The rankings change minute by minute but here’s a screen image as of this morning.

Comments must comply with land-use plans.  If livestock receive four times more forage than the horses and you request a reduction in grazing activity, your comment will be dismissed out of hand.

“Such changes cannot be accomplished through a wild horse gather decision.”

If you express support for the project, which will keep the pests in check so ranchers can access most of their food, the response will likely be “Thank you for your comment.”

RELATED: McCullough Peaks Takes Third Place in ePlanning Top 5.

The rankings change minute by minute but here’s a screenshot as of this evening.

The purpose of the project is to minimize the herd size over a ten-year period, so ranchers can access most of their food.

Suggestions that would help the horses, such as confining the ranchers to their base properties in a year-long off season, are outside the scope of the project.

Offering to provide an aggressive darting program at no cost to the government would likely receive a favorable review.

Oh wait, the advocates are already doing that.

RELATED: McCullough Peaks Makes Top 5 (Most Active) in ePlanning!

The measure was introduced last week, according to a story by The Denver Post.

The author noted that Colorado lawmakers passed legislation in 2010 declaring horses a cherished part of western heritage.

Curiously, all four of the HMAs in the state are subject to the Montana Solution.

RELATED: Wyoming Legislature Petitions Congress to Legalize Slaughter.

Public-lands ranching is government dependency and redistribution of wealth, hallmarks of liberalism and the domain of the Democrat Party.

The practice can’t be defended from an economic viewpoint, as each AUM sold to the ranchers brings in $1.35 in grazing fees while the government spends around $150 to care for the horse displaced thereby.  (One AUM can sustain one cow/calf pair or one wild horse for one month.  The cost of off-range holding is $5 per day or more.)

Undeterred, the folks at the Berryman Institute have embarked on a plan to help the ranchers and improve their image, as explained in this presentation by director and front man Terry “Can Cougars Eat Their Way to AML” Messmer.

References to Celeste correspond to the presentation by Celeste Carlisle, Chair of the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, in cahoots with the ranchers up to her eyeballs.

Most advocates will concur with his observation that you need to put the crosshairs on the mares, not the foals.

The wild horse and burro program has been a drag on the grazing program for 51 years.

RELATED: Better if They Weren’t Even Born.

The story in Colorado Politics of a calf calling for its mother, who had been gunned down by Forest Service personnel or their agents, carried to the scene by helicopter, is sad and terrifying as the author suggests.

Then there was the foal put down on Day 4 of the 2021 Jackson Mountains roundup not because of a pre-existing condition, but because it was an orphan.  The BLM later edited the report to conceal the incident.

Why do these events make us sick?

Could it be they’re an affront to our innate understanding of family, and the importance thereof, written on our hearts by our creator?

Not the twisted notions promoted by liberals, such as two sodomites and their pet children, or the mergers and acquisitions of divorce and remarry, but the uniting until death of husband and wife in the holy sacrament of marriage and their subsequent cooperation with God to bring forth the future inhabitants of heaven.

RELATED: Unauthorized Livestock Shot by Government Thugs?

The Forest Service has the authority to gather and remove estray cattle, not shoot them, according to a column posted this morning by Colorado Politics.

The incident occurred last spring in the Gila Wilderness of the Gila National Forest in New Mexico.

The Western Watersheds map puts it adjacent to the Apache National Forest, known for wild horse shootings, near the Arizona state line.

The Heber WHT, also known for such incidents, is to the northwest, and the Bordo Atravesado HMA is to the northeast.  Click on image to open in new tab.

The killing of escaped livestock in New Mexico opens up a new possibility in the Arizona shootings: The feds did it, or they were involved in it, which explains why the cases will never be solved.

The 2018 Spruce-Pequop roundup in Nevada started with the shooting of eight wild horses and the BLM knows who did it, making them complicit in the incident.

A site is needed to help the advocates manage their decline into oblivion.

They’re wrong about almost everything in the wild horse world.

Most of their ideas help the cattlemen, not the horses.

They’d never recommend their darting programs for privately owned livestock, only the animals they claim to protect.

Of immediate need is professional counseling, with tips and advice leading to the acknowledgment of their errors, including the solicitation of money under false pretenses and their desire to be respected by the bureaucrats and ranchers, not you.

Instead of bucking the long-term trend in resource management, indicated by the chart above, they go along with it.

One of their leaders spilled the beans last year with this remark: “You need to manage the numbers to fit what’s available for the horses.”

Are they defeatists or what?

You can have your wild horse and burro program as long as it doesn’t interfere with the grazing program.

RELATED: Fix, Sell or Close: What to Do About the Advocacy Groups?

Here is your chair of the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, a PZP fanatic and leader of two working groups at the FREES Network, a ranching advocacy group hosted by Utah State University Extension, preaching the overpopulation narrative and fertility control gospel at The Wildlife Society’s 2022 Annual Conference in Spokane, WA.

Although the remark about “learning to love and understand people who are completely opposite of what you might be thinking” was probably a reference to the public-lands ranchers, it also applies to those of us who actually care about the horses and want them managed according to the original statute.

Return to Freedom was a signatory to the ill-advised “Path Forward” of 2019, a plan that put ranching interests far above those of wild horses—in the lawful home of wild horses.

The underlying belief, never acknowledged by the advocates, is that most of the forage in areas identified for wild horses should be consumed by privately owned livestock.

That was the message to those attending yesterday’s online meeting, according to a story by INFORUM of Fargo, ND.

The author appeared in Nokota Heart, the 2011 documentary about the original wild horses of TRNP, but he does not mention Sitting Bull, Leo Kuntz and the Nokota breed.

As for the advocates, pay no attention as they feign concern for the horses.

What they really want is a contract with the Park Service to sterilize the mares, as indicated in Alternative C of the scoping newsletter.

RELATED: Advocates Ideally Positioned to Help Park Service at TRNP.

There is little if any diversity of thought among the wild horse advocates.

Curiosity is also in short supply.

In their desire to be respected by the bureaucrats and ranchers, they focus almost exclusively on removal, not on preservation.

They don’t want you questioning the overpopulation narrative and mismanagement of resources in areas identified for wild horses.

They don’t want you questioning their authority.

And they damn sure don’t want you questioning their knowledge, abilities and understanding of the issues.

So they operate inconspicuously, quietly stalking the mares and poisoning them with their favorite pesticide.

There are no helicopters, no traps, pipe panels or trailers.

There are no observers sitting in blinds to document cruelty, injuries and deaths.

Sterility is the long-term goal.  Mares so disposed are said to be “self-boosting.”

There is no accountability to the public, no data on herd size, birth rates, death rates, percentages of males, females and foals, changes year over year.

There is no adverse effects reporting, no information on unexpected results.

The bureaucrats keep the destruction out of the public eye, with the aid of a compliant media.

These charlatans are free to conduct their business as they please, within the confines of the law, but you don’t have to be part of it.

RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Everything’s Going According to Plan Edition.

The Assateague Island Alliance reported 78 horses on the Maryland side of the island as of January 4, no change from December.

The current roster shows band affiliation but does not indicate sex.

New foals probably won’t be hitting the ground for another six to eight weeks.

The herd shows little if any growth since 2016, when the safe, proven and reversible fertility control program was shut off, a result that will please most of the advocates.

Others will realize that the herd has been ruined by the Montana Solution and the nitwits who promote it.

RELATED: Assateague Census for December.