Cancellation of the project is not necessarily a bad thing, according to climate czar John Kerry, because the workers will be able to “make solar panels” instead of an oil pipeline.
The incident reflects a belief not in the primacy of the individual but in the preeminence of government.
The fossil record suggests that horses evolved in North America and nobody disputes that they were brought to the New World by Spanish explorers around 500 years ago.
But was the disembarkation a reintroduction or a supplementation?
The official storyline says it was a reintroduction.
A summary of comments on a new management plan for the Big Summit WHT includes a reprint of an article by Craig Downer on the subject, beginning on page 49 of the pdf.
At the top of page 53 is a remark about the discovery near Winnemucca Lake in Nevada that was mentioned in the Holy Grail post. The evidence contradicted the wild horse narrative and “appear[s] to have vanished under suspect circumstances,” according to Mr. Downer.
RELATED: Wild vs. Feral: Are America’s Horses a Re-Introduced Species?
Multiple samples failed to meet standards for rangeland health so the Designated Area was immediately placed into the Improve category. No major problems are expected, however, as there are many such areas in the western U.S., even where horses have been zeroed out.
A spokesman for the Bureau of Livestock on Mars said an RMP and EIS are in the works but they will not be put out for public review because grazing is “too important” for the red planet’s fledgling economy.
He went on to say that retraining cattle ranchers for other roles, such as solar techs, would be “darn near impossible.”
The spacecraft carried the historic first doses of PZP to the surface, so the ranchers can get out in front of the horse problem before it even gets started. Clipboards and darting rifles will be delivered in a subsequent mission.
RELATED: ‘Perseverance’ on Mars, Stakes Claim for Public-Lands Ranchers.
Did you know it involved horses? Kim Harris has the story on page 9 of the February edition of Horse Tales.
The list was updated yesterday, with the Sand Wash roundup currently in progress.
Six burros were removed from the Lake Pleasant HMA in a nuisance gather on February 2, according to the schedule, but Western Horse Watchers was unable to find an announcement on BLM’s main news page.
Next up is nuisance gather in the Piceance-East Douglas HMA (may have already started) and a planned gather in the Black Mountain HMA, home of the Oatman burros.
Onaqui Mountain is on the list for July, with Beatys Butte in August.
More information at the WHB gather page.
The project involves water systems in two grazing allotments that intersect the Piper Mountain HMA near Deep Springs, CA, according to a BLM news release issued today.
Comments will be accepted through March 29.
The EA says the current burro population is zero and horses are very seldom seen.
The management plan for Piper Mountain allows 17 horses and 82 burros on 96,261 acres, for an equivalent stocking rate of 0.6 wild horses per thousand acres.
Horses can be found in the Fish Lake Valley HMA, according to the EA, where an estimated 120 animals live. See page 30 in the Nevada wild horse maps.
The Allotment Master report shows most of the allotments in the Maintain category.
In a first-of-its-kind mission, an American spacecraft has designated a large swath of the Martian surface for livestock grazing, before any horses can escape or be turned loose by explorers from Earth.
The vehicle touched down in an area known as Ubiquitous Valley, aptly named for a practice that’s devoured hundreds of millions of acres in the western U.S.
A story by WKRN News of Nashville, TN regarding a horse rescue included a link for daily livestock exports from Texas to Mexico.
The most recent report, dated February 23, shows 1,992 horses shipped to slaughter year to date.
The largest category is beef cattle.
The site offers reports on other export channels to Mexico. Type ‘exports’ in the Search Publications field and hit Enter.
UPDATE: A weekly summary is also available.
Two ‘advocacy’ groups have asked DOI nominee Deb Haaland to stop the sterilization of mares from the Confusion HMA, according to a news release in Horse Nation, while concurring with her vision of ‘humane management’ of wild horse herds—code words for PZP fertility control.
Managing HMAs and WHTs primarily for livestock must be an acceptable practice to these people, perhaps the preferred practice. Instead of pushing back against the ranchers, they push back against the horses.
Allowing four permittees to utilize most of the resources in the Piceance-East Douglas HMA does not conform to the mandates of 16 USC 30, an act of Congress, according to comment #69 in the appendices of the EA for resource enforcement actions therein.
Western Horse Watchers refers to the practice as ‘managing primarily for livestock.’
In response, the government stated that the ‘principally but not necessarily exclusively’ language of the statute applies only to areas known as Wild Horse Ranges, not to HMAs in general, pointing to 43 CFR 4710.3-2, a rule created by the unelected bureaucracy.
Areas that no longer qualify as HMAs are managed almost exclusively for livestock.
These are the defining issues of the wild horse world.
Can regulations override statutes? Is the government trying to sidestep the law in favor of a special interest? Where is the consent of the governed?
RELATED: Statutes and Regulations, Piceance Decision Record Signed.
If you died and came back as a horse, would you want you as an owner?
The hearing is set for today, according to a story by AP News.
Not all native peoples are defenders of wild horses.
The Yakama in Washington state have been sending their horses to slaughter for years, including pregnant mares.
Rescue of the foals, born in feedlots while the horses await shipment, has turned into a full-time job for the folks at Chilly Pepper Miracle Mustang of Golconda, NV.
RELATED: Haaland to Head Interior?, Yakama Nation, Champions of the Horse.
The one-horse pony held a moment of silence and candle-lighting ceremony today at the White House, marking 500,000 deaths over the past year, according to a story by AP News.
During that same time, approximately twice as many pre-born kids were killed in their mother’s wombs.
The report noted that the U.S., with less than five percent of the world’s population, accounts for 20% of the world’s corona deaths.
Doesn’t that seem a bit odd?
The numbers have been cooked to perfection.
The story is behind a paywall but if you press CTRL+A after dismissing the signup box you can read a few sentences.
The area of interest—consisting of nine former HMAs—is now managed almost exclusively for livestock.
RELATED: BLM Urged to Fight Caliente Legal Action, Moriah’s Cousins.
UPDATE: Oral arguments can be heard in a 22-minute audio segment published by Court Listener. Are the judges suggesting that the RMP amendments that zeroed out the HMAs are now unassailable, no longer subject to legal challenge?
BLM has decided to implement the Proposed Action (Alternative A) in the Final EA, subject to a 30-day appeal period, according to a report by the Craig Press.
The EA and DR can be found in the top section of the project documents.
RELATED: Decision Expected Next Week in Piceance-East Douglas EA?
UPDATE: BLM news release just posted.
At or near the Heber WHT with Friends of the Heber Wild Horses.
The HMA covers 434,200 acres in southern Oregon, near the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, a recently established horse-free zone.
The AML is 250 and the stocking rate allowed by plan is 0.6 wild horses per thousand acres. As stated earlier, fractional stocking rates may signify large amounts of forage diverted to privately owned livestock.
The horses allowed by plan require 250 × 12 = 3,000 AUMs per year. The land must be able to produce at least 3,000 ÷ 434,200 × 1,000 = 6.9 AUMs per thousand acres per year to support the horses.
The HMA lies completely within the 575,495 acre Beaty Butte Allotment, according to page 28 of the EA. Map 2 in the appendices shows the arrangement.
The Allotment Master report from RAS provides the acreage and active AUMs. The average grazing season was computed from data in the Authorization Use report.
To fulfill the forage allocation for livestock, the land must be able to produce at least 26,121 ÷ 575,495 × 1,000 = 45.4 AUMs per thousand acres per year, reinforcing an observation made earlier that forage production goes up when land is designated for livestock. In this case, by a factor of 6.6.
The forage allocation for livestock inside the HMA is approximately 19,000 AUMs per year, according to the discussion on page 55 of the EA. The Beaty Butte permittees would have to place 3,106 cow/calf pairs inside the HMA to graze off 19,000 AUMs in 6.3 months, for a stocking rate of 6.9 cow/calf pairs per thousand acres.
These figures are compared in the following charts.
The HMA is managed primarily for livestock, with the horses receiving just 14% of the authorized forage, neglecting wildlife.
The stocking rate for horses is 8% of that for cattle.
The forage assigned to livestock would support an additional 1,583 wild horses, for a True AML of 1,833.
The current population, based on data from page 7 of the EA, is probably around 500 horses, well within that range, so there is no need for a roundup or darting program.
RELATED: History of Beatys Butte HMA.
The American Wild Horse Campaign has appealed the appointment of Tammy Pearson to the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, according to a guest column appearing today in The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction, CO.
Pearson, a Beaver County commissioner, presumably lives in Beaver County, UT.
The BLM state map puts the county in the Color Country District, Cedar City Field Office.
Western Horse Watchers was able to find ‘Pearson Ranch’ in the Operator Information report from RAS, authorization #4304328. A page on socialist media refers to the Pearson Ranch and current residence in Minersville, UT, which match the name and address in RAS.
The Allotment Information report ties the authorization number to the Minersville #5, Smithson and Beaver Lake allotments.
The Allotment Master report has two in the Improve category and one in the Custodial category. Pearson holds most of the active AUMs in Minersville and all of the active AUMs in Beaver Lake and Smithson.
In the custodial allotment, public lands represent 42% of the total area and 61% of the total AUMs. It’s not clear how it qualifies for that classification, which conceals its true condition.
The Authorization Use report shows grazing seasons and the number of animals on the permit.
Although AWHC may be doing something useful here—pushing back against the ranching cabal—it does not absolve them from their ruinous darting programs on the Virginia Range and elsewhere.
RELATED: BLM Fills WHBAB Vacancies, Allotment Categories Explained.
In the 1930s and 1940s, an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 wild horses roamed the area, according to the discussion at the bottom of page 38 in a 2019 EA for resource enforcement actions in the HMA.
By the mid-1950s, fewer than 50 horses remained.
The EA does not say how that happened or who was responsible.
RELATED: Status of Beaty Butte Allotment?
Western Horse Watchers Association 