Exposing the Hypocrisy, Lies and Incompetence of the Wild Horse Advocates
News reports said the storm on December 31 dumped five inches of rain in a 24-hour period.
That’s equivalent to 135,771 gallons, or 563 tons, on a one-acre parcel.
The ranch covers 20 acres, for a total of 2.7 million gallons.
Your host spent most of the day cleaning drains and trenches to alleviate flooding.
The creek across the street, which drains a much larger area, was gushing.
RELATED: How Much Rain Did We Get?
From the National Data Viewer.
First, the HAs in black, areas identified for wild horses.
Next, in orange, the HMAs, areas managed for wild horses. A subset of the HAs with roughly half of the land now designated for other purposes.
Finally, the grazing allotments in green. The principal use of America’s public lands.
Areas unfit for wild horses are almost always suitable for livestock production, as if there was no dietary overlap.
Under the Rock Springs RMP Amendments, two more HMAs will be closed and a third will be downsized, continuing a trend that puts ranching interests far above those of wild horses.
RELATED: Caliente Complex in Pictures.
At or near the Pine Nut Mountains HMA with Cheryl Broumley.
May be offensive to viewers wearing “Stay Wild” caps.
From the National Data Viewer.
First, the HA in black, just east of Carson City, an area identified for wild horses.
Next, the HMA, in orange, an area managed for wild horses, much smaller than the HA.
Finally, the grazing allotments, in green, an indication of what the Pine Nut advocates and their overlords at the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses are trying to protect.
RELATED: Population Explosion Coming to Carson Valley?
The Proposed Action, Alternative B, would reissue 24 grazing permits on 36 allotments with updated terms and conditions to protect the Colorado hookless cactus and DeBeque phacelia, according to the scoping document.
The allotments and the affected species are shown in Figure 2.
Not shown in the map is the Little Book Cliffs WHR, which is west of and adjacent to Red Rock. Click on image to open in new tab.
Although comments will be accepted through January 10, Western Horse Watchers was unable to find the “Participate Now” button mentioned in the “How to Get Involved” section of the project.
Of interest to the wild horse world is Alternative C, the No Grazing option.
Under this alternative, public lands within the allotments would be devoted to a public purpose that precludes livestock grazing. The grazing permits would be canceled on the 36 allotments, and use of the allotments by livestock would be discontinued.
The permittees would be given two years’ prior notification before their grazing permit and grazing preference were canceled as specified in 43 CFR 4110.4-2.
Further, no livestock grazing would be authorized after the termination date unless a new environmental analysis is completed which determines that livestock grazing could be authorized on all or some portion of the area.
Any private acreage within the allotments or private lands in close proximity to the allotments could continue to be grazed at landowners’ discretion. However, landowners would be required to keep their livestock off BLM-administered public lands and additional fencing may be needed to prevent livestock from trespassing on said lands.
Livestock-related range improvements would be abandoned and/or removed and reclaimed where there is no clear benefit to other programs.
In short, confine the ranchers to their base properties in a year-round off season and let them pay market rates to feed their animals.
This is a much better option for our wild horses than the Wild Horse Fire Brigade.
RELATED: Wild Horse Fire Brigade Serves Ranchers, Not Wild Horses.
“Through our humane fertility control program, we make sure the population is reducing without ever removing one horse.”
Yep, we’re protecting them from removal by getting rid of them with PZP.
You won’t see one foal in the video. How can that possibly bode well for the horses?
RELATED: Words Have Different Meanings in the Wild Horse World.
You know you got a lot of rain when the level in your water buckets went up over the last 24 hours and you couldn’t fill them if you wanted to. Photos taken today.
Americans need to understand what the advocates are doing to our wild horses and today’s proclamation is a step in the right direction.
“Hey Western Horse Watchers, it’s not about that type of stalking.”
Oh.
In the wild horse world, the Canadian singer-songwriter is known for “La Primera,” a ballad told from the horse’s viewpoint. More on his career in this story by AP News.
The year saw some of the stupidest ideas yet from the advocates.
In the legislative arena, three bills come to mind:
All three died in committee, thankfully. But they speak volumes about those who supported them.
Regarding their important work, the advocates came up with these profound ideas:
It’s getting harder and harder to distinguish them from the tools of their trade.
Give them the boot in 2023.
RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Christmas Wish Edition.
That’s a possibility according to Bob Vahle, biologist and Region 1 Director for the Arizona Wildlife Federation, a hunting advocacy group.
Vahle told a reporter for Arizona PBS in a story posted today that the horses are competing with native wildlife.
“They may be competing with a permittee’s livestock … you think everybody loves horses, but I kind of take it in this situation, they’re looking at them as having impacts on habitat, impacts on the wildlife that they may like or impacts on maybe a rancher’s livelihood.”
So in those cases it’s okay to shoot them?
Contrary to what you read in the article, horses appear in the North American fossil record, cattle and sheep do not.
A spokesman for the Forest Servive said the best way to prevent future shootings is to get rid of them, the same approach used by the advocates to stop roundups.
He indicated that adverse impacts to the forest are due to unauthorized non-native species, not authorized non-native species, suggesting that the real issue is not wild vs feral, but who’s robbing forage from whom.
Curiously, the writer noted that “Horses present during the passage of the Wild Horse and Burro Act are protected, but those that arrived after that or were born out there are considered unauthorized livestock and aren’t protected.”
RELATED: Alpine Roundup Continues as More Horses Found Dead.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, HR 2617, was signed today according to a White House news release.
The fledgling roundup schedule may grow noticeably larger.
Here’s a quick update on current usage:
Protect Wild Horses – Get rid of them with the Montana Solution
Keep Them Wild and Free – Ditto
Cruel and Costly Roundups – The advocates have a better way (to get rid of them)
On-Range Management – Take them off the range with the Montana Solution
Humane Management – Ditto
Cherished/Beloved/Innocent Wild Horses – Pests
In this example, the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses wants to replace removal by helicopter with removal by pesticide.
As announced by one of their field marshals in September, you need to manage the numbers to fit what’s available for the horses.
What a loser.
Documenting roundups does not stop roundups and it damn sure doesn’t tell you what to do instead.
You’ll have to look elsewhere for that knowledge.
RELATED: Two Doses of PZP for the Price of One?
The Billings School of PZP Darting is not having an after-Christmas sale.
Rather, the Campaign Against America’s Wild Horses has a one-for-one matching gift program through the end of the year.
If you donate, say, $35, the cost of one dose of their favorite pesticide, an unnamed donor will also contribute $35, allowing them to inhibit two wild mares for a year, not just one, or push two older mares into sterility.
The downside is that darted mares still eat but in the long run, ranchers will be able to access more and more of their food as the herds die off.
Would you be surprised if the unnamed donor was a ranching advocacy group, farm bureau or stockgrower’s association?
Their legislative agenda consists of persuading the politicians to allocate more and more money for on-range management, code words for getting rid of them with the Montana Solution, and to influence new bills such as the self-serving HR 9154.
As for the legal agenda, they may try to block a roundup every now and then or thwart the construction of a new off-range holding facility, but they won’t say a word about the management plans that assign most of the resources to privately owned livestock.
From time to time they criticize the public-lands ranchers, but no offense is taken.
It’s all part of the charade that keeps the donations rolling in while maintaining the status quo.
From the National Data Viewer.
First, the nearest HMAs, in orange.
Next, the former HMAs in black, unfit for wild horses.
Finally, the grazing allotments in green, managed exclusively for livestock.
This is how the bureaucrats nullify laws they don’t agree with.
RELATED: Comparing the HAs and HMAs.
If you find something you like at Home Depot, go buy another one because when you need to replace it, they won’t have it.
The 18″ True Temper rake discussed previously has been out of stock for over a year but a nearby store had them on December 24, so I bought three.
They were $16 each two years ago but the price last week was $20.
Over the summer the local garden center had similar model by Flexrake. Price was $35.
The winner named the foal “Tako Kichi,” according to a story by the Maryland Coast Dispatch, but the list maintained by AIA indicates “Take Kichi.”
RELATED: Assateague Filly Up for Naming.
Just remember that you’re dealing with a resource enforcement action, or livestock protection plan if you prefer, not an RMP amendment.
Concerns about forage allocations and management priorities, although valid, are outside the scope of the project.
Comments should focus on the removal of excess horses, achieving AML and keeping the population at that level, so ranchers can access their fair share of the resources.
That the area was identified for wild horses is of no consequence.
Here are some examples:
The careful observer will realize that this opportunity for public involvement is a ruse that maintains the status quo at the expense of America’s wild horses.
RELATED: Clan Alpine Scoping Begins.
It’s listed as Vale/Geldings in the November Facility Report, covering 47,883 total acres, including 41,882 deeded acres, with a capacity of 1,000 horses, plus cattle.
More information by listing agent.
The seller, a 2009 Powerball winner, doubled his money in the transaction, according to a story by the Dakota Free Press.
The buyer is Kansas-based farm and ranching outfit J-Six South Dakota Land Holdings.
The article did not say if the new owners would continue to stockpile wild horses.
RELATED: Roughing It on the Range.
Good grief. The original wild horse herd has been gone for over twenty years.
The horses you see today were put there by the Park Service, as an exhibit.
With the Park Service threatening to remove them, the advocates are fighting back.
When their comrades try to eradicate other herds with the Montana Solution, there’s not even a whimper.
Have you seen a film by Deb Carson and Jamie Baldanza calling attention to the Virginia Range mustangs?
RELATED: Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth at TRNP?
