YOU Speak (letters from the public)

By Laura Leigh on November 14, 2019

Temporary holding corral Fish Creek stallions after roundup

At Wild Horse Education (WHE) we often receive letters from the public. Some of the mail we have been receiving is from people writing to their legislators asking for “fact check” or insight. We include one such letter that was written by one of our WHE members in this piece (scroll down).

Your voice is the last line of defense against this wave of corruption. Please, use it. The deal making is in high gear in DC over the next few weeks in the push to get a final version of the Appropriations bill passed to avoid a shut down (like last year). At this juncture we are likely to see another temporary bill through December. There is not much time.

This is a critical time for people to write, call and email. If you do not have time to craft your own letter we have a “click and send” for your Senate Representatives HERE. However, we are moving into an election cycle year and emailing, writing and calling directly can be a powerful message (you can find your legislators HERE).

At WHE our outreach to legislative representatives and the public has increased dramatically. The well organized, well funded, corporate lobby effort is in high gear and creating perhaps the greatest danger to our wild horses and burros since before the Act to protect them was passed in 1971.

The effort is filled with propaganda, backdoor deals, lies to the public about those deals, and more (learn more HERE). There are more players in this poker game than you may realize as spin machines are busy. Some of these political tours are screaming that the “wild horses are the greatest threat to public lands” and creating staged events both on and off range for their crafted lies. Some are simply saying “save the wild horses” and giving an impression that they are fighting while they negotiate their piece of the “wild horse pie.”

Much of this fight now comes down to you. At this moment YOU are the strongest voice our wild ones have. What do you support? (more HERE)

A letter from a WHE member (active advocate that has participated in WHE webinars, supported and read our work for a decade). You can use the letter below to begin your own?

They agreed to publication with the understanding that we would not publish their name. It s important to remember that if you live in “wild horse country” the reality of the “extremism movements” are very, very, real. (The first hearing was held last month in the House on this issue.)

To (insert Senator/House Rep)

The current bill before both the House and the Senate for reconciliation, regarding the management of the BLM Wild Hose and Burro Program, sometimes known as “THE PATH FORWARD FOR MANAGEMENT OF BLM’S WILD HORSES & BURROS” is flawed. Before any new program funding is appropriated, I firmly believe that the following facts and accompanying steps should be carefully considered

BLM decision making is unjustified and unscientific as repeatedly witnessed by The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) from 1982-2013.
BLM should fix the flaws in its fundamental framework (i.e., unjustified boundary lines, AML) prior to any additional program funding or program changes.
BLM owes the public and their chosen lawmakers a report that accurately characterizes current conditions (i.e., population counts and location, available waters, fence lines, boundaries, presence of mining and livestock) on each legally defined HMA and a comparative report that contrasts the results with those of their original surveys and subsequent targets (population counts and location, available waters, fence lines, presence of mining and livestock). BLM must demonstrate what they are doing to correct habitat loss, the loss of water sources, inaccurate boundary lines and, further, set AML based on a scientific process that includes critical habitat preservation.
Only after the report is produced and distributed, transparently, should any additional funding be provided for programmatic changes or acceleration.
Congress should designate an appropriate sum for this data-driven assessment and base any additional funding on the outcome.

There are safe and humane ways to manage the horse and burro populations, and more to the point, public lands, however, it is a gross mischaracterization to directly infer that this species is responsible for the lion’s share of negative impact on the range, its resource, and other species. When animal agriculture controls nearly all of that forage resource, when non-native sheep and cattle outnumber horse and burro populations 50:1, when, in fact, wild horses and burros are only present on less than 15% of public lands having lost 50% of the HMA acreage promised in the 1971 act (thus less and less able to “free roam”), it ought to be obvious to any but the most casual observer that it is animal agriculture (cattle/sheep), from a species perspective, that is degrading public land and, in fact, threatens its diversity and sustainability. And that is not even mentioning extraction industries and their negative impacts. So, in short, the notion that horses and burros are ‘overpopulated” is a false premise, and, further, inferring that they are the major threat to public land is simply wrong.

Degrading habitat is real, but the true causes are, I believe, intentionally obfuscated by business interests that have consistently been unwilling to engage in honest mitigation. Wild horses and burros are convenient scapegoats for these interests as they push to circumvent the legal protections that were awarded by the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses And Burros Act and dominate public land for their own gain. “Overpopulation” becomes a term of convenience, a scapegoating tactic, nothing more. The wild horse is the victim here, purposefully denied access to forage and even water, on a range overrun by non-native, commodified animals.

The current $35M proposal that has now passed the House and the Senate, and is yet to be reconciled, is, in essence, little changed from business as usual, and is a give-away to the real culprits where rangeland degradation is concerned. It is, in my judgement, a toothless deferral to those industries who’d rather not have to deal with horses and burros, or any other species, that hinders their efforts to squeeze every little penny of publicly subsidized profit from our rangeland. I’m sure you’re familiar with the 2013 National Academy Of Sciences report calling out the unscientific processes and corresponding poor quality data used by BLM to “manage” this program (nothing much has changed since that time), the dismal and obstructionist track record of this agency and these industries in implementing the agreed upon animal welfare policy (CAWP) and, in fact, the purposeful undermining of the promising PZP birth control study at Fish Creek in 2016. Why are these interests suddenly trustworthy? Is it because the proponents of this bill are using the HSUS, ASPCA, and RTF to make them look respectable to the public? What leads you to believe that they will suddenly change their behavior?

I encourage you, at the very least, to “hold their feet to the fire”, and regardless of what is included in the final bill, to ensure that any actions required relative to humane treatment, accurate reporting, and science-based management procedures are rigorously enforced and monitored (AML, HMA boundaries are key, for example). And, just as important, I encourage you to take a step back, and take a close look at the formation and promotion of this deal in the first place, one that includes scrutiny of the “backroom” deal-making that brought it forward. This situation will never resolve in a fair and positive way unless we look at the facts, stop the money-driven spin, and stop putting the almighty buck above all the many ethical considerations that are inevitably intertwined with public policy decision-making.

The current proposed budget bill will very likely accelerate the program’s drive to collapse. Meantime, the round-ups continue and the animals suffer.

Again, please consider:

BLM decision making is unjustified and unscientific as repeatedly witnessed by The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) from 1982-2013.
BLM should fix the flaws in its fundamental framework (i.e., unjustified boundary lines, AML) prior to any additional program funding or program changes.
BLM owes the public and their chosen lawmakers a report that accurately characterizes current conditions (i.e., population counts and location, available waters, fence lines, boundaries, presence of mining and livestock) on each legally defined HMA and a comparative report that contrasts the results with those of their original surveys and subsequent targets (population counts and location, available waters, fence lines, presence of mining and livestock). BLM must demonstrate what they are doing to correct habitat loss, the loss of water sources, inaccurate boundary lines and, further, set AML based on a scientific process that includes critical habitat preservation.
Only after the report is produced and distributed, transparently, should any additional funding be provided for programmatic changes or acceleration.
Congress should designate an appropriate sum for this data-driven assessment and base any additional funding on the outcome.

Sincerely,

your constituent

We are so proud of the efforts our members are taking for the protection and preservation of the wild.

Will you join us?

~~~~~~

Help us stay in the fight! All of our work is possible because of your support. Thank you!

A short video below of part of one of our recent outreach sessions provided by Douglas Dems.org. Each session is different depending on the interaction with the audience. We like to move rapidly through the presentation and get to “talking with you,” not “at you. We have been having more session and are working on scheduling another webinar so you can participate no matter where you live.

Categories: Wild Horse Education

YOU Speak (letters from the public)

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