Category: Commentary

Opinion

U.S. Population Grew Just 7.4% Over Last Decade

It’s the second lowest growth rate ever, according to a report posted yesterday by AP News, less than one percent per year (0.72% if you want to split hairs).

How much of the increase was due to illegal immigration?

Social Security is going bust because we’re aborting/contracepting/sterilizing ourselves out of existence.

The same mentality has carried over into the wild horse world, spearheaded by the ‘advocacy’ groups.

Two More Foals Spotted on Currituck Outer Banks

A report by OBX Today says a colt and filly have been added to the herd, with breeding patterns controlled by the local ‘advocacy’ group.

Between four and six foals are born each year, according to the story, roughly equal to the expected number of deaths.

A herd of 100 would lose five horses every year, assuming a 5% death rate.

Left to themselves, a wild horse herd will usually grow.

RELATED: Another Currituck Foal, Wild Horse Growth Rates.

Double Standards in the Wild Horse World

If you shot these horses with darts, you’d probably be charged with animal cruelty.

Not so for the PZP zealots.

They’ve denied about 600 lives this year on the Virginia Range, by their own estimation, pushing the birth rate below the death rate, assuming a 5% loss per year and initial herd size of 3,000.  It’s the downslope in this chart.

If the government took 600 wild horses off the range in a roundup, there’d be outrage.

Not so for the PZP zealots.  Herd contraction is bad, unless it’s done by them.

These people are getting rid of more wild horses than predators, motorists, drillers, miners and shooters ever could, second only to the government.

Don’t give them a penny.

RELATED: Cutting the Virginia Range Herd Down to Size.

New Virginia Range Foal 04-07-21

Beneficiaries of WHB Grants?

To receive funding, proposals solicited earlier this week for on-range projects must align with one or more the following requirements:

  • Achieving and maintaining a thriving natural ecological balance
  • Promoting multiple use
  • Supporting authorized gathers
  • Meeting goals of resource management plans
  • Performing conservation actions related to climate change

Nobody in the wild horse world is going to participate in these efforts, except for a few of the ‘advocacy’ groups (see this example).

Proposals would likely come from farm bureaus, stock grower’s associations and public-lands ranchers, who would benefit from the program.

If the goal is to protect wild horses and burros, why not consider these themes?

  • Confining ranchers to their own property
  • Bringing the grazing fee in line with the cost of long-term holding
  • Educating consumers about range-fed beef
  • Disclosing the truth about AMLs
  • Revealing the long-term effects of fertility control programs

The total program funding is $500,000, ranging from $1,000 to $100,000 per project.

RELATED: Funding Available for WHB Protection Projects.

Land Can Only Support 04-21-21

‘Ingenuity’ Shows Off Advanced Darting Technology

Although ‘Perseverance,’ the rover, has demonstrated the advantages of a mobile fertility control platform, the drone has taken the idea to a whole new level.

“This is exactly what we’ve been praying for,” said one of the ranchers who witnessed the flight from a closed-circuit monitor.

“Those horses have been robbing us of our birthright for fifty years,” quipped another, “and it’s time somebody did something about it.”

A spokeswoman for one of the leading advocacy groups, who wished to remain anonymous, described the technology as “a breakthrough.”

RELATED: The Multiple-Use Mission of ‘Perseverance.’

Ingenuity Flies on Mars 04-19-21

Status of Calico Allotments

Table 4 in the Draft EA does not provide allotment sizes and grazing seasons, nor the percentage of each allotment falling inside the Complex, so key management indicators for the five HMAs involved, such as forage allocations and stocking rates, can’t be determined.

That would be a substantive comment on the EA.

What are the management priorities in these HMAs?  Do privately owned livestock receive better treatment than wild horses and burros?

The Proposed Action reads like a pest control program: Roundups, fertility control vaccines, intra-uterine devices, non-reproducing animals (males and females) and sex ratio skewing.

As for the allotments, RAS provides some information.  Four are managed by the Black Rock Field Office and one by the Humboldt River Field Office.

The Allotment Master report for Black Rock shows three in the Improve category and one in the Maintain category, while the report for Humboldt River shows one in the Improve category.

Alder Creek

  • 123,363 public acres
  • Improve category
  • 5,913 active AUMs

Paiute Meadows

  • 168,538 public acres
  • Improve category
  • 3,549 active AUMs

Buffalo Hills

  • 440,982 public acres
  • Improve category
  • 4,114 active AUMs

Soldier Meadows

  • 329,129 public acres
  • Improve category
  • 12,168 active AUMs

Leadville

  • 54,013 public acres
  • Maintain category
  • 1,291 active AUMs

The total grazing area is 1,116,025 acres, with 1,062,012 acres in the Improve category.

That means 95% of the BLM grazing land associated with the Calico Complex does not meet standards for rangeland health.

As of today, there is no category for blaming substandard conditions on wild horses and burros.

RELATED: Comments Invited on Draft EA for Calico Gather Plan.

More Signs of Dry Conditions in Western U.S.

Communities served by the Colorado River and its artificial lakes may be facing a water shortage declaration, according to a report posted yesterday by AP News.

An observable effect of drought in the wild horse world might be a jump in emergency roundups, accompanied, perhaps, by AUM reductions in grazing allotments.

The author tries to link the situation to (man-made) climate change, a fake problem that started off as global cooling, which couldn’t be demonstrated, followed by a shift to global warming, also unproven, supplanted again by climate change so its adherents could play it both ways.

Frequently, the term appears with concerns of hotter temperatures, as in the story, suggesting that they still believe in the greenhouse effect and global warming.

Water vapor, belched into the atmosphere by industrial and commercial cooling towers, and also by evaporation from lakes, rivers and oceans, is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 but you never hear about it!

RELATED: Dry Conditions in California Signal Trouble in Great Basin?

Distinguishing Between Cause and Effect

This scene at the Palomino Valley Off-Range Corrals, photographed yesterday, is a consequence of the resource management process, not a cause of it.

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

RELATED: Many Foals at Palomino Valley Off-Range Corrals

Distinguishing Between Cause and Effect Enlarged 04-17-21

Life as Nature Intended

The presence of youngsters in this video represents a turning over of the genetic soil in the herd, some of whom—if they survive and can stay on the range—will start their own bands, continuing the process.

This characteristic, essential to herd viability and ruggedness, is dismissed by some of the ‘advocacy’ groups, who proudly interfere with breeding patterns.

Don’t give them a penny.

RELATED: Wild Horse Mesa Confirmed, Trajectory of a Fertility Control Program.