Rock Springs, Wyoming, is not exactly what I would call ‘close’ to Colorado Springs. Nevertheless, our new intern, Erin Clifford from Michigan; and I hopped in the car and started up I-25 northbound, picking up our fellow wild horse advocate friend, Rachel Reeves, along the way.
Moving Cloud Productions & Congressmen Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
announce a special showing of the ground-breaking film
Wild Horses & Renegades
Acclaimed documentary screens at 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 7, 2011 on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. at the Capitol Visitor Center Orientation Theater South.
The Bureau of Land Management announced today its tentative summer schedule for gathering wild horses and burros from overpopulated herds on Western public rangelands. The gathers are needed to bring herd sizes into balance with other rangeland resources and uses, as required by Federal law and approved land-use plans.
With roundup season starting up again, it is imperative, now more than ever, that we all raise our voices in support of our wild horses and burros. BLM is still soliciting comments for their planned roundup in Divide Basin, a larger herd in southern Wyoming near Rock Springs. We ask that you submit your own comments regarding the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Divide Basin Herd Management Area (HMA). There are gross inadequacies and faulty data utilized in the scope of this EA which will come as no surprise. What is a bit more surprising is the rush to create a non-reproducing herd as an alternative, which is what they want to do to in White Mountain and Little Colorado! If a roundup is conducted this summer, the herd will be reduced to only 415 horses on over 700,000 acres with many of these horses being non-reproducers! The Cloud Foundation’s comments for this EA are available online here. Read on for a sample format!
Date: June 17, 2011 Contact: Serena Baker, (307) 212-0197 After considering public input, the Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming High Desert District is re-evaluating certain aspects of its decision record related to spaying gathered mares during the proposed White Mountain/Little Colorado herd management areas wild horse gather. As […]
WASHINGTON (June 17, 2011) – The Cloud Foundation is planning a series of nationwide protests against the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM)’s decision to wipe-out two wild horse herds in southern Wyoming—using dangerous experimental sterilizations in the field. The Foundation opposes The Salalzar Initiative which includes sterilizing entire wild horse herds on the range. The initiative was introduced in Congress in 2009 and was met with fierce opposition including more than 54 members of Congress opposing the roundups entirely. On June 21st the public will protest outside the BLM statewide hearing meeting at 5:30 PM at the BLM Field Office in Rock Springs, WY.
WASHINGTON (June 16, 2011) – The Cloud Foundation opposes the BLM’s “Record of Decision” released this Tuesday to wipe out two wild horse herds in southern Wyoming. It includes a massive round up and removal of most horses in the area, but it also implements the spaying of mares and the gelding of all stallions to be returned to the White Mountain and Little Colorado herd management areas.
This morning the Rock Springs, Wyoming BLM office published a Decision Record for the White Mountain and Little Colorado Herd Areas.
Here it is:
Normally these decision records come as no surprise – despite thousands of comments from the public against the roundup, (over 7000 in this case) usually the Alternative A is chosen, what the BLM wanted all along: bringing the herd numbers down to the lower end of AML, using birth control on the mares, and more recently, a crude twist – skewing the sex ration favoring stallions over mares.
Not this time.
Despite a not so rosy weather picture, Lauryn and I started out from Colorado to Montana, encountering sleet, snow and rain on our way to Billings. Luckily, the rain stopped overnight, allowing us to access the road to the Freedom Fund horses. It was a windy, but lovely, day to visit. Because of all the moisture, the huge 1,000 plus acre pasture is beginning to explode with new growth, the cottonwoods have all leafed out, and the creek is running high. I could see where it had flooded during the past few weeks of near constant rain.
Horse and burro protection occupies a very special place in the big idea known as “animal welfare.” Wild horses embody the Western spirit that has animated our national conversation about protecting animals and open spaces. Horses and burros form some of the strongest bonds with humans found anywhere in the animal kingdom.
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