Have You Seen Any Videos Lately of Foals on the Salt River?

Didn’t think so.

Have You Seen Any Videos of the Oatman Burros Lately?

Didn’t think so. A roundup in the Black Mountain HMA has been going on since March 9, with 176 animals captured as of June 20. The goal is 500.

The incident was not announced on BLM’s news site.

The WHB roundup schedule, updated on June 15, shows a projected completion date of September 30.

Training Feral Horses

Wild horse enthusiasts will get a chuckle out of this propaganda piece dated June 25 by the rancher-friendly Capital Press of Salem, OR.

As for the trainer featured in the story, you probably don’t want a horse handled by her.

Like adoption events, EMM and TIP are rarely discussed on Western Horse Watchers because they are too far downstream in the management process and deflect attention away from the ranchers and the underlying causes of wild horse removals.

Sterilization Plan Dropped at Confusion HMA

An article posted yesterday by Bloomberg Law says the BLM decided against the tactic, part of a broader effort to enforce resource allocations in the HMA, in response to legal actions by several advocacy groups.

A subscription is required to read the full story.

Failure to Connect the Dots

Would you publish an op-ed about millions of domestic livestock that ruin public lands with high-density grazing and title it ‘Too Many Wild Horses?’

You would if you’re The Washington Post.

Example of Downstream Focus, Confusing Cause and Effect

An article about overpopulation by The Horse suggests that the current surplus of about 70,000 wild horses and burros (on public lands) could be eliminated if just four to five percent of horse-owning households adopted one animal.

The story did not indicate how many more households would be needed to liquidate the animals in off-range holding.

What’s wrong with this idea?

First, there are few if any excess animals on America’s public lands. That’s bad news to those in the PZP supply chain. They thrive on the overpopulation narrative.

Second, adoptions don’t stop removals, they prolong them. The AIP, and the adverse consequences associated therewith, are effects of roundups, not causes of them.

Third, the ‘surplus’ would return, the roundups would resume and the corrals would be overflowing, not because the animals reproduce, but because of the way our public lands are managed.

AMLs, the numbers that determine when an area is overpopulated, are small because the bureaucrats have decided that most of the resources on lands set aside for horses and burros shall be assigned to privately owned cattle and sheep.

The True AMLs, numbers that represent the horses and burros allowed by plan plus the horses and burros displaced by livestock, are much higher, as anyone reading these pages knows.

The animals in off-range holding could be returned to the range by ending public-lands ranching on just a few dozen HMAs.

Those corrals and pastures could be emptied four to five times over if livestock grazing was ended on all HMAs. It’s that bad.

Eventually the herds will exceed the True AMLs and corrective actions will be needed.

But those discussions are off the table until the HMAs are managed principally for wild horses and burros, which is what the True AMLs represent.

If you want to help America’s wild horses and burros, look upstream in the management process, understand why they’re being removed from the range and address those causes for a lasting solution.

Crooked Creek Fire Stalled?

The June 24 fact sheet at Inciweb shows little if any spread in the past few days, with 5,400 acres burned and 25% containment.

Firefighters continue to monitor for any threat to the Pryor Mountain WHR.

Wild Horse Management Needs to Change?

Here’s what the advocates are proposing:

Get rid of the horses with PZP, not helicopters
Make sure the ranchers receive most of the resources
Drive birth rates to zero and let the herds die off

Not exactly what Velma had in mind 50 years ago.

Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests Shut Due to Fire Danger

The closure, which started yesterday, means the public is prohibited from entering any part of the forests at any time, according to a USFS news release dated June 22.

An expiration date was not provided.

The area is home to the Heber wild horses.

Extreme Fire Danger Prompts Closure of Tonto National Forest

Refer to this USFS news release. The order goes into effect today and will prevail until July 31 or until rescinded, whichever occurs first. The Lower Salt River is not affected.

Currituck Studs Demonstrate Herd Dynamics for Beachgoers

Refer to this report by The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, VA. Just another day at the office in the wild horse world.

WHBAB Call for Nominations

Three positions representing public interest, veterinary medicine and wild horse and burro advocacy will become vacant on September 20, according to a BLM news release issued yesterday.

Individuals and organizations may nominate one or more persons to serve on the Board, which typically meets twice per year. Terms are for three years. Hostility to wild horses and burros is not a disqualifier.

Interested parties may also nominate themselves.

The next meeting of the Board begins on June 30.

Wild vs Feral Debate at Park County Commissioners Meeting

Wild horse advocates disputed some of the language in a draft Natural Resources Management Plan at a June 15 meeting of the county commissioners, according to a story in yesterday’s edition of the Cody Enterprise.

The document gives the county a voice in the development of management plans for public lands by federal agencies.

Approval of the plan was the last item on the agenda before lunch.

Minutes of the meeting have not been posted and Western Horse Watchers has not been able to find a copy of the plan but has asked the commissioners’ executive assistant for a link to it.

The McCullough Peaks and Fifteenmile HMAs extend into the county.

As for non-native animals on America’s public lands, you can find them on just about any grazing allotment.

UPDATE: Commissioners are reviewing public comments on the draft NRMP and approval will occur at a future meeting. Discussion of wild horses begins on page 58 of the pdf. A map showing the two HMAs is on page 104.

Banker Foal Gets the ‘Zoomies’

Check out the video in this story by The Charlotte Observer. Filmed at Shackleford Banks, Cape Lookout National Seashore.

AIP Fallout, Managing Humanely and Virginia Range Update

A 27-minute audio segment by KNPR Radio of Las Vegas features the director of the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses, an organization that’s second only to the federal government in terms of eradicating wild horses.

You see, the number of wild horses in off-range holding could be sharply reduced, along with those shipped to slaughter, if we prevent their birth.

Resources set aside for the horses can be shifted to, well, you know, other users of public lands.

As for the Virginia Range, approximately 1,400 mares have been darted and, with the help of predators, zero population growth has almost been achieved.

Like the Salt River, these people are not just standing around while the herd dies off.

They are actively involved in its demise.

All because some bureaucrat said there should be no more than 600 wild horses, ideally just 300, on the Virginia Range.

RELATED: FOA Files Suit to Stop AIP.

Trajectory of Wildh Horse Fertility Control Program 04-11-21

What’s Next in Wild Lands Wild Horses Series?

A news release issued yesterday says future episodes will cover wild horse history, sustainability, herd dynamics, roundups, legislation and adoptions.

Not included in the list:

Management priorities and resource allocations in areas set aside for wild horses
Rationale for setting AMLs
Number of horses displaced from public lands by privately owned livestock
Number of horses displaced from public lands by drilling and mining
Rationale for fertility control programs
Economics of roundups and off-range holding
Current state of wild horse advocacy

Also missing from the announcement are the funding sources for the program and where the experiences, loyalties and political leanings of the hosts might take it.

Salt River Darting Program Taking Its Toll

Only one foal was born this year, according an update provided by the advocates.

With the birth rate driven to zero, mortality will thin the herd.

A photo shows a mare taking a dart so she can spend her life with her family—except there is no family and no turning over of the genetic soil.

Another photo shows the sorting of mares and stallions in a roundup.

Getting rid of horses with helicopters is bad, but getting rid of them with contraceptives is good.

Therefore, other herds, such as Onaqui and Heber, should receive the same treatment.

Never mind that they’ve already been decimated by resource management plans and the bureaucrats who wrote them.

This group, defeated, is of no use to America’s wild horses.

Mare’s Tail in the Sky?

Also known as cirrus uncinus clouds, according to a very short story in today’s edition of the Billings Gazette.

Court Affirms Caliente Decision

A District Court’s ruling in favor of the BLM, that it could go ahead with a wild horse roundup in the Caliente Complex, has been affirmed, according to a decision filed on June 18.

The Complex, which doesn’t have enough resources for wild horses, includes nine former HMAs and intersects 26 grazing allotments.

Table 3.2 in a 2018 EA for resource enforcement actions in the Complex, provides data for the allotments and the map in Appendix V shows the arrangement.

The Allotment Master report in RAS gives the public acres and active AUMs. Most of the allotments are in the Custodial category, with condition unknown, but most of the acreage is in the Improve category, approximately 56%.

Caliente Allotment Data 06-21-21

Although the forage assigned to livestock has decreased by 21% in the past three years, 31,445 AUMs per year are still active. The forage assigned to horses is zero.

To put that in perspective, the forage allocated to livestock would support 2,620 wild horses, in an area that doesn’t have enough food for wild horses!

The court said the plaintiffs waited too long to bring their case against the BLM’s plan, not that the agency wasn’t telling the truth about resource availability in the Complex.