The catch phrases that have caught my attention most recently – and begged for further review – were ‘Portions of Public land will be temporarily closed…” for whatever reasons; and ‘Drought’. So I did a little exploration. Let’s talk about ‘temporary closure of Public Lands’.
Last night, July 3rd 2005, I entered Terry’s office to shut down the computer prior to heading for bed. Everyone else was tucked away and I was just doing the last minute security sweep when my eyes caught the bright glare of a fireworks rocket heading for the stars in the northern sky. When it reached it’s predestined point of suicide, it erupted into a brilliant display of red and blue stars cascading downward across the acres of millet that separate us from a distant subdivision. I walked closer to the window when, suddenly, the noise of the explosion reached our farm. BOOM! As the sound trailed off, another took its place -the thunder of hooves. The horses were freaked.
This has been a banner week for the horses and that’s something that we cannot lay claim to near often enough.
Denver, CO (June 14, 2010)—The Cloud Foundation has learned that the San Francisco based public relations and public affairs firm, Kearns and West, with ties to big energy and offices across the country, has been hired to push the Salazar Plan for Wild Horses and Burros through Congress in Fall 2010—despite public outrage. Kearns and West has expertise in crisis management as well as accomplishing policy and regulatory goals. Their clients range from Mineral Management Services (MMS) and PG&E to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Department of Interior (DOI) has enlisted the firm using the Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution (ECR) as the go between. Senior mediator of Kearns and West, J. Michael Harty will facilitate an unprecedented public workshop in Denver, Colorado at the Magnolia Hotel, 818 17th Street, on June 14th followed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Public Advisory Board Meeting on June 15th. Both days will be live-streamed and viewing available on http://www.thecloudfoundation.org. The public and members of Congress are encouraged to watch. The public will protest on June 15th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. with a press conference at noon.
On June 9th, 2010 a public hearing was held by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Salt Lake City, UT on the issue of using helicopters and motorized vehicles in the controversial round ups of native wild horses on U.S. public lands.
If you did not, personally, attend the meeting you are not going to get a straight answer on what exactly went on or hear/read anything about the questions that were posed to the BLM authorities who were in attendance. Instead you will read local press releases containing ample rehearsed commentary from the BLM with plenty of hype thrown in for Ken Zalazar’s eastern wild horse death parks affectionately known as “Zalazoos”.
Is there an odor circling about that just does not smell quite right?
You know what I mean; that ambient, just can’t quite put your finger on it smell of something that has gone very bad with a sickly sort of sweet smell trying to cover it up. The smell that almost turns you stomach yet it’s masked just enough to keep you from retching. That’s the feeling I get whenever I read a comment made from anyone affiliated with the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro program.
June 3, 2010 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Bob Abbey announced that his agency plans to take the Wild Horse and Burro Program in a new direction, and in so doing he is requesting public comment on the document that implements Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s Wild Horse and Burro Initiative (Salazoo).
Many young people, just as I once did, trust in their government to such an extent that they pledge to die for their country and then swear allegiance to a supreme commander who has never made such a commitment nor worn the uniform. These, our the young Americans, who to this day defend you, me, our country, it’s laws and all of the icons that represent this great land of ours. From sea to shining sea, the plains, the mountains and all the creatures that make our country so special. One of those great and powerful icons is the horse, both domestic and wild as their ancestors carried the likes of Paul Revere, George Washington at the birth of this land to set us free from former oppressors. Without the horse, the United States of America would never be.
Houston, TX – (SFTHH) To the delight of environmentalists and wild horse advocates the construction of the $3 billion Ruby Pipeline has been delayed. The pipeline is slated to run through pristine wilderness from Wyoming through northern Utah and Nevada to Oregon. The project has been the reason that wild horse advocates claim the BLM has been gutting the publicly owned northern Nevada ranges of their native, American wild horses.
I believe that I saw her this morning, just a fleeting glimpse, but I feel that she was there. I knew that she had been swimming in my dreams last night. A man knows these things even if the birth of a new day washes away the details.
Click-on book cover to learn more
Terry & R.T. Fitch Featured
Follow R.T. on Facebook
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Most Recent Comments