An open letter from Charlotte Roe
Wild Equid Partners and Friends,
photo by Carol Walker of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
1. Stopping the Path Backward: Very shortly, the Senate Appropriations Committee will consider funding a plan for the de facto extermination of wild horses and burros that the National Cattlemen’s Association and allies aim to ram through Congress. The plan would cut wild equine herd populations to pre-1971 levels, authorize mass sterilizations of wild mares, and triple the number of WHBs incarcerated with no provision to protect them from slaughter. It would crash remnant herds by manipulating sex ratios and keeping them below genetically viable levels. Billed as a compromise between two animal welfare bureaucracies and the lobbying coalition that has long sought to clear public lands for subsidized livestock grazing and extractive industries, it would actually put the BLM’s broken Roundup & Remove system on steroids.
The plan is hidden within an appropriations bill for the Interior Department. The House has already passed a partial funding of the BLM’s requested authorization for the program, but the appropriations package must be approved by the Senate, then be taken up by a House-Senate conference. Please consider contacting your Senators (by whatever means, once again) and meeting with their regional staff informing them about this highly controversial, deeply flawed and compromised plan. Shout if you need background information or briefing pointers.
2. Stealing public lands: A new PBS video by Jeffrey Brown vividly depicts the Administration’s massive attacks on our public lands and governance, including the “largest reduction of federally protected land in US history, according to a recent study by the journal Science.” This includes not only the removal of wilderness protections from millions of acres but also severe reduction of Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, prioritization of oil & gas development, and stacking BLM leadership with leaders ensconced in those industries. The video goes to the heart of why public lands matter. It merits sharing far & wide:
A recent article in The Guardian also delves into the conflict of interest at the highest levels of the Department of Interior, starting with DOI Secretary Bernhardt.
3, Speaking up for animal rights: One interesting sign of change is a “PAWlicy” just released by Presidential candidate Julian Castro, whose platform covers several dimensions of animal rights and wildlife protection, including wild horses & burros! May this be a challenge to ALL the candidates to address these and the related issues of public lands:
4. Violence against wild burros: The monstrous shooting of wild burros in California—42 left to die by the roadside—finally sparked the BLM into posting a reward to find the perpetrator(s). RTF, AWHC and The Cloud Foundation have joined in to to increase the reward to $18,500. The scope of these murders is stunning. Wild burros desperately need respect and understanding of their place in the West and their enormous benefits for the ecosystem. Not driving them off public lands. Not roundups. Never this. The following includes a BLM press release:
Thanks for what you can do to raise the wild ones’ voices — C
Share this on behalf of the Horses and Burros::
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Straight from the Horse's Heart 
This is insane and if our Government goes through with such an idea that will not sit well with many people. The land is ours not the cattle ranchers not the oil companies but the peoples and the majority want the wild horses.
It’s a cruel enough world why make it worse by killing off innocent horses. Sick and unjustified!
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They WILL go through with this unless and until enough of our 325 million citizens insist otherwise, and vote for a different outcome.
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Our hired hands at work (the video clip shows a marker indicating an area is “closed for soil and wildlife protection” yet the plan evidently includes letting more commercial cattle grazing):
“The Trump administration has finalized a proposal for management of Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument that allows more cattle grazing around the monument and allows some area around the monument to be mined for coal or natural gas.
The Associated Press reported Friday that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has issued its final proposal for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which cuts 1,345 square miles from the monument’s legal designation. …
“The Trump administration is wasting taxpayer dollars that should go to protecting our public lands and using them to open important places to destructive fossil fuel extraction,” House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said in a statement. “Never mind the climate, never mind the law, never mind public opinion – they continue to destroy our protected places for the benefit of their industry friends. This is a dangerous precedent for all our national monuments.”‘
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/458542-blm-issues-final-plan-for-reduced-utah-monument
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From PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility)
DAVID BERNHARDT AND THE BANALITY OF EVIL
The Bureau of Land Management’s Branch of Pipeline Monitoring (BLM/BPM) oversees the 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. PEER discovered that, without any public announcement, BLM/BPM cut its engineering oversight on the more than 40-year-old structure. If you want to know the reason why, the “Point of Contact” listed on the BLM/BPM website is Alyeska, the consortium of oil companies that owns the pipeline. Why bother with a government middle man?
By the time the revolving door deposits him back in the lap of his industry clients, he may have done more harm to the nation’s vast heritage of public lands than any other individual.
https://www.peer.org/news/peermail/david-bernhardt-and-the-banality-of-evil.html
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