop-shooting-wild-burros/
Over 100,000 Petitions Delivered to Lt. Governor after Perry Slap-Down
The occasion was a protest of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department‘s shoot-to-kill policy concerning feral burros in Big Bend Ranch State Park. Marjorie Farabee , founder of the Wild Burro Protection League and director at the Wild Horse Freedom Federation, had a helper drop some 103,000 petitions against shooting the burros at Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s office.
“Because Gov. Perry’s office refused authorization of delivery,” Farabee said. “Be sure you write that.”
With Department of Public Safety motorcycle officers as escorts, the group headed down Lavaca Street at noon, cut over to Congress Avenue via 16th Street and halted at the north side of the Capitol.
On their way to the statehouse, Farabee, driving a donkey named Miss Abby and pulling a wagon that contained the box of petitions, turned to one of her trooper escorts and asked, “Could you shoot one of these?”
The trooper shook his head and said no.
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I hope they are asked for their input on how we can be more effective in litigating wild horse issues. I have read alot of their cases thru WWP at their home page. they are very effective in their legal arguments and the fact they are so knowledgeable of BLM practices
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You can call in with questions during the 2nd half hour, by dialing (917) 388-4520, then pressing 1.
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Promotional film of Rewilding Europe released today—-
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This was fantastic, until they got to that hazy subject of ‘green jobs’. It makes me leery and I wish we could respect nature enough to leave it alone once we bring it back, and not find another way to parasitize it. I don’t want to see it developed only in a repackaged way, and trammeled to death by visitors and human recreation.
I’m happy to see that horses grazing on cheatgrass to eliminate this mistake of a fire hazard is finally being taken seriously to study!
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Another GREAT radio show … thank you to everyone.
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From the Observer–
My voice: protect Oregon ‘ s wild horses
Nicole Rivard
http://www.lagrandeobserver.com/opinion/4697187-151/my-voice-protect-oregons-wild-horses?referrer=fpblob%20
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Really good opinion. Needs comments!
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Every STATE these INNOCENT DEFENSELESS HORSES are being taken from. Have homes lost in foreclosure w/ acreage! The BLM CAN pay bank fees start up rescues! It’s the VERY LEAST BLM CAN do to help “fix” ALL HE DEVASTATION THEY’VE CAUSED!!! & NOT UNDER ANY MEANS SHOULD A MAMA MARE B SEPARATED FROM HER BABY DUE TO THESE B.S. ROUNDUPS! THAT IS CRUEL AT A WHOLE NOTHER LEVEL! UNACCEPTABLE 100%WRONG! The interest ALONE off the BILLIONS BLM HAS MADE ANNUALLY WILL PAY FOR FOOD& ALL CARE THESE HORSES WOULD EVER NEED!!!! UNLESS THEY ARE LYING AND DON’T GIVE A SHOT ABOUT THEIR BRUTALITY DONE TO THESE ANIMALS4 ABSOLUTELY NOTHING THEY HAVE HONESTLY DONE! It’s a B.S. ruse & THEY’VE KILLED ENUF! THEY R DISGUSTING! It’s a MORALL obligation to prove to OUR NATION! That THEY aren’t the EVIL A-HOLES THEY appear to B! & THEY MUST HELP SALVAGE WHAT WE CAN! And SAVE OUR remaining HORSES/BURROS!
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