Western Horse Watchers Association
Exposing the Hypocrisy, Lies and Incompetence of the Wild Horse Advocates
The report chronicles the work of Betty Nixon, who has documented the loss of dozens of animals since 2018.
The incidents have occurred in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests near the town of Heber, AZ.
RELATED: Agents Patrol Forest, Killers of Heber Wild Horses Still at Large.
The animal was listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2014, according to information provided by the Forest Service, due to habitat loss and fragmentation.
In 2016, the agency designated critical habitat, which includes streams and wetlands in parts of New Mexico, eastern Arizona and southern Colorado.
Approximately 7,713 acres of the Apache-Sitgreaves, Santa Fe and Lincoln National Forests are within the critical habitat, which is overlapped by 14 allotments.
Management actions are designed to ensure that public-lands ranching can continue in close proximity to the protected areas.
However, data for two of forests show that grazing occurs in the protected areas!
In Lincoln, three allotments covering 140,588 acres include 986 acres of critical habitat, but only 209 acres (21%) are off limits to livestock.
In Santa Fe, six allotments covering 180,212 acres contain 2,056 acres of critical habitat, with 615 acres (30%) inaccessible to livestock, at least in theory.
Figures for Apache-Sitgreaves were not provided.
The complaint brought by the Center for Biological Diversity may have been prompted in part by failures of livestock exclosures, barriers that keep large animals out.
If the fences were in good condition, horses would not be able to enter the protected areas either. But only a fraction of the protected areas are actually protected.
The fences can be repaired but the horses have to go, not to save an endangered species, but to protect big game and the most noble and deserving non-native species on America’s public lands, privately owned livestock.
And, as usual, the advocates, in offering to help the government get rid of the horses, come down on the wrong side of the issue.
RELATED: Jumping on the Jumping Mouse Bandwagon.
The colt that was taken off beach due to illness earlier this month has been replaced, according to a report posted today by The Outer Banks Voice.
Birth rates and breeding patterns are determined by the advocates, not the horses.
The complaint against the ASNF wild horses was brought in 2019 by the Center for Biological Diversity in response to deteriorating conditions in the New Mexico Jumping Mouse habitat, but others now see it as an opportunity to advance their agenda.
A column in the Kingman Miner dated March 22 arguing for their removal describes the headwaters of the Black River, the area where the traps have been set, as some of the best elk and mule deer habitat in Arizona, referring perhaps to its hunting potential.
A story by the White Mountain Independent posted March 22 included remarks from a rancher who said the horses need to go because they’re robbing forage from his cattle.
Then, as noted yesterday, the advocates roll in, offering to facilitate the removal while keeping the remaining herd in check with the Montana Solution.
RELATED: ASNF Wild Horse Removal Now Law Enforcement Action.
This article by The Guardian is not about wild horses but it explains why their habitats, which are often subject to multiple uses, contain few if any predators.
On the Salt River with woodbine36.
Can you imagine if the advocates were put in charge of an endangered species?
RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Highlighting the Work of the Advocates.
This story by ABC15 News features the ringleader of the Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group and field marshal of the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, who offered to facilitate the removal of some of the horses while keeping the remnant in check with the Montana Solution.
Not one word about public-lands ranching and the allotments that overlap the area.
RELATED: ASNF Wild Horse Removal Now Law Enforcement Action.
A closure notice appears on the ASNF alerts page for removal of unauthorized livestock under Order 03-01-22-06.
The justification statement refers to the capture of unauthorized horses in the Alpine and Springerville Ranger Districts, Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. Paragraph 2.
No EIS or EA required. Paragraph 3.
Forest Service law enforcement officers, forest protection officers, sheriff deputies, fire wardens and fire prevention technicians will patrol the affected area. Paragraph 5.
The closure notice prohibits the following acts:
Going into or being upon the Restricted Area
The order went into effect on March 14 and runs through April 14.
A map provided with the closure order puts the trap zone southwest of Alpine.
A public affairs officer with the Forest Service would not respond to these questions:
1. Is the action associated with the case brought by the Center for Biological Diversity?
2. If so, is the gather area in the jumping mouse habitat?
3. Are the gather area and surrounding lands subject to permitted grazing?
Western Horse Watchers believes the answers are “Yes.”
The 2019 complaint by CBD describes damage to jumping mouse habitat by horses, cattle and elk in and around the West Fork of the Black River, Boggy Creek and Centerfire Creek, all of which appear on the closure map. Page 45.
The Restricted Area (trap zone) overlaps two grazing allotments according to the Western Watersheds map. (Click on image to open in new tab.)
The PAO said that unauthorized cattle had been removed from the area between September 2020 and September 2021 but did not comment on authorized cattle.
He did not indicate if said livestock were returned to the forest to graze on the other side of the fence, a benefit for which the horses are not eligible.
A story posted today by Colorado Public Radio refers to the thousands of acres of public land he leases from the federal government every summer, but does not indicate if those areas are managed by the BLM or Forest Service.
The permittee tried to obtain the burros directly from the BLM but ran into bureaucratic hurdles, according to the article, but everything changed when CPW got involved.
The project is discussed in an article posted today by The Dickinson Press of Dickinson, ND, which can only be viewed by subscribers.
A newsletter was posted by the Park Service for public review.
Comments will be accepted until April 15.
A public meeting will occur on March 30. An online option is available.
Alternatives for management of cattle and horses include:
The preferred action was not identified.
The original wild horses of TRNP, thought to be descendants of Sitting Bull’s herd, were removed but some were rescued by Frank and Leo Kuntz. The horses you see today are only an exhibit and this is acknowledged in the newsletter.
Artwork supplied by participants.
1. Public-lands ranching
LIVESTOCK BELONG IN FEEDLOTS
NOT WILD HORSES
CONFINE THE RANCHERS
TO THEIR BASE PROPERTIES
2. Land-use plans
THE PROBLEM IS
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
NOT WILD HORSES
3. The Montana Solution
DARTING PROGRAMS ARE
HELICOPTER ROUNDUPS
IN SLOW MOTION
4. The advocates
NEXT TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
NOBODY’S GETTING RID OF MORE WILD HORSES
THAN THE ADVOCATES
5. News and information
BIG TECH AND MEDIA
DON’T BRING YOU THE TRUTH
ABOUT WILD HORSES
THEY BURY IT
RELATED: Carson City Wild Horse Rally Part of Nationwide Protest.
Roundups are not the problem, they are a symptom of the problem.
If you want to help the horses, don’t focus on the horses.
The advocates focus on the horses.
Instead, look upstream in the management process: Land-use plans that put ranching interests far above those of the horses.
Roundups don’t allocate resources. They can’t change resource allocations. They enforce resource allocations already on the books.
Demand that the government manage their congressionally designated habitats principally for them, not privately owned livestock, as specified in the original statute.
RELATED: Carson City Wild Horse Rally Part of Nationwide Protest.
A reader sent this link with more information.
At or near the Big Summit WHT with Zy C.
A new resource enforcement project for the Bible Springs Complex has been created but no documents have been posted and public involvement has not been requested.
The Complex includes the Tilly Creek, Bible Spring and Four Mile HMAs.
The preliminary environmental assessment is still months away so let’s use other data sources, such as the Western Watersheds map and RAS to bootstrap the answer.
The HMA covers 61,273 acres and the 60 horses currently allowed by plan require 60 × 12 = 720 AUMs per year. The stocking rate allowed by plan is about one wild horse per thousand acres, in line with the target rate across all HMAs (27,000 animals on 27 million acres).
The land must produce 720 ÷ 61,273 × 1,000 = 11.8 AUMs per year per thousand acres to support the horses.
Can it produce more?
The HMA intersects six grazing allotments according to the map. (Click on image to open in new tab.)
The Allotment Master Report provides acreage, management status and active AUMs.
Three of the allotments are in the Improve category along with 56.1% of the public acres.
The average forage production for livestock across the six allotments, the total AUMs divided by the total acres times 1,000, is 44.7 AUMs per year per thousand acres, almost four times higher than the amount needed for the horses.
The total forage production in the HMA is 11.8 + 44.7 = 56.5 AUMs per year per thousand acres, which would support 56.5 ÷ 12 = 4.7 wild horses per thousand acres.
The HMA contains 61,000 acres so the True AML should be around 4.7 × 61 = 286.
The number of horses displaced from the HMA by permitted grazing is 286 – 60 = 226.
The True AML can be achieved by confining the ranchers to their base properties and letting them pay market rates to feed their animals.
What do you think happens during the off season?
RELATED: New Resource Enforcement Plan for Bible Springs Complex?
The notice appeared on page 19 of the March edition of Horse Tales. An email seeking more information was not immediately answered.
Not mentioned in the announcement is the attack on the horses by those who claim to protect them but are actually getting rid of them.
The March edition of Horse Tales is out and the column on page 4 by the real estate agent and PZP darter in the Minden/Gardnerville area has a few suggestions for land owners that can help wild horses.
If you’re going to place a deed restriction on your property to protect springs and creeks, why not add a prohibition for the Montana Solution?
The advocates are a much greater threat to the horses than droughts, motorists and developers.
Were they sale eligible? Their ages ranged from five to eleven years.
Have they already been offered unsuccessfully for adoption at least three times?
Adopters are usually limited to four animals per year but six were supplied.
Was title transferred from BLM? Who is the official owner?
Are they still federally protected?
The donation, as it was billed in the story by The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, has become a pilot program to see if wild burros can prevent wolf attacks on privately owned livestock.
Or maybe they’re just decoys, a new method for disposing excess animals?
RELATED: Axtell Burros Shipped to Cattle Ranch Came from Nevada WHR?
A story posted this morning by The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel says the animals “had just come off the high country in Nevada.”
The only burros captured recently in the state were taken from the Nevada WHR, according to records maintained by Western Horse Watchers.
The AML for burros in that area is zero but it is not subject to permitted grazing.
The gather page indicated that captured horses would be shipped to the off-range corrals at Palomino Valley but the burros would be transported to Axtell.
The incident concluded on January 3.
RELATED: Axtell Burros Have New Job: Protecting Cattle from Wolves.
This report by KLAS News includes a response to the findings by the BLM.
RELATED: Livestock Responsible for Poor Condition of Rangelands?
