The Forest Service continues its investigation, according to a report that appeared today in the White Mountain Independent, but no new information has been provided since the news release of 02/11/19.

Personnel from the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office, which operates the 1-800-78-CRIME hotline, have also refrained from commenting.

At one time a $2,500 reward was posted by NCSO for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible but that has not been mentioned in recent reports.

RELATED: Investigation of Heber Wild Horse Deaths Continues.

Wild Horse Annie: Friend of the Mustangs shows how one woman, working tirelessly over a 20 year period, persuaded Congress to protect America’s wild horses and burros.

“When she saw mustangs being rounded up and killed to make room for ranchers’ livestock, she knew she had to speak up.”

Refer to this listing at Barnes & Noble for details.

What you will find in the book is a woman who truly understood wild horse advocacy, not like the wild-eyed feminists you have today pushing contraceptives and zero population growth onto unsuspecting herds everywhere.

RELATED: Remembering Velma.

Helicopters were back in the air yesterday, with seven more horses pushed off their home range, bring the total to 323.

The goal of the roundup is 575, which will free up 6,900 AUMs annually.  As many as 1,150 additional cow/calf pairs could be placed on the HMA, assuming they graze six months per year.

The BLM is likely paying around $400 per animal removed, based on the cost of the Colville roundup, for a total of $230,000.

For this they can expect to receive up to $9,700 per year in additional grazing fees, for a simple payout of at least 23 years.  If you add the cost of long-term holding, roughly $420,000 per year for 575 horses, there is no payout at all.

Where is the logic in this?

There isn’t any.  It can only be described as redistribution of wealth, from American wage earners to the public-lands ranchers.

Is there any wonder that the ranchers, the contractors, the stock growers associations and cheerleader groups like Protect the Harvest want this gravy train going on forever?

All at the expense of America’s wild horses and burros.

RELATED: Pine Nut Roundup Delayed by Weather.

On the Salt River with Laurel Strohmeyer.

Helicopters were grounded Wednesday through Saturday last week, according to the BLM gather page, with 316 wild horses driven from their HMA.  That means 3,800 AUMs per year can now be allocated to ‘other rangeland resources.’

Almost certainly the roundup was demanded by oil and mining companies, but you’d never know it because the government has done a great job of hiding the derricks and frac tanks.

Pay no attention to the cattle gates, stock tanks and T-post fences.  They are decoys, to make you think the government is actually covering for the public-lands ranchers.

RELATED: BLM Preps Pine Nut Mountains for Spring Turnout.

On the San Rafael Swell in central Utah with the Muddy Creek horses, courtesy of Backpacker Diaries.  The HMA was gathered last September.

The tags, available through the Nevada DMV, support the wild horse preservation efforts of various groups within the herd’s territory, according to a report dated 01/30/19 by The Storey Teller of Virginia City, NV.

RELATED: New Plate Captures the Struggle of America’s Wild Horses.

No, it’s not the BLM.  It’s the New Mexico Livestock Board and its ‘long-term culture against wild horses.’

Wild horse enthusiasts, who won the release of the Alto horses last year, are pushing back against a bill that would put the NMLB in charge of the state’s wild horses, arguing that the agency has a ‘clear vendetta’ against the animals.  See this report, posted today by Ruidoso News.

Instead, they favor a bill known as the Wild Horse Protection and Habitat Act that would, among other things, conduct a census of wild horse herds, develop educational materials, create a fencing program and work with the DOT on safety issues.

They also support a bill that would provide for a special vehicle registration plate expressing support for wild horses.

RELATED: New Plate Captures the Struggle of America’s Wild Horses.

A report posted today by the Big Horn Radio Network of Cody, WY, said the bill carried in the House and Senate and now awaits the governor’s signature.

RELATED: Wyoming Advocates Push for ‘Wild Horse Highway.’

Featuring ‘other rangeland resources.’  Horses were kept here until a few years ago, when they were displaced by livestock.  A pole barn stood in the foreground and a gate opened into the valley, which was enclosed by fencing.

Land ownership unknown.  Photo taken 02/03/19.

Visitors to the watering station are few and far between this time of year.

On Sand Wash Basin HMA with Called To Wander.

The contractor has pushed 294 wild horses off the HMA, through 02/11/19, liberating 3,500 AUMs per year and returning them to their rightful owners.

Refer to the figures at this page, which change as the gather progresses.  To date, no deaths have been reported and no animals have been returned to the range.

Captured animals have been shipped to the off-range corrals at Palomino Valley.

RELATED: Pine Nut Roundup Set for Next Week.

BLM requested applications today for three positions on the nine-member Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, in the areas of humane advocacy, livestock management and wildlife management.

The Board advises the BLM and USFS on matters pertaining to free-roaming horses and burros on public lands administered by those agencies.

Board members serve three-year terms without pay, meeting twice a year, but travel and per diem expenses related to their service are reimbursed.

Nominations are due 45 days after the notice appears in the Federal Register, which should happen tomorrow.  Refer to this news release for application details.

The last WHBAB meeting occurred in Salt Lake City, UT, October 9 – 11, 2018.

A news release posted yesterday by the Forest Service said most of the dead animals were found outside the WHT, which is subject to multiple grazing allotments (see map on page seven of this document).

Ten of the horses have evidence of gunshots, which is unchanged from last week.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office at 1-800-78CRIME.

RELATED: More Wild Horses Found Dead at Heber WHT.