SOURCE: wildhoofbeats.com
Great Divide Basin Family
The Forgotten Horses – at least that is what the BLM wants them to be.
1/10/2018
by Carol J. Walker, Director Of Field Documentation, Wild Horse Freedom Federation
I spent three weeks in September and October of 2017 observing the roundup and removal of 1968 wild horses from Great Divide Basin, Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek, three of the largest remaining Herd Management Areas in Wyoming and the country.
Great Divide Basin wild horses
Although the Environmental Assessment prepared by the BLM prior to the Roundup said that they would remove 1560 wild horses total from all three Herd Management Areas, they illegally proceeded to remove a total of 1968 wild horses, contending that the 408 captured and removed foals and yearlings “didn’t count.” Although the BLM’s own numbers showed that they would only be able to remove 1560 wild horses total without bringing each Herd Management Area below Appropriate Management Level, which is illegal, and despite a lawsuit brought to stop this from happening, the horses were removed, with great and unseemly haste.
Older Salt Wells Creek stallion and mare and their young filly
This beautiful family on the run from the helicopter
I have observed the last few roundups in these three areas, in 2014, 2011, 2010, 2005 and never have I seen horses removed and shipped so rapidly, with such unseemly haste. In the past, wild horses captured would be loaded into trailers and taken to a “temporary holding facility” where they would be sorted by age and sex, left to settle and then finally after a few days to a week shipped to the short term holding facility where they would be given freeze brands, vaccinations, have blood drawn for a Coggins test, if male, they would be gelded, and then all of them would be available for public observation. If they were younger than 10 years old, they would be available for adoption, and if they were older than 10 they would be available for sale.
Salt Wells Creek stallion and his foal
Young bachelors in Salt Wells Creek
Now, for this 2017 Checkerboard Roundup the Cattoors were shipping the horses from the temporary holding facility within hours of capture, before we were even able to see them. We would finally be allowed to enter the area where the horses were being held after hours waiting and after seeing huge semis pull out filled with horses, only to see very few horses left in the temporary corrals.
Salt Wells Creek older horses and foal
In past roundups in these Herd Management Areas, the majority of the horses would be shipped to the BLM facility at Canon City, Colorado or to the facility at Rock Springs, Wyoming. Both of these facilities are open to public observation and adoption and sale of the horses. Instead, we were told that there was a “problem with the contract” with Canon City, so as a last minute change the majority of the horses would be shipped to a private facility in Axtell, Utah and several hundred would be shipped to another private facility in Bruneau, Iadaho. When I learned this, I was immediately alarmed. How would anyone be able to adopt them if they could not see them? When I asked two of the Public Affairs Specialists who were working this roundup this question, Heather Tiel-Nelson and Jason Lutterman, they both repeatedly assured me that all the horses would be prepared for adoption and the BLM would not keep the public from observing and adopting the gathered horses.
Salt Wells Creek mare and youngster
Salt Wells Creek Stallion Maestro and youngster
After the 2014 Roundup, Ginger Kathrens and I traveled to the Canon City Facility in November and photographed and filmed the horses that had been rounded up and posted photographs and videos online and used our social media contacts to spread the word very widely. We were extremely effective in getting many more horses than usual adopted, especially the older horses whom I am most concerned about and whom are always harder to place. The staff at Canon City were extremely helpful to members of the public who called and emailed wanting particular horses, and aiding in reuniting wild horse family members who had been torn apart during the roundup. They acted as though they wanted the horses to be adopted, sold and placed in good homes.
Salt Wells Creek family playing Peek a Boo
I traveled to Rock Springs as as well at the end of February, 2015 when the facility reopened and was ready to allow the public to observe and adopt horses, and I again photographed the horses and spread the photographs far and wide. The staff at Rock Springs was extremely accommodating, going to great lengths to help members of the public, including me, to find particular horses and assist in reuniting families. They genuinely wanted to help as many horses as possible find good homes.
Adobe Town family
Adobe Town Family
My experience has been vastly different this time. I have gone to considerable trouble, as has Ginger Kathrens, trying to get access to the holding facility in Axtell, Utah where most of the 1968 wild horses rounded up have been sent, and also the facility in Bruneau, Idaho. We were told no or ignored.
Older Salt Wells Creek stallion
Salt Wells Creek Family
This is what Lisa Reid, Public Information Specialist from Utah had this reply to our request to go photograph and video the horses in order to facilitate adoption and sales of the horses:
Great Divide Basin Mare and foal
Salt Wells Creek stallion
“I received your email regarding the WY Checkerboard horses at the Bruneau Off-Range Corrals. Since the Bruneau Corrals are not open to the public, the horses will be offered at events and other BLM corrals after they foal and the foals are old enough to be weaned. As in Utah and Wyoming, the Bruneau Corrals will not be taking requests from the public to hold specific horses, but as the horses are able to be shipped (after foaling and weaning) to other locations they will be available for adoption or purchase.We have an annual public tour in the late spring/early summer each year and the public will be able to view and photograph the horses during the tour. At this time we do not have a date identified, but it will most likely occur between May and June, as it has the past two years. Please let me know if you have any other questions. ”
When I asked why the public would not be able to get specific horses this is what she said:
“In our experience, when people are ready and prepared to adopt, they will adopt. Unfortunately, we do not have the staff time available to track certain horses and retain those horses with the hope that someone who has placed a hold on one will indeed adopt them in the end. Adoptions are based on a first come, first served protocol at most of the adoption events.”
Salt Wells Creek
In the trap
Last, Ginger contacted Holle Hooks (Wadell), Wild Horse and Burro Program, and we were finally told that 800 of the horses would be sent to the Delta short term holding facility in late February early March and we could come in then.
Salt Wells Creek
Salt Wells Creek family
What about the rest of the 1168 horses? There are about 200 at Rock Springs, and they just had an adoption event for 60 mares last weekend, but where are the rest of the horses? What are they doing with these horses? Why won’t they let us see or photograph or video these horses?
The youngest horses may be offered at adoption events but not the older horses. What am I supposed to tell the people who are contacting me, wanting to adopt specific horses? Too bad? Good luck?
Great Divide Basin
Great Divide Basin
As we are waiting for Congress to vote on the 2019 Budget, are they assuming that Congress will vote to kill the 46,000 wild horses in holding, and hoping that we will forget about these recently rounded up Checkerboard horses? Why aren’t they motivated to help us get these horses placed? Have some of them already been shipped to slaughter?
Yes the facilities at Axtell and Bruneau are private – but they have contracts with the BLM to hold these horses, they are being paid huge sums of our money to keep the horses there and we all need to remember that THESE ARE OUR HORSES. The BLM should not be able to hide them away, or to ship all the horses over 5 years old to long term holding facilities where they never allow horses to be adopted from. The BLM staff should not be able to decide that it is too much trouble for them to help the public identify and adopt particular horses when doing so facilitates more adoptions. The BLM is behaving as though all they want to do is to do away with all these horses. This is not right. This should not be allowed. I will NOT forget about these horses and neither should the American public.
Adobe Town
Adobe Town family
If you want to help, I am providing email addresses and phone numbers below of the people who should be bothered to do something to help these horses. Please spread the word. What I want is for Ginger Kathrens and I, Carol Walker to be allowed to visit all the wild horses brought in during the Checkerboard Roundup that are now at the facilities in Axtell, Utah and at Bruneau, Idaho and to be able to photograph them and video them, and get the word out in order to help them get placed by adoption or sale. I would also like the cooperation of BLM staff to facilitate this so that people can contact them about adopting particular horses. I feel that this is the very least they can do.
Salt Wells Creek stallion
Lisa Reid, Public Information Specialist, Utah: lreid@blm.gov W 435-743-3128
cell: 435. 979.2838
Holle Hooks, Wild Horse and Burro Program: 405 579-1862 hhooks@blm.gov
Krystal Wengreen, Public Information Specialist, Bruneau, Idaho: kwengreen@blm.gov (208) 329-4534
Gus Warr, Wild Horse and Burro Lead, Utah: 801-539-4057, gwarr@blm.gov
Axtell, Utah Holding Facility Owner, Kerry Despain: 435-528-3990
Read this article HERE.
Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
This is enraging Carol. As you said, these are OUR horses, and the BLM should provide more transparency. The excuses they are providing for why the public can’t adopt certain horses, or why they can’t be viewed at Axtell are ridiculous, and we are expected to just accept them and move on. One stallion that comes to mind is the magnificent Maestro, who at the last minute was taken. He is an older stallion, pinto, and should never have been rounded up. No information can be found on him. I keep hearing about horses being taken from Rock Springs in the dead of the night, but the people seeing this happen are too scared to say more. I am afraid this is what is happening to the horse in Axtell also.
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He is supposedly at Axtell.
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If you are an American citizen, you should be allowed to view and document these horses. YOUR tax dollars are used to fund the removal and holding of these Mustangs. I wonder if it’s legal to fly a drone over the facilities at least.
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What is the status of the lawsuit I wonder? Keeping the public away from the public lands and the horses that the public wants (except for a yearly adoption and God only knows who else such as kill buyers) needs to be challenged and the law protecting the horses enforced.
This member of the public does not trust or have faith in the proper management of these continually poor harassed horses!
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The lawsuit will be heard in mid-May and the horses could be anywhere by then.
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Repeat, Repeat, Repeat….
DECLARATION OF LLOYD EISENHAUER
I, Lloyd Eisenhauer, declare as follows:
1. I live in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I am a former Bureau of Land Management
(“BLM”) official with extensive experience in the Rawlins and Rock Springs Districts in Wyoming and intimate familiarity with the public lands under BLM management in those areas. I have reviewed the consent decree proposed by BLM and the Rock Springs Grazing Association (“RSGA”) in this case and provide this declaration based on my longstanding knowledge of, and management of, wild horses and livestock grazing in the Rock Springs and Rawlins Districts.
2. I grew up in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming with a livestock and farming background, served in the Marines for four years, and then owned a livestock business from 1952-1958. I enrolled in college in 1958, studying range management. From 1960-1961, BLM hired me to assist with collecting field data for vegetation assessments and carrying capacity surveys related to livestock and wild horses. These surveys were conducted in the Lander, Kemmerer, and Rawlins Districts. When I graduated in 1962, BLM hired me full-time to serve in the Rawlins District in Wyoming, where most of my work focused on grazing management involving sheep, cattle, and wild horses. From 1968-1972, I was Area Manager of the Baggs-Great Divide Resource Area in the Rawlins District. In 1971, the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was enacted, and in the spring of 1972, on behalf of BLM, I conducted the first aerial survey of wild horses in Wyoming, recording the number of horses and designating the Herd Management Areas (“HMAs”) for the Rawlins District. After a stint as an Area Manager with BLM’s Albuquerque, New Mexico office, in 1975 I took over as the Chief of Planning and Environmental Analysis in BLM’s Rock Springs District for three years. I was the lead on all planning and environmental assessments. During that time, I also served as the Acting Area Manager of the Salt Wells Resource Area, which is located in the Rock Springs District. In 1979, BLM transferred me to its Denver Service Center to serve as the Team Leader in creating the agency’s automated process for data collection. I received an excellence of service award from the Secretary of the Interior commending me for my work as a Team Leader. In 1982, I became the Head of Automation in BLM’s Cheyenne office, where I managed and implemented the data collection and processing of various systems related to BLM programs. I retired from BLM in 1986, and have stayed very involved in the issue of wild horse and livestock management on BLM lands in Wyoming, and have written articles about the issue in local and other newspaper outlets. I have won various journalistic awards, including a Presidential award, for my coverage of conservation districts in Wyoming. Along with a partner, I operated a tour business (called Backcountry Tours) for six years, taking various groups into wild places in Wyoming – without a doubt wild horses were the most popular thing to see on a tour, in large part due to their cultural and historical value. I also served six years on the governor’s non-point source water quality task force.
3. Based on my longstanding knowledge of wild horse and livestock management in the Rawlins and Rock Springs Districts, and in the Wyoming Checkerboard in particular, I am very concerned about BLM’s agreement with RSGA, embodied in the proposed Consent Decree they have filed in this case, under which BLM would remove all wild horses located on RSGA’s private lands on the Wyoming Checkerboard.
4. The Checkerboard is governed by an exchange of use agreement between the federal government and private parties such as RSGA. However, due to state laws, property lines, and intermingled lands, it is impossible to fence the lands of the Wyoming Checkerboard, which means that both the wild horses and the livestock that graze there roam freely between public and private lands on the Checkerboard without any physical barriers. For this reason, it is illogical for BLM to commit to removing wild horses that are on the “private” lands RSGA owns or leases because those same horses are likely to be on public BLM lands (for example, the Salt Wells, Adobe Town, Great Divide, and White Mountains HMAs) earlier in that same day or later that same evening. Essentially, in contrast to other areas of the country where wild horses still exist, on the Wyoming Checkerborad there is no way to distinguish between horses on “private” lands and those on public lands, and therefore it would be unprecedented, and indeed impossible for BLM to contend that it is removing all horses on RSGA’s “private” lands at any given time of the year, month, or day, considering that those horses would only be on the strictly “private” lands very temporarily and intermittently on any particular day .
5. Another major concern with BLM’s agreement to remove all horses from the private lands of the Wyoming Checkerboard is that BLM is undermining the laws that apply to the Checkerboard, and wild horse management in general, which I implemented during my time as a BLM official. Traditionally, BLM officials (myself included) have understood that, pursuant to the Wild Horse Act, wild horses have a right to use BLM lands, so long as their population numbers do not cause unacceptable damage to vegetation or other resources. In stark contrast, however, livestock (sheep and cattle) have no similar right to use BLM lands; rather, livestock owners may be granted the privilege of using BLM lands for livestock grazing pursuant to a grazing permit that is granted by BLM under the Taylor Grazing Act, but that privilege can be revoked, modified, or amended by BLM for various reasons, including for damage to vegetation or other resources caused by livestock, or due to sparse forage available to sustain livestock after wild horses are accounted for. BLM’s tentative agreement here does the opposite and instead prioritizes livestock over wild horses, by proposing to remove hundreds of wild horses from the Wyoming Checkerboard without reducing livestock numbers – which, in my view, is contrary to the laws governing BLM’s actions as those mandates were explained to me and administered during the decades that I was a BLM official.
6. While I do not agree with every management action taken by BLM over the years in the Rock Springs District, I can attest – based on my longstanding employment with BLM and my active monitoring of the agency’s activities during retirement – that BLM has generally proven capable of removing wild horses in the Rock Springs District, including by responding to emergency situations when needed and removing horses when necessary due to resource damage.
7. Considering that wild horses exhibit different foraging patterns and movement patterns than sheep and cattle, and also than big game such as antelope and elk, no sound biological basis exists for permanently removing wild horses from the Wyoming Checkerboard at this time. In particular, wild horses tend to hang out in the uplands at a greater distance from water sources until they come to briefly drink water every day or two, whereas livestock congregate near water sources and riparian habitat causing concentrated damage to vegetation and soil. For this reason, the impacts of wild horses are far less noticeable on the Checkerboard than impacts from livestock.
8. In addition, because livestock tend to eat somewhat different forage than wild horses (horses tend to eat coarser vegetation such as Canadian wild rye and other bunch grasses, whereas cattle and sheep mostly eat softer grasses), there is no justification to remove wild horses on the basis that insufficient forage exists to support the current population of wild horses. Also, because cattle and sheep have no front teeth on the front part of their upper jaws, they tend to pull and tear grasses or other forage out by the root causing some long-term damage to vegetation, whereas wild horses, which have front teeth on both their front upper and lower jaws, act more like a lawnmower and just clip the grass or forage (leaving the root uninjured), allowing the vegetation to quickly grow back. These differences are extremely significant because if there were a need to reduce the use of these BLM lands by animals to preserve these public lands, it might be cattle and sheep – not wild horses – that should be reduced to gain the most benefit for the lands, and which is why BLM, during my time as an agency official, focused on reducing livestock grazing.
9. BLM’s agreement with RSGA states that RSGA’s conservation plan limited livestock grazing, primarily by sheep, to the winter months to provide sufficient winter forage. This is a good example of “multiple use” management, since wild horses and sheep have very little competition for the forage they consume and the seasons during which they use parts of the Checkerboard. During winter, sheep use the high deserts and horses utilize the uplands and breaks (i.e., different locations) for forage and protection. During the summer, when sheep are not present, wild horses use various landscapes on the Checkerboard. This multiple use should continue for the benefit of the livestock, the wild horses, and the public and private lands involved.
10. I am also very concerned about BLM’s agreement with RSGA to permanently zero out the Salt Wells HMA and the Divide Basin HMA, leaving no wild horses in those areas that have long contained wild horses. I have been to fifteen of the sixteen HMAs in Wyoming, and to my knowledge none has ever been zeroed out by BLM. It is my view, based on everything I know about these areas and the way these public lands are used by wild horses and livestock, that BLM has no biological or ecological basis for zeroing out a herd of wild horses in an HMA that existed at the time the wild horse statute was passed in 1971, as is the case with both the Salt Wells and Divide Basin HMAs. And, again, because the wild horses have a statutory right to be there, whereas livestock only have a privilege that can be revoked at any time by BLM, there also is no authority or precedent, to my knowledge, for the agency to zero out these two longstanding wild horse herds simply to appease private livestock grazers.
11. The zeroing out of wild horses in the Salt Wells and Divide Basin HMAs is also concerning because it would mean that, in those two longstanding HMAs, there would no longer be the “multiple use” of these public lands as required by both the Wild Horse Act and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. Currently, while there are other uses of this public land, such as by wildlife, hunters, and recreational users, the two primary uses in those HMAs are by wild horses and livestock. If BLM proceeds with its agreement with RSGA to zero out wild horses in those HMAs, the only major use remaining would be livestock use, meaning that there would be no multiple use of those BLM lands. Not only will that potentially undermine the laws that BLM officials must implement here, but it has practical adverse effects on the resources – multiple use is very beneficial for the environment, and particularly for sensitive vegetation, because different users (e.g., livestock, wild horses) use the lands and vegetation in different ways. When that is eliminated, the resources are subjected to an unnatural use of the lands which can cause severe long-term damage to the vegetation. As a result, zeroing out these herds would likely bedevastating for the vegetation in these two HMAs, because livestock would be by far the predominant use in this area.
12. Turning the White Mountain HMA into a non-reproducing herd, as the agreement between BLM and RSGA proposes to do, is also a farce, and violates the meaning of a wild and free-roaming animal. This is essentially a slow-motion zeroing out of this HMA, and is inconsistent with any wild horse management approach I am familiar with that BLM has implemented on public lands.
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
Lloyd Eisenhauer
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Conflict of Interests?
From Casper Star Tribune
Economists say 2018 may be better for Wyoming, but long-term issues are still unresolved
Jan 7, 2018
With oil prices pushing $60 per barrel and natural gas prices improving as well, many of the challenges caused by the energy bust that hit Wyoming two years ago may be eased. The improvements in the oil and natural gas industries are important because the state relies on energy companies for roughly 70 percent of its tax revenue and the bust has led to a several-hundred-million dollar budget deficit.
http://trib.com/business/economists-say-may-be-better-for-wyoming-but-long-term/article_df775b19-830f-5b5c-80cd-cc48cde76b28.html#utm_source=trib.com&utm_campaign=%2Femail-updates%2Fdaily-headlines%2F&utm_medium=email&utm_content=66C041A6DB0DAC32FE48018EC208D852193B173E
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BLM Wyoming Federal Lease Sale, December 14, 2017
45 Parcels covering 72,844.05 acres available for lease.
The BLM Wyoming State Office received 3 protests for the Notice of Competitive Oil and Gas Internet-Based Lease Sale Notice.
3 protests were received
All protests have been dismissed. For more information visit the BLM website.
Information Notice #1 09/11/2017
Review the Information Notice #1 to the Notice of Competitive Oil and Gas Internet-Based Lease Sale
Notice of Competitive Oil and Gas Internet-Based Lease Sale
Review the August 9, 2017 Notice of Sale
The official description of each parcel being offered in the sale is defined by the Sale Notice and associated modifications posted by the BLM State Office on their official website.
GIS Data WGS84 | GIS Data NAD83 | GIS Data NAD27
Download GIS Data for this sale in the form of a shapefile
Please be advised that the information contained herein is for REFERENCE USE ONLY and is not suitable for legal, engineering, or surveying purposes. Neither the Bureau of Land Management nor EnergyNet.com shall be liable for any direct, indirect or consequential damages to any party arising out of or in connection with the use of data contained herein.
https://www.energynet.com/govt_listing.pl?sg=2897
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The document goes so far as to say, ‘the management of wild horse and burro herds is not compatible within those portions of commercial tar sands lease areas.’”
by Grandma Gregg
In addition to the welfare ranchers, here is another major cause of our wild ones being captured & removed & sterilized … please become aware of the Richfield tar sands plan.
The Richfield tar sands has already effected our wild ones and continues to do so as of TODAY with the BLM proposal to rid the White Mountain and Little Colorado of more/all of the wild ones and the same with the Sinbad wild burro HMA (comments due Monday).
The Richfield tar sands plan has been in progress since about 2010 and if you look at the list below you will see that most of these HMAs (plus West Douglas HA) have been heavily captured/removed in recent years.
The document Wild horses & burros being removed for Richfield Tar Sands plan
goes so far as to say, “the management of wild horse and burro herds is not compatible within those portions of commercial tar sands lease areas”. How much clearer can it be. They want the wild ones GONE.
Proof: http://www.riversimulator.org/Resources/BLM/OSTSdeis/OSTSfinal.pdf
TABLE 3.1.3-1 Wild Horse Herd Management Areas within the Oil Shale and Tar Sands Study Area (page 3-167)
Wyoming
Little Colorado
White Mountain
Salt Wells
Adobe Town
Colorado
Piceance-East Douglas
Utah
Canyonlands
Muddy Creek
Range Creek
Sinbad
[PLUS Herd Areas which are not discussed in this report – such as the West Douglas HA]
More Richfield tar sands information:
Click to access UT33-RichfieldFinalPlan.pdf
Sinbad Wild Burro EA information:
Click to access Sinbad%20Draft%20EA.pdf
https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/planAndProjectSite.do?methodName=renderDefaultPlanOrProjectSite&projectId=51041
https://rtfitchauthor.com/2016/01/07/wild-horses-burros-being-removed-for-richfield-tar-sands-plan/
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God help us fight for our wild horses and burros now.
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WHO benefit$ from these removals of America’s Federally Protected Wild Horses?
It certainly is NOT the Public
It is NOT the People of Wyoming?
WHO?
Wyoming considers doubling popular state park in Bighorn foothills as visitation grows
Jan 9, 2018
State Parks administrator Dominic Bravo said the park has experienced significant growth in recent years and needs more campsites and trails to accommodate the new volume of visitors.
“It was kind of a supply and demand piece,” Bravo said. “We can just see the need to expand.”
http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/wyoming-considers-doubling-popular-state-park-in-bighorn-foothills-as/article_06edc4e1-b8ad-5a17-a842-60a128441b8e.html
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More Wyoming Airbnb users, combined with new tax deal, lead to revenue boost for state
Jan 11, 2018
Wyoming collected roughly $1.25 million more in lodging tax between August and December 2017 than it did the year prior, before the Airbnb tax collection arrangement was in place, though that increase also corresponds with an overall improvement in the state’s economy
More Wyomingites than ever appear to be using online platforms to rent their homes to travelers looking for somewhere to stay other than a hotel.
http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/more-wyoming-airbnb-users-combined-with-new-tax-deal-lead/article_87f8c6cc-fb2c-5921-8b44-0f2d98e4ff5f.html
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Probably a lot of that relates to the Eclipse in August, it would be interesting to separate out that event from other income during that time. Highways were jammed for days/miles, and some folks were renting out camping spots in their pastures in WY.
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From Center for Western Priorities
ON THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY
100 years of opposition to our
nation’s natural treasures
http://westernpriorities.org/special/2016/monuments/
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That’s stop this shit before it’s all gone and the West is gone save the wild
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It is complete BS to claim on one hand they are short staffed and people have to take advantage of an ANNUAL site visit to find horses to adopt, then on the other reject credible and proven volunteer citizen photographers to publicize and get these horses to where the BLM wants them — out of their hands. We have the technology in almost every hand anymore to quickly get large numbers of animals photographed and online, even if they don’t yet have full freeze brands etc. Most have distinctive markings anyway, and their gender/approximate age and home ranges won’t change!
Why not get Animal Angels involved, for example, or advertise horses by roundup date and location, rather than force potential adopters to wade through the myriad BLM galleries — which include some outdated photos and every time I look seem to have few or no geldings availalble. Since this represents half (or more) of a wild population, one is left to speculate why the larger and often older animals have disappeared.
It’s also very disconcerting to recognize some horses rounded up last fall may never have even made it into Rock Springs but could have been shipped right away, untraceable. I contacted LIsa Reid while the roundup was still underway but even to today have had zero reply.
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This whole holocaust is a scam. They have no right pawing our wild Equines. Are there any more lawsuits against this?
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Pawing? Can you explain?
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WHITE PAPER
on the Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse & Burro Program,
with a Focus on Problems Related to Holding Facilities
Despite its constant program of removal and relocation of wild equids, BLM’s actual authority to remove them from their herd areas is quite limited. First, BLM must obtain reliable information about the herd, the environment, and the range conditions.
Second, an analysis of that data must result in a finding that there is an overpopulation of horses or burros in that herd area.
Third, BLM must identify those animals who are “excess.” Finally, and only if it is necessary, BLM can remove the “excess” horses or burros. Id. § 1332(b)(2). The agency can only take animals out of the herd who “must be removed.” Id. § 1332(f) (emphasis added).
Where BLM has not made a determination that wild horses or burros in a herd are “excess” and it is necessary to remove them, any removal decision is subject to being set aside as being “in excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority, or limitations, or short of statutory right.”20
http://wildhorsefreedomfederation.org/white-paper/
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BLM eliminated all the restrictions regarding removal of “excess” simply by setting low AML’s, then creating the dialogue that “over AML” equaled excess, meaning “over-populated” to lawmakers and the general public…… The corresponding Herd Management Area acres are never easily listed along with the AML to give proper perspective.
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There was an interactive map that showed all of the Herd Areas, Herd Management Areas and grazing allotments which was very helpful to Public Stakeholders.
BLM has since removed it from their website
GeoCommunicator Home
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ECOLOGY LAW CURRENTS
A National Injustice: The Federal Government’s Systematic Removal and Eradication of an American Icon
Bruce Wagman & Lisa McCurdy
One area in which the BLM consistently relies on old data is in its determination of AMLs.
The BLM’s error in using old figures is then compounded when those calculations are applied to the periodic inventories that are made of wild horse populations in an area.
BLM’s reliance on outdated inventories is illustrated by the United States General Accounting Office’s (GAO) 1990 review of the Wild Horse Program.[33] The GAO found that a 1987 herd management plan set the wild horse target population in six Nevada herd areas at the estimated 1974 levels.[34]
There is little indication that the BLM has improved on the quality of data upon which it relies since that time.
http://elq.typepad.com/currents/2011/02/currents38-02-wagmanmccurdy-2011-0215.html
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Please Read this article. PROTECT THE HARVEST IS BEHIND THE PURCHASE OF THE HORSES. THEY ARE CLAIMING THEY DON’T WANT TO SLAUGHTER THEM. WE NEED TO REALLY PUT AS MUCH FEEDBACK TO THIS AS POSSIBLE.
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https://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/local/group-says-it-doesnt-want-to-slaughter-virginia-range-horses/
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If you contacted Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval to protect the Virginia Range wild horses – thank you.
You may have received an email response from the Governor’s office outlining “criteria” for the state’s ill-conceived plan to give away the 3,000 Virginia Range wild horses. Unfortunately, what the Governor failed to even mention is that by the state giving away the horses, the state and citizens would have NO power to stop the new owner from killing healthy horses. The state can have whatever “criteria” or “intent” it wants — but the final decisions about the horses’ fate would rest with the new OWNER. The horses would be deemed privately-owned and would be subject to all laws pertaining to domestic horses/livestock (e.g. branding laws, liability laws, etc.)
The Governor and his Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDA) know that transferring ownership of these horses to a private party is not viable especially from a liability perspective. Currently, under Nevada law, the state owns the horses and is exempt from any liability of damage or injury caused by the horses. This exemption from liability would not pertain to any private owner of the horses. Thus, the transfer of the 3,000 horses to a private entity that has good intentions for the horses is not practical. AWHC strongly believes that no legitimate advocacy organization could take on this type of liability.
While what the Governor wrote sounds nice. However, the Governor and NDA are disingenuous when they asssert that this is in the interest of protecting and preserving the horses because their scheme cannot be implemented as advertised.
Lastly, we need to remind you that the only supporters of this giveaway plan is Protect the Harvest, the organization lobbying to legalize the killing of America’s wild horses and burros, and ranchers who have long pushed to kill wild horses.
American Wild Horse Campaign
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WYOMING
ENERGY NET/GAS & OIL LEASES
Sealed Bid Lots – Sale Pending
AND
Recently Sold Sealed Bid Lots
https://www.energynet.com/ncp_listing.pl
Lot 40260 Family Tree Corporation
Non-Producing Leasehold Acreage
Laramie County, Wyoming
Lot 33825- Yates Petroleum Corporation
69 Well Package (Non-Operated WI)
Campbell County, WY
Lot 33828- Yates Petroleum Corporation
Non-Operated WI and ORRI
Sublette County, Wyoming
Lot 36939 WYOTEX Oil Company et al
91 Well Package (Producing MI/RI & ORRI)
Converse County, Wyoming
Lot 36242 Anadarko Petroleum Corporation
Operations & Overriding Royalty Interest
Campbell, Converse and Johnson Counties, Wyoming
Lot 40286 BXP Partners IV, LP
HBP Leasehold (5,849.09 Gross / 5,154.68 Net Acres)
Campbell County, Wyoming
Lot 42631 Energen Resources Corporation
HBP Federal Leasehold Acreage
Converse County, Wyoming
Lot 40834 BXP Partners IV, L.P.
HBP Leasehold Acreage
Campbell County, Wyoming
Lot 39159 HRM Resources II, LLC
Operated Working Interest and Overriding Royalty Interests
Campbell, Crook and Natrona Counties, Wyoming
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