Personal Protective Equipment is the last line of defense when working around hazardous materials and/or dangerous equipment.

The list includes, but is not limited to, chemical-resistant and cut-resistant gloves, safety glasses and goggles, face shields, hard hats, steel-toed shoes and boots, fire-resistant coveralls, welder’s hoods, fall-protection harnesses, dust masks, earmuffs and plugs, and supplied-air, full-face and escape respirators.

The best approach is to eliminate the hazards or minimize contact with them through engineering controls.

Mixers, loaders and applicators of the Montana Solution, an EPA-registered pesticide, must wear long sleeves and pants, and chemical-resistant gloves, according to the precautionary statements on its label.

The advocate in the photo above, a staffer with The Cloud Foundation, demonstrates her skill with a Dan-Inject darting rifle and the proper PPE.

RELATED: What Is FIFRA?

The bill survived its third reading in the Senate on April 27, passing by a vote of 30 to 5 with no new amendments.

Then it was referred to the House Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources Committee.

RELATED: Colorado Wild Horse Project Amended Again, Passed.

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, 7 USC 136, provides for federal regulation of pesticide distribution, sale, and use, according to the overview by the EPA.

Although the advocates oppose the use of GonaCon Equine and promote the use of Zonastat-H (PZP), both are on the list of restricted-use pesticides.

They are not available for purchase or use by the general public.

Definitions of certified applicator and restricted use can be found in the statute.

The EPA registers pesticides according to their use on specific pests and under specific circumstances.  For example, “Pesticide A,” registered for use on apples, may not be used legally on grapes, or an insecticide registered for “outdoor use” may not legally be used inside a building.  In some circumstances, use of a registered pesticide may be restricted to pesticide applicators with special training.

RELATED: Using Pesticides in a Manner Inconsistent with Their Labeling.

Farmers use herbicides to control weeds.  Directions and precautions are specified on their labels.

What about the Montana Solution, a restricted-use pesticide?

The bureaucrats and advocates use it to achieve and maintain AMLs so ranchers can access most of the food and water in areas identified for wild horses and burros.

The product is used for pest control in animal agriculture.

Unfortunately, it can be used only on female horses and burros that are capable of doing environmental damage, according to a 2017 labeling amendment by the EPA, not those trying to reclaim their food from said ranchers.

Claiming that there are too many horses and burros in their lawful homes, that they’re robbing forage from livestock and wildlife, or that they’re a hazard to public health and safety, do not warrant the poisoning of those animals with said pesticide.

In addition to using the product in a manner that’s consistent with its labeling, governments overseeing such programs must name certified applicators as their designated agents, as discussed earlier this week.

RELATED: Connecting the Dots: PZP Is Used for Animal Agriculture!

Wherever the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses is involved, or one of its affiliates, wild horse numbers go down.  Ever notice that?

Can you imagine a group claiming to protect bald eagles reporting decreases in eagle sightings three years in a row?

Can you imagine giving money to such an organization?

In the story earlier this week by Colorado Politics regarding SB23-275, Tracy “You need to manage the numbers to fit what’s available for the horses” Wilson, field marshal for CAAWH, said her group saw a 61% reduction in births and a 20% reduction in herd size on the Virginia Range between 2020 and 2022.

Back then the herd size was around 3,000, maybe a bit more, but let’s use 3,000.

If there was no darting program and the herd grew at a very modest rate of 10% per year, the population would have increased over 20% during that period.

If the growth rate was 15% per year, the population would have increased over 30%.

Instead, it decreased 20%.

The herd should contain 3,600 to 3,900 animals.

But it only contains 2,400 animals, meaning that the advocates took 1,200 to 1,500 animals off the range between 2020 and 2022, rivaling the largest of roundups and affirming previous statements on these pages that, next to the federal government, nobody’s getting rid of more wild horses than the wild horse advocates.

On the Salt River, plaintiffs in a case filed yesterday claim the Forest Service approved a plan in February to reduce the population over a ten-year period from 400 to 500 wild horses to 100 to 200 via birth control, according to a story posted today by Courthouse News Service.

They believe the current figure is closer to 600 and the goal will take 25 to 35 years to achieve.

Who’s doing the reducing?

The Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group, an affiliate of CAAWH.

RELATED: Coalition Sues Forest Service Over Salt River Horses.

Hunters have joined forces with the Center for Biological Diversity, the group that forced the removal of the “Jumping Mouse” horses last year, alleging that the agency failed to protect the Lower Salt River Recreation Area from hundreds of horses that threaten endangered species habitat, according to a news release dated April 27.

The complaint, filed yesterday in Phoenix, asks the court to vacate and set aside a 2017 Intergovernmental Agreement between the Arizona Department of Agriculture and the Tonto National Forest and a 2023 Salt River Horse Management Plan, an outgrowth of the Intergovernmental Agreement.

The Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group, an affiliate of the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses charged with thinning the herd, was not named in the case.

The plaintiffs claim there are 600 horses in an area that can only support 28 to 44 and that the current strategy for herd reduction requires too much time.

Horses moved into area from adjoining lands in the late 1970s after the Forest Service terminated livestock grazing in the Goldfield Allotment, according to the complaint.

Construction of the 0.1 acre facility would begin on or after June 1, according to the project description in ePlanning.

A DNA was posted yesterday for public review.

The new trap, a constant reminder that horses are not a priority in their lawful home, would be located at the north end of the HMA, in the Sheepherder Spring Allotment.

As of this morning, the project has not been announced at the BLM news site.

The length of the comment period was not specified.

Volunteers with the Sand Wash Advocate Team are competing with the BLM by poisoning the mares with a restricted-use pesticide.

RELATED: Management Paradigm Shifting at Sand Wash Basin?

If PZP was reversible, the herd on the Maryland side of Assateague Island would have rebounded after the darting program was shut off.

This is what the advocates want for all wild horse herds.

RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Blowing Smoke Up Your Butt Edition.

What is Zonastat-D?

Zonastat-H, a restricted-use pesticide peddled as a vaccine, sometimes referred to as the Montana Solution, is intended for use on wild horses and burros.

Zonastat-D is Zonastat-H rebranded for use on white-tailed deer.

The EPA approved the labeling amendment in 2017.

The product was applied in the Hudson Valley from 2014 to 2019 by researchers from the Humane Society to sterilize female deer, according to a 2021 story by the Times Union of Albany, NY.

Apparently, the advocates jumped the gun by a few years.

Don’t worry, it was only a minor oversight.

The advocates always follow the rules for handling the product, including the use of chemical-resistant gloves, evident in the photo above.

That they and their allies in the bureaucracy are probably using it in a manner that’s inconsistent with its registration is a topic for subsequent discussion.

RELATED: Progressive Method for Getting Rid of Deer in Liberal Villages.

The Senate Committee on Appropriations revised Section 4 today, adding provisions for funding to the bill.

The measure will now be considered by the full chamber.

RELATED: Colorado Wild Horse Project Moves to Another Committee.

Approximately 22,684 acres of public lands in Nye County have been put off limits for a twenty-year period from all forms of mineral entry, according to today’s news release.

The change was prompted by a request from NASA to minimize surface disturbance in the area, which is used for satellite calibration activities.

The nearby Sand Springs West and Pancake HMAs are not affected.

RELATED: What’s Up in Railroad Valley?

Here is a list of HMAs subject to the Montana Solution, according to the April 18 roundup schedule.

Ask the culprits for a copy of the DOA, or other such document, naming them as designated agents of the federal government.

Please leave a comment if you can fill in the unknowns.

• Pryor Mountain – Unknown
• Stewart Creek – Unknown
• McCullough Peaks – Friends of a Legacy
• Challis – Wild Love Preserve
• Sand Wash Basin – Sand Wash Advocate Team
• Little Book Cliffs – Friends of the Mustangs
• Pine Nut Mountains – Pine Nut Wild Horse Advocates
• Onaqui Mountain – Wild Horses of America Foundation
• Cedar Mountain – Unknown
• Spring Creek Basin – Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

PZP darting also occurs in these areas.  Ask for documentation naming these groups as designated agents of state governments.

• Salt River – Salt River Wild Horse Management Group
• Virginia Range – American Wild Horse Campaign
• Currituck County – Corolla Wild Horse Fund

The EPA limited application of the pesticide to federal and state governments, among others, and their designated agents.

Some states may have additional requirements, such as licensing, to procure, possess, apply and dispose such chemicals.

RELATED: Advocates Authorized to Apply Montana Solution?

The EPA limits the application of PZP to the DOI and its designated agents, state departments of agriculture and wildlife and their designated agents, federally recognized Indian tribes and their designated agents, Department of Defense and its designated agents, public and private wild horse sanctuaries and reserves, Humane Society of the United States designated agents, and the USDA and its designated agents.

Go to Section 5 in the pesticide fact sheet.

The advocates can get diplomas from the Billings School of PZP Darting and Public Deception but have you ever seen Delegations of Authority from the BLM or Forest Service naming them as their designated agents?

On the Virginia Range, the Nevada Department of Agriculture would grant the DOA.

What about the ponies on the barrier islands?

Ask for copies.

The advocates may be easier to contact than the bureaucrats.