Wild Horses: BLM Backs Down from Plans to Sterilize Two Wyoming Wild Horse Herds
August 3, 2011
Wild Horses: Mica’s First Clinic
August 9, 2011Wild Horses: WY Grazing Association Declares War on Wild Horses
Stallion snaking his mare and foal back to the band in Adobe Town
Last week, the Rock Springs Grazing Association filed a lawsuit against the BLM to force them remove all wild horses from private lands – the AP story says “The lawsuit, filed by the Rock Springs Grazing Association, seeks to force the federal government to remove all wild horses from private lands in an area of roughly 2 million acres. The suit covers private lands in so-called “checkerboard” area, a swath of mixed federal and private land that runs along the old railroad route across the southern Wyoming.”
Most of the Wild Horse Herd Management Areas in Wyoming contain some of this “checkerboard” of public and private lands. This includes White Mountain, Little Colorado, Adobe Town, Salt Wells and Great Divide Basin and many more herd areas. The checkerboard was created by the Union Pacific Act of 1862, when the railroad was bring constructed through southern Wyoming, roughly along the I – 80 corridor. Congress granted every other section to be able to be sold to raise capitol for the railroad in a pattern of 20 miles on either side of the railroad.
Then in 1979, the Rock Springs Grazing Association, the largest controller of these private lands, entered into an agreement with the BLM and a wild horse organization called Wild Horses Yes “which provided for the management of specific numbers of wild horses on these privately controlled lands and the contiguous public lands. This was later affirmed as the framework for wild horse management in the area” and called the Green River RMP.
Now, the Rock Springs Grazing Association wants all the horses gone from “their” lands. The problem is, it is a mix of public and private so it is not all “their lands.”
The Complaint is here: http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/07/28/WildHorses.pdf
Not only is RSGA asking that wild horses be removed from private lands they are also asking that wild horses be removed from adjacent lands in the checkerboard – so that means ALL of the wild horses in those herd management areas.
It will be up to the BLM to fight against this lawsuit and protect the wild horses under their care in order to maintain their ability to roam free on public lands in Wyoming. This is extremely unlikely when on page 24 of the complaint they state that Deputy Assistant Secretary Sylvia Baca told them to file suit in order to “secure additional funding for wild horse roundups.” Ever heard the expression, the fox protecting the henhouse?
20 Comments
Oh and I amsure the BLM is going to stand up for the horses. They are probably in cahoots with the RSGA and helped them or encouraged them to do this…No Tursting any of them
Something is going on between the RSGA and BLM. Another plan to get to the horses. We already know what the BLM does with horses “under their care”, they do not want any free roaming horses anywhere. Another disheartening turn of events for wild horses.
As we know it is extremely unlikely that the BLM will fight hard to keep wild horses on these lands. In fact if you read the actual compliant, here: http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/07/28/WildHorses.pdf
On page 24 they say that BLM Deputy Assistant Secretary Sylvia Baca advised them that they needed to bring suit in order to “secure additional funding for wild horse gathers.”
The demands of the RSGA in this suit are not only that all wild horses be removed from private lands but also in addition any on the adjacent lands in the checkerboard – so ALL of the wild horses in Adobe Town, Salt Wells, White Mountain, Little Colorado, Great Divide Basin and Red Desert Complex.
The ranchers of Rock Springs Grazing Association own their own land. Public land doesn’t belong to them.
Great! Then tell them to get their COWS OFF MY FLIPPIN LAND!!! …. and then we can talk about the horses on their land! GEEESH!
If you read the article it says that the land is broken up between public and private. Now tell me how can you tell a horse it can not cross a certain line without a fence? Maybe if they want to keep the horses out then they should build a fence. That way too it would keep their cattle on their property and the horses on the HMA.
Hey I think we need to file suit against the feds and tell ’em to keep the squirrels out of our yards….yes, I believe thats how silly their suit is. The kicker is to get the wild horses decalared “native”
Let them sue. this is a slam bang, even if a lower court finds favor with them the first federal court that touches the contention will have to enact federally mandated emminant domain to protect government entiltlements. What a waste of their and our money and time.
Anyone who owns land in this checker board area knows the score. The only access to the public lands is through the private lands. If they don’t have their land fenced their livestock is using as much public land as private. They should be allowed to graze x amount of public land free of charge in return for allowing the horses to utilize as much private land as they use public.
The checker board pattern of land sales was a stupid idea to begin with. It did attract buyers and got the rail roads financed, but it left quite a mess in its wake.
Lynette unfortunatley because of the checkerboard system fencing would not be the answer because it would prevent the horses from reaching water … have you ever seen the photos of dead mustangs on one side of a fence with cattle fat and healthy next to waterholes on the other side? This is a real problem. The ranchers dont have any problem doing this and leaving these horses to die of thirst. If they want the horses off the land then I say cancel their permits to graze their cattle on OUR public lands for a mere $1.35 per cow and calf, with the taxpayers subsidizing the balance to the tune of about half a billion dollars a year. All other ranchers in this country provide their own land to graze their cattle, make them do the same and give the public lands back to the wildlife who it legally belongs to. I hope this stupid move blows up in these idiots’ faces.
At this point we might have to demonstrate in big numbers.
These horses doesn’t have a voice.
Lets get the media involved and show the rest of America how inhumane Rock Springs WY are. They are just interested in Uranium drilling and oil and the poor horses are on the way.
People come from all over the world again and again to see these wild horses but now all we see is their vicious destruction – from round-ups to slaughter. Killing two-week old foals because they injure themselves in a 10 mile run is a deed of many sick cowboys.
The cattle ranches should fence in their land and provide their own water and stop bellowing for the demise of America’s heritage.
I fail to see how this can be a legitimate lawsuit when Wyoming is a fence-out state! It is LAW that it is the LANDOWNER’S RESPONSIBILITY to keep any unwanted animal off of his land; therefore it is his responsibility to pay to fence his land if he wants the horses (or ANY animal) kept off. If the BLM caves to this suit, then it is obviously only an excuse to get rid of the horses, because the fence-out law would have to be completely rewritten for the suit to even be able to stand in court. I understand they could fence the water that is on private land, but all of the water supplies can’t be on private land. If so, then maybe some fundraising needs to be done to erect some wells/windmills on the public land for horse access, like has been done in McCullough Peaks. Just a thought!
Why on Earth would a group of people be in a business (livestock) where their product exceeds their own resources?
I’m a Nevada girl. All up and down my favorite highways you see 40-200 acre (or more) spreads with fats happy cows munchin’ on grass the landowner has cultivated, slurping from water troughs installed by the fella who owns the land, the cattle, the grass, and the water. This fella (any fella) sees his cattle every day – knows who’s well and who’s not; he pays attention to his product and knows with certainty how many cattle his land can support. And probably keeps his government ‘subsides’ to a minimum.
So it makes no sense to me – to have so many cattle you have to borrow land from the government to support them. And to dump those cattle on public land, leave them unattended during the grazing period? This isn’t ‘ranching’ the way I was taught (my grandparents raised cattle in Northern Nevada many moons ago). It seems almost criminally lazy – while small ranchers work their backsides off to actually care for their stock, public lands ranchers get unattended ‘day care’ for 3 to 8 months of the year for a pittance, a subsidy for ‘losses'(!), decimation of predators on demand and a subsidy, value added to the worth of a ranch because of a 100 year-old rental agreement and a subsidy…. I see a pattern emerging here….
Again, I have to wonder – why be involved in a business where the product exceeds the the owner’s resources?
the problem for the ranchers is this-they have no access to their private checkerboard parcels except thru public lands…they need to start experiencing the repercussions of their attitude and actions..I suggest a countersuit brought by someone like WWP who knows where to mount an attack being very familiar with tackling the ranchers and BLM..and give them our full support on the issue as well- once and for all draw a line in the sand on this issue..its either a win-win or lose-lose for all..screw Baca..when she was in charge..we had no voice and knowledge of the issues..its a different day
[…] While the horse advocates were suing the BLM for being too quick to get rid of the herd, the RSGA was suing the BLM for being too slow to remove the […]
The BLM manages more land – over 245 million acres – than any other Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of about $1 billion, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation.
**********The BLM’s multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.*************
It sure is nice to know that the BLM knows what we like and love, better than we do!! They are a sham !
Tell the Ranchers to get their cattle of public land! Then the horses have plenty of room to graze! The Land belongs to all the Americans, just like the horses. The BLM is doing a very poor job managing the interest of the puplic! Someone realy needs to look into the Bankaccounts of some of the BLM employees. It is crazy how many Federal and Goverment Employees are missusing this country to stuff their own pockets and we let it happen!
Lets kill all wild animals they are just in our way… What kind of fools are these people.and to think I was looking to move to wyoming. Ill look somewhere else. This is like making a treaty with the Indians, we never kept one. now the deal with the horses is being broke. you people are FOOLS.. I suppose these were the same people who were against bringing back the wolves, OH lets kill all of them too..I THINK I HAVE A SOLUTION LETS MOVE YOU OUT.. AT LEAST THAT IS KINDER THEN WHAT YOU WOULD HAVE DONE WITH THE HORSES… FOOLS
P.S. THIS IS AS KIND AS I CAN BE TO STUPID PEOPLE, BUT YOU CAN’T FIX STUPID
Like most of you I am very saddened by the upcoming roundup. (I’m still holding out hope that by some miracle it can be stopped and continue to contact everyone I can think of). I hope this issue doesn’t die with the completion of the roundup. We need to put pressure on the ranchers now. Let’s do what we can to stop the welfare for ranchers. If the public land available to them is decreased or cost of leases increased maybe they’ll get the message and leave our horses alone. Pressure needs to be put on the BLM too, In order to get them to manage the herds with effective birth control and stop the cruelty of the roundups.