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.

Wild Horse Annie Remembered on International Women’s Day

Sadly, her signature legislation has been altered at the behest of ranching interests and no longer affords the protections of the original.

Worse, the wild horse protection community is almost nonexistent, despite the remarks in this news release.

Groups that claim to protect the horses are actually trying to get rid of them, giving aid and comfort to the ranchers.

For those of you in Rio Linda, “the hills of the Comstock Lode” in the book excerpt is a reference to the Virginia Range.

Do “Stay Wild” Caps Absolve the Advocates from Wrongdoing?

They’re spreading the Montana Solution across the fruited plain, hoping you won’t notice the absence of foals and the destruction it portends.

By getting rid of the horses, they ratify and reinforce the mismanagement of areas designated for their welfare.

Here’s what they’re trying to protect:

1. Former HMAs now managed almost exclusively for livestock.

AMLs are zero
Livestock receive most of the resources, with a small amount reserved for wildlife

2. HMAs managed primarily for livestock.

AMLs correspond to 20% or less of authorized forage
Livestock receive four to six times more forage than the horses

3. Off-range corrals flooded with animals displaced by permitted grazing.

True AMLs often exceed current populations by wide margins
Carrying capacities have not been exceeded

4. Loss of wildness.

Increased presence of humans in their environment
Alteration of natural behaviors
Low birth rates and rising death rates
Herds don’t bounce back

5. Fulfillment of ranching agenda.

Non-native species become the primary consumers of resources
Ranchers don’t pay for the field work, but they reap the benefits
Funding comes from donors who think they’re helping the horses
Some support may come from groups aligned with the ranchers

On the bright side, problems of genetic diversity and inbreeding go away, because there is no breeding at all.

All of this is coordinated by a group that refused to sign the letter to Haaland seeking the removal of livestock from HMAs.

If you still don’t think they’re frauds, get your cap, make the pilgrimage to Billings and join their army of certified volunteers.

KY3 TV Tells Story of Shannon County Horses

Refer to this report, posted today. The remark about the Park Service is probably refers to the Ozark National Scenic Riverways.

Mustang Monday

Horses have the day off. At an undisclosed location with Mary Hone.

Deciphering the Hieroglyphic Mountains of Central Arizona

They’re in the Lake Pleasant HMA, an area designated for burros northwest of Phoenix.

The HMA is subject to permitted grazing, according to the Western Watersheds map.

Any Wild Horses on Wild Horse Island?

It’s the largest island in Flathead Lake, according to the description by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, covering 2,160 acres. Access is by boat.

The “handful of wild horses” that inhabit the area turns out to be five.

The stocking rate is 2.3 wild horses per thousand acres, compared to a target rate in areas managed by the BLM of one wild horse per thousand acres.

The horses require 60 AUMs per year.

The forage assigned to bighorns is probably higher.

The description did not indicate if mares and stallions are present, if the studs have been cut, or the mares have been treated with the Montana Solution, but the following video shows no youngsters.