Please Comment Now on Devastating and Deadly Plan for Wyoming’s Wild Horses in the North Lander Complex
June 27, 2018Action Alert! Please Comment Today on BLM’s Plans to Decimate the Onaqui Wild Horse Herd
July 9, 2018Action Alert! Please Help Sand Wash Basin Wild Horses by Commenting on Roundup Plan and Demanding Water for the Horses
Water is life, especially for nursing mothers
The BLM has produced a Determination of NEPA Adequacy instead of an Environmental Assessment for the Sand Wash Basin Herd Management Area and this is a plan that will be in effect for 10 years with no further opportunity for the public to comment. The BLM plans to remove approximately 584 of the 825 wild horses estimated that live in Sand Wash Basin, bringing the number of wild horses remaining to 163, the low end of the Appropriate Management Level. This includes all the 70 horses that live outside the HMA and also includes foals from this year, which will most likely bring the total of wild horses to be removed to 662.
Here is the current document dated 6/4/2018: https://www.wildhoofbeats.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DOI-BLM-CO-N010-2018-0025-DNA.pdf
Wild Horse Freedom Federation will be doing a Radio Show on Wild Horse and Burro Radio tomorrow night, Tuesday July 3rd with me, Carol Walker, as the guest, talking about the comments needed for Sand Wash Basin as well as the phone calls needed for the water crisis:
In this proposal, they are planning to use bait/water trapping rather than helicopter to capture the horses. Bait trapping can be more humane for the horses if done properly by people who know how to do it and are being careful to prevent injuries. Instead of being chased for miles with a helicopter the hoses are “baited” into a trap with goodies, the door to the trap is closed, and the horses that are to be removed are separated out and loaded onto trailers and taken off the range to holding facilities. The horses that are selected to remain are released. This is more time consuming than a several day helicopter roundup but also should be much less expensive as the trap can be manned by one person at a time and there is no need for helicopter fuel or pilots. There would be several locations for the traps to capture horses from different areas.
The BLM says they would do this over multiple years rather than all at once. In August 2016 the BLM issued an Environmental Assessment where they had planned to take 50 wild horses per year for 10 years and give 80% of the mares PZP-22. My main objection to this plan is that it opened the door to future helicopter roundups and no opportunity for future comments from the public over the next 10 years. The goal was to remove wild horses down to low AML which is 163 wild horses. Here is the 2016 EA: https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/projectSummary.do?methodName=renderDefaultProjectSummary&projectId=59798
They did one removal in fall 2016. They did not remove any wild horses in 2017 and now have released this revised plan which is different than the 2016 EA WITHOUT DOING A REVISED EA. I am pretty sure that this is a violation of NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act, which promotes the enhancement of the environment and has specific requirements that must be met before taking an action such as removing wild horses from a Herd Management Area. This is a break in procedure for the BLM and I am very concerned that they are going to be taking any opportunity to circumvent and skirt regulations and prevent any transparency of public oversight of their actions. This needs to be challenged in court in my opinion.
The BLM says this would be conducted in multiple years as funding and space in holding facilities becomes available. The horses will likely be transported to the BLM holding facility at Canon City, Colorado.
If the wild horses in Sand Wash Basin are brought down to low Appropriate Management Level of 163 they will be below the number needed for genetic viability, which is 150-200 breeding aged adults, as per the leading geneticist for wild horses, Dr. Gus Cothren. These horses can also be removed using a helicopter, if you refer back to the original EA from 2016:
You can comment by July 5 at this link – go to the Comment on Document button at the bottom right of the webpage: https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/projectSummary.do?methodName=renderDefaultProjectSummary&projectId=103446
You can also email your comments:
Ben Smith
Wild Horse and Burro Specialist
BLM Little Snake Field Office
456 Emerson St.
Craig, CO 81625
bdsmith@blm.gov
There is one more very important issue that I request that you act on today. There is a very bad drought in this part of Colorado, and waterholes are drying up quickly in Sand Wash Basin. There was rain last week which helped, but the horses will need more water this summer than is currently on the range. Wild Horse Warriors of Sand Wash Basin, a a volunteer group working with the BLM has raised funds and has the equipment and volunteers needed to haul water as needed to the wild horses without any labor or cost to the BLM. You can follow updates on the water hauling and situation on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wildhorsewarriorsforsandwashbasin/
They have been working to get permission to haul water but have not been granted that permission yet. Initially that permission was to be issued by the Colorado State BLM Office in Denver, but now the group has been told that the permission needs to come from the National BLM Office in Washington, D.C. I know that I asked you to flood the Colorado BLM office with calls and thank you to all of you who did that:
Alert! Sand Wash Basin Wild Horses Need Water Now – Please Call the Colorado BLM
Now we need calls to the BLM National Office. The group has been told that the water situation is not bad enough yet, the horses’s body conditions are not bad enough yet, and they do not want the horses “relying” on hauled water and they have never hauled water to this location before. In my opinion these are terrible reasons NOT to haul water. A Herd Management Area in northern Wyoming, McCullough Peaks, has had the local volunteer organization, FOAL and the Cody BLM Field Office working together for at least 6 years hauling water to the wild horses there without needing the horses to be in poor condition – they simply do it when range conditions warrant it. My biggest concern is those nursing mothers who consume far more water than the other horses. Once they start looking in “poor condition” it may very well be too late, and there will be a crisis with lots of dead horses and foals. Why wait? Please call and tell the BLM that Wild Horse Warriors needs permission to haul water to the Sand Wash Basin Wild Horses NOW.
BLM National Office
1849 C Street NW, Rm. 5665
Washington DC 20240
Phone: 202-208-3801
Fax: 202-208-5242
Deputy Director (Policy and Programs): Brian Steed
Phone: 202-208-3801
Fax: 202-208-5242 Email: bsteed@blm.gov
Acting Deputy Director (Operations): Rich Cardinale Phone: 202-208-3801
Fax: 202-208-5242 Email: rcardinale@blm.gov
Acting Chief of Staff: Jeff Brune Phone: 202-208-3801
Fax: 202-208-5242 Email: jbrune@blm.gov
Kristin Bail
Assistant Director, Resources and Planning
1849 C Street NW, Rm. 5644
Washington, DC 20240
Phone:
Fax: 202-208-5000 Email: kbail@blm.gov
and his family at the Corona and his family at the Oasis waterhole, which was dry 2 weeks after this was taken
Thank you for caring about our wild horses at Sand Wash Basin.
UPDATE!
Thank you so much everyone who called and emailed – your voices were heard about the wild horses at Sand Wash Basin! BLM is allowing Wild Horse Warriors to haul water on Thursday.
To find out more about Wild Horse Freedom Federation and our work to keep wild horses and burros wild and free on our public lands visit: www.WildHorseFreedomFederation.org
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22 Comments
Leave our wild horses wild and manage them with human kindness and if need be haul water and hay but they have been here along time. They are a natural treasure
Leave our wild horses wild, if in need of help like water or even feed then take responsible action to take care of them. Not sending them to slaughter. Most of these horses that are out there are horses that people have let loose because they can’t take care of them or feed them. Why aren’t the BLM giving us out here a chance to rescue them like they use to.
Leave the wild horses alone! The part of our American history! They’ve been mistreated and persecuted enough! These horses have souls and they’re being from their families and friends!!
Show some humanity and compassion!!
Leave the horses alone. They belong there to be wild and free. The ranchers and cattle don’t have the right to be there whether they pay a ridiculously low amount of money or large amount. The land was meant for the horses. And speaking of the horses there is no reason to keep water from them. All of Gods creatures human or not deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. Start doing your job and take care of the horses and the land the right way not to make a fast buck
This is very evident that the ball has long since been dropped and that is neither here nor there. BLM/Washington D.C. whom ever it is we are making this plea, it is now a matter of life or death for a lot of these horses. They did not ask to be fenced in at Sand Wash Basin, once they were fenced they became the people wild pets, and feeding and watering is what you do with pets. If they could fend for themselves they would most likely be migrating to where water and food supply is better that is their instincts, since they cannot do this we must tend to their needs. putting water and round bails out does not make them dependent on us, it keeps them from dying a slow torturing death. Soooooooooo with all that being said, please give the Worriors and our volunteers the approval they need to start hauling the water. Now the round up: very ugly and touchy subject. As I already said the ball was dropped long ago, horses are not rabbits and are not droppin babies left and right, but thos mares can and will foal every year if they can, and yes now we have over population and this is in, what, 10 years?? There has to be another way to a huge round up where horses are just going to be in holding pens anyways, mise well leave them in the wild and continue to not give them water, either way they suffee. Please can we think about the round up with a little more heart, maybe get with the volunteers and so on, people of the community may have some ideas to help, like maybe there is some adjoining land that the owners are willing to share with the horses? Please more heart thank you for your time ~~Laura Clark, another wild mustang voice.
Please allow water to be trucked in to help these horses. It won’t cost the government a dime, due to all of the generous donations and volunteers.
Also, the amount of horses that are supposed to be removed would destroy the gene pool.
Please take all of this into consideration.
Thank you.
Not giving the horses fresh water is animal cruelty! Give them water and please leave them wild and free????
Wild Horses are a large part of our Natural World……..let them continue to live and thrive in their natural setting….the Earth is off balance be cause Humans continue to change and destroy our Natural World…….You must STOP KILLING WOLVES AND OTHER ANIMALS LIVES MUST NOT CHANGE…….God made the World THE WAY IT SHOULD STAY
Please protect these horses and let the team of volunteers make sure they have water.
Additionally, You must comply with NEPA and that 10 year plans are not acceptable. The BLM need to allow the public to have input at every stage of managing this Herd. Using birth control is acceptable only if you leave a population of at least 150-200 breeding aged adults in the Herd. Leaving the wild horses on the range and managing them there is the safest alternative for the horses. Wild horses need to managed as the principle species in this Herd Management Area as per the 1971 Act, so that reduction in livestock grazing should be considered before removal of wild horses.
Please leave this treasures of Americana alone. They deserve their freedom
Our wild horses are a national treasure and should be protected. They belong on our lands. Cattle owned by private ranches do not belong. Water and feed the horses when they need assistance due to drought. Treat them humanely and do not abuse them.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO THE BLM – MAKING COMMENTS HERE ON THIS BLOG DOES NOT GET WHERE THEY NEED TO GO.
IN ORDER TO MAKE YOUR OPINION KNOWN – PLEASE CONTACT THE BLM – NOT WILD HOOFBEATS OR OTHER ADVOCATE BLOGS.
EVERY TIME THERE IS A REQUEST FOR COMMENTS – SO MANY PEOPLE MISTAKENLY COMMENT HERE OR AT OTHER BLOGS – THE BLM DOES NOT SEE THESE!!!
ITS A SHAME – BECAUSE THE BLM NEEDS TO RECEIVE COMMENTS IN ORDER TO KNOW HOW THE PUBLIC FEELS.
ITS REALLY GREAT THAT PEOPLE CARE ENOUGH TO WRITE A PERSONAL NOTE – BUT! THESE PERSONAL NOTES NEED TO BE SENT TO THE BLM – AS ALWAYS THE BLM’S EMAIL ADDRESS IS ABOVE!!!
SHOULD HAVE SAID EMAIL OR PHONE NUMBER OR EVEN SEND AN ACTUAL LETTER THRU THE MAIL!!
Let them have water!!!
Leave the wild horses free on the range, please do not round them up for slaughter, leave them wild, give there land back. They hurt no one, do a impact statement, the ranchers should get rid of there cows if there own land isnst enough for them.dont get rid of the horses
please let the water donors in freely any time
Plz don’t take the water. What a cruel thing for you to do.. water is needed for all living creatures. Allow water to be brought in. Something !!! It is their right to live there free btw
Protect and preserve our wild horses for all future generations. For God sakes give them life saving water. No one has the right to deliberately cause the extinction of an entire species. These wild horses belong to the people, our tax dollars should be used for PZP not helicopters to benefit horse slaughter. Our wild horses were not a tax burden until our government made them be a tax burden to satisfy special interest groups. NO MORE ROUNDUPS, NO SLAUGHTER , PROTECT AND PRESERVE, LEAVE THEM WILD
These mustang horses have a God given right to live, and be protected by the 1971 law to live on our federal lands. Get more of the cattle off! They are taknin over our federal lands in order to feed asians and europeans. That is sick and so unfair to Americans and our mustangs. We get nitbung out of that deal but someone is getting paid handsomely, alot of payola for these misquided actions. The mustangs need water food and land to live on. Put the cattle in fenced in land and more back on owners land. Get tbem off our beautiful federal lands where they foul up la d waters and uproot our natural vegetation. This is an outrage.
[…] Action Alert! Please Help Sand Wash Basin Wild Horses by Commenting on Roundup Plan and Demanding Wa… […]
I pray that the Canadian and American governments do not abandon their wild horses. I pray that rescue groups and government s work together on the primary reason for all the legal fighting- that is for the betterment of our wild horses. These animals are precious and I do not want them to go like the buffalo did many years ago. I live in Mississippi and let me know how I could help.
How can you not give them water. And My tax dollars are paying for this inhumane treatment
Please PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
GIVE THEM WATER