The Proposed Action, Alternative B, would reissue 24 grazing permits on 36 allotments with updated terms and conditions to protect the Colorado hookless cactus and DeBeque phacelia, according to the scoping document.

The allotments and the affected species are shown in Figure 2.

Not shown in the map is the Little Book Cliffs WHR, which is west of and adjacent to Red Rock.  Click on image to open in new tab.

Although comments will be accepted through January 10, Western Horse Watchers was unable to find the “Participate Now” button mentioned in the “How to Get Involved” section of the project.

Of interest to the wild horse world is Alternative C, the No Grazing option.

Under this alternative, public lands within the allotments would be devoted to a public purpose that precludes livestock grazing.  The grazing permits would be canceled on the 36 allotments, and use of the allotments by livestock would be discontinued.

The permittees would be given two years’ prior notification before their grazing permit and grazing preference were canceled as specified in 43 CFR 4110.4-2.

Further, no livestock grazing would be authorized after the termination date unless a new environmental analysis is completed which determines that livestock grazing could be authorized on all or some portion of the area.

Any private acreage within the allotments or private lands in close proximity to the allotments could continue to be grazed at landowners’ discretion.  However, landowners would be required to keep their livestock off BLM-administered public lands and additional fencing may be needed to prevent livestock from trespassing on said lands.

Livestock-related range improvements would be abandoned and/or removed and reclaimed where there is no clear benefit to other programs.

In short, confine the ranchers to their base properties in a year-round off season and let them pay market rates to feed their animals.

This is a much better option for our wild horses than the Wild Horse Fire Brigade.

RELATED: Wild Horse Fire Brigade Serves Ranchers, Not Wild Horses.

“Through our humane fertility control program, we make sure the population is reducing without ever removing one horse.”

Yep, we’re protecting them from removal by getting rid of them with PZP.

You won’t see one foal in the video.  How can that possibly bode well for the horses?

RELATED: Words Have Different Meanings in the Wild Horse World.

In the wild horse world, the Canadian singer-songwriter is known for “La Primera,” a ballad told from the horse’s viewpoint.  More on his career in this story by AP News.

The year saw some of the stupidest ideas yet from the advocates.

In the legislative arena, three bills come to mind:

• H. R. 6635, the helicopter ban.  The advocates thought that footage from the Buffalo Hills roundup would convince the American people that removals by wrangler are better than removals by helicopter.
• H. R. 7631, the veterans against mustangs act.  Combat veterans would be recruited to help the advocates pummel the mares with their favorite pesticide.
• H. R. 9154, the rancher protection act.  This self-serving measure, drafted by advocates for the benefit of advocates, would prohibit surgical sterilization but not chemical sterilization (with the Montana Solution).

All three died in committee, thankfully.  But they speak volumes about those who supported them.

Regarding their important work, the advocates came up with these profound ideas:

• If we get rid of them, they can stay
• We’re protecting them from removal by getting rid of them with PZP
• If we don’t get rid of them, the BLM will
• We’re changing the way wild horse herds are managed, not their land
• We have a better way (to get rid of wild horses)
• You have to manage the numbers to fit what’s available for the horses

It’s getting harder and harder to distinguish them from the tools of their trade.

Give them the boot in 2023.

RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Christmas Wish Edition.

That’s a possibility according to Bob Vahle, biologist and Region 1 Director for the Arizona Wildlife Federation, a hunting advocacy group.

Vahle told a reporter for Arizona PBS in a story posted today that the horses are competing with native wildlife.

“They may be competing with a permittee’s livestock … you think everybody loves horses, but I kind of take it in this situation, they’re looking at them as having impacts on habitat, impacts on the wildlife that they may like or impacts on maybe a rancher’s livelihood.”

So in those cases it’s okay to shoot them?

Contrary to what you read in the article, horses appear in the North American fossil record, cattle and sheep do not.

A spokesman for the Forest Servive said the best way to prevent future shootings is to get rid of them, the same approach used by the advocates to stop roundups.

He indicated that adverse impacts to the forest are due to unauthorized non-native species, not authorized non-native species, suggesting that the real issue is not wild vs feral, but who’s robbing forage from whom.

Curiously, the writer noted that “Horses present during the passage of the Wild Horse and Burro Act are protected, but those that arrived after that or were born out there are considered unauthorized livestock and aren’t protected.”

RELATED: Alpine Roundup Continues as More Horses Found Dead.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, HR 2617, was signed today according to a White House news release.

The fledgling roundup schedule may grow noticeably larger.

RELATED: FY 2023 Omnibus Going Through Enrollment Process.

From the National Data Viewer.

First, the nearest HMAs, in orange.

Next, the former HMAs in black, unfit for wild horses.

Finally, the grazing allotments in green, managed exclusively for livestock.

This is how the bureaucrats nullify laws they don’t agree with.

RELATED: Comparing the HAs and HMAs.

The winner named the foal “Tako Kichi,” according to a story by the Maryland Coast Dispatch, but the list maintained by AIA indicates “Take Kichi.”

RELATED: Assateague Filly Up for Naming.

Just remember that you’re dealing with a resource enforcement action, or livestock protection plan if you prefer, not an RMP amendment.

Concerns about forage allocations and management priorities, although valid, are outside the scope of the project.

Comments should focus on the removal of excess horses, achieving AML and keeping the population at that level, so ranchers can access their fair share of the resources.

That the area was identified for wild horses is of no consequence.

Here are some examples:

• Revealing the location of horses near private property
• Reporting damage to a road that may be used to haul captured horses
• Offering to provide an aggressive darting program at no cost to the government
• Encouraging the BLM to get the numbers down as soon as possible
• Submitting photos of damage to livestock fencing

The careful observer will realize that this opportunity for public involvement is a ruse that maintains the status quo at the expense of America’s wild horses.

RELATED: Clan Alpine Scoping Begins.

The December 20 news release said the BLM would burn piles of branches near Jackson Ranch in Genoa, NV and Geiger Grade in the Virginia City Highlands when enough precipitation has fallen to prevent the fires from spreading beyond the pile areas and road conditions allow safe access.

The forecast for Virginia City, slightly to the south, shows rain and snow most of the week, perhaps too much to get anything to burn.

Most of the land in the Virginia Range is privately owned, denoted by white in this map from the National Data Viewer, but the BLM does control some acreage, denoted by tan.

Western Horse Watchers suspects the burns in the Highlands will occur on a 44-acre parcel surrounded by private lots, as shown in Storey County parcel map 03-18.

The announcement said the trees, probably pinyon pines and junipers, were thinned to reduce high severity wildfire and increase growth and vigor of the remaining trees.

Western Horse Watchers knows what you’re thinking: They sound like the advocates!

“If we get rid of them, they can stay.”

Speaking of the advocates, they have been pummeling the Virginia Range mares with their favorite pesticide for four years, and many are now at risk of sterility.

They do this not because they care about the horses but because they’re desperate for the approval of the bureaucrats and ranchers.

They are not having second thoughts about what they are doing.

Why are you still giving them money?

RELATED: Virginia Range Crimefighting Update for December.

Horses have the day off.

In the Black Mountain HMA with Motorcycles and Poker Adventures.