Status of FY 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act

The bill was presented to the President yesterday according to the Actions Overview for H.R. 2471 at Congress.gov.

Provisions for the Wild Horse and Burro Program, as of last week, include:

The continuing resolution that funded the federal government expires today.

The task force will have monthly meetings to review performance metrics, monitor outcomes, and address any delays or setbacks to the implementation of the May 2020 Report to Congress.

A keyword search of the report yielded these results:

Livestock – 0 occurrences
Allotment – 0
Grazing – 0
Forage – 1
Permit – 0
Cattle – 0
Sheep – 0
Habitat – 1
Fencing – 0
Allocation – 0
Fragmentation – 0
Mismanagement – 0

The long-term goal is to achieve and maintain AMLs, which are small relative to the available resources.

The aim of the wild horse and burro program is to minimize its impact on the grazing program.

Livestock Responsible for Poor Condition of Rangelands?

High Country News looks at a new report by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility in an article posted this morning.

The story precedes a news release just issued by PEER.

Status of ‘Save a Horse, Hire a Cowboy’ Act

The measure, formally known as the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act of 2022, has been referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources, according to the overview at Congress.gov.

The title is a misnomer. Like the Montana Solution, it’s a different way of protecting the public-lands ranchers.

Pneu-Dart Impact 01-03-22

Mustang Monday

In Shannon County, MO with Tim Layton.

Why Do Advocates Target the Animals They Claim to Protect?

Headlines from Drudge. The link pointed to a story by The Times of Israel, but it doesn’t explain the twisted philosophy of the advocates.

Drudge Headlines 03-13-22

Big Summit Roundup Delayed Until Fall

The horses will be drawn into the traps with bait, but the chute ordered by the Forest Service to process them was the wrong size, according to a story posted today by the Bend Bulletin of Bend, OR.

RELARED: Big Summit Roundup Attracts Legal Action.

Can WHB Budget Hit FY 2022 Resource Enforcement Targets?

The BLM plans to remove 50% more wild horses from their home range this year than last year, while its budget increased just 18% over the same period according to figures on page 203 of the Division G Explanatory Statement for the FY 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act.

Worse, the cost of fuel for motorized equipment has skyrocketed, along with the price of feed, so how exactly will the agency achieve those goals?

Removal of excess animals, sometimes referred to as achieving and maintaining AMLs, means shifting the resources back to the public-lands ranchers in areas set aside for wild horses.

Helicopters do the achieving while the advocates do the maintaining.

Advocates are the Predators 11-30-21

No Western States Horse Expo This Year

The event has been moved to June of next year.

Attendance was light last year.

Protect the Harvest and the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, cheerleaders for the public-lands ranchers, didn’t show up.

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

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

They say they’re protecting the horses while they’re getting rid of them with PZP.

Most are defenders of the public-lands ranchers.

They couldn’t convert an AML to AUMs if their lives depended on it, much less compute a forage allocation for livestock in an area set aside for the horses, but they know exactly how much adjuvant to add to the pesticide and how long to mix them.

Don’t give them a penny!

You know them not by their words but by their deeds.

What’s in Omnibus Spending Bill for Public-Lands Ranchers?

On page 11 of the Division G Explanatory Statement for the FY 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Congress directs the BLM to:

Offer vacant allotments to permittees affected by drought or wildfire
Improve the management of active allotments
Reduce the backlog of permits
Assess the risk of disease transmission from domestic to wild sheep

A similar order for the Forest Service appears on page 68.

The bill includes the customary $10 million payment for range improvements, derived from grazing fees paid by the ranchers. Page 12.

Fifty percent of grazing receipts or $10 million, whichever is greater, is returned to the program every year, as authorized by §1751 of FLPMA.

Sand Wash Adoption Results

The highest bid for a horse from the “overpopulated, drought-stricken” HMA was $14,100, according to a report by the Steamboat Pilot & Today.

Others received no bids.

As for the fanatics at SWAT, don’t give them a penny. They are protecting the public-lands ranchers, not the horses.

RELATED: Sand Wash Basin Aftermath.

Congress Orders New Wild Horse and Burro Task Force?

Described as a national crisis on page 3 of the Division G Explanatory Statement for the 2022 omnibus spending bill, the BLM should not have to shoulder the problem of rising horse populations, degraded range, climate change and invasive species alone.

The Secretary of the Interior shall establish a task force with representation from the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and any other Bureau the Secretary deems appropriate.

Task force membership will be expanded in the future to include representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other agencies with essential skills and expertise.

The Secretary will report to Congress within 90 days of enactment of the bill on the establishment of the task force and a proposed meeting schedule.

The relationship between the task force and the public lands foundation announced in January was not explained in the statement.

Congress Authorizes $11 Million for Montana Solution in FY 2022?

The Division G Explanatory Statement for the omnibus spending bill, linked in a March 9 news release by the Senate Committee on Appropriations, indicates on page 8 that up to $11,000,000 shall be used this year “for administration of and research on reversible immunocontraceptive fertility control.”

The Montana Solution is not safe, humane or reversible, despite claims to the contrary by the advocates. You only need to look at the data for the herd on the Maryland side of Assateague Island, where it was applied for over 20 years.

VR Darting Injury 09-15-21

On the other hand, if you’re in business to protect the public-lands ranchers, are you going to care about any of that?

BLM to Receive $137.1 Million in FY 2022 for WHB Program

Go to page 300, Division G, Title I, of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, which has been approved by Congress but not yet signed into law.

The bill includes a provision for long-term care and maintenance of excess animals by nonprofit organizations and other appropriate entities. Section 108, page 327.

Details of the spending plan may be spelled out in a separate report.

A government shutdown was avoided by another continuing resolution that expires on March 15.

Foal-Free Friday, Documenting the Hypocrisy of the Advocates

On the Salt River with Mark Storto, an area subject to the Montana Solution.

The advocates claim to protect the horses but they’re actually getting rid of them.

RELATED: Barren.

Wild Horses Endangered at Axtell Off-Range Corrals?

Don’t be deceived by the advocates.

Figures obtained by the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses show 106 horses dead out of 3,552 moving through the facility in 2021, about three percent, according to a report posted today by FOX 13 News of Salt Lake City.

On the Virginia Range, the same group is getting rid of an estimated 600 wild horses every year, out of roughly 3,000, which works out to 20%. That’s just one of the areas where they’re decimating the herds with the Montana Solution.

Who’s the greater threat to the horses?

Currituck Foal Treated for Pneumonia, Mom Missing

He was taken to a rescue and probably won’t be returned to the wild, according to a column by the herd manager in OBX Today.

Western Horse Watchers has not seen any reports on herd size, demographics or trends therein, and accountability to the public is questionable.

RELATED: Currituck Stallion Euthanized.

Fish Creek HMA Subject to Montana Solution?

The successful candidate will oversee fertility control projects on the Virginia Range, Fish Creek HMA and Pine Nut HMA/HA, according to the job posting for Nevada State Director by the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses.

However, the HMA does not appear on the list of roundups and darting programs for FY 2022 published by the BLM.

The solicitation did not indicate if applicants would receive “Stay Wild” caps, one of the ways the advocates signal their support of the ranching agenda.

The Fish Creek roundup ending on January 3 last year yielded 18.2% foals.

Curiously, more youngsters were shipped than captured.

Currituck Horses to See Fewer Vehicles on Beach?

County leaders will vote next week on a plan that would limit the number of parking permits sold each week for the four-wheel drive beaches of the northern Outer Banks, according to a story posted today by The Virginian-Pilot.

Spreading the Montana Solution Across the Fruited Plain

The Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses is hiring!

Four job openings were posted to Idealist today:

Socialist Media Engagement Specialist
Grassroots Advocacy and Outreach Manager
Nevada State Director
Government Relations and Public Policy Fellowship

The bureaucrats and ranchers are watching closely.

They know the optics of helicopter roundups are bad but they’re wondering if the group can convince enough people that getting rid of wild horses with PZP is good.