As we advocate for wild horses and burros we have to take actions toward long term goals as well as short term actions. This page will update frequently.

Preface to all actions: Actions that address policy fall into 3 different branches of government.  Any agenda for change begins with the next administration and next Congress. Every 4-8 years we have a new Cabinet set by the President of the US. Cabinet members direct agency function. Cabinet members are chosen and then must pass Senate confirmation hearings. Prior to confirmation many will serve in an “acting” capacity. Deb Haaland (D-NM) has been chosen to head the Dept of Interior (BLM sits in the Dept of Interior) and Tom Vilsack to helm the Dept of Agriculture (Forest Service sits under Dep of Ag). We are awaiting confirmation.

Every two years we have a new Congress. The 116th Congress has just ended. The 117th United States Congress is the next iteration of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It is scheduled to meet in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 2021, to January 3, 2023.

More HERE that can help you understand a bit about the “who and how” of advocating for change.

2021 Public Actions Begin

Our team has sent information to the transition team concerning important public lands issues and wild horse and burro program flaws. These are comprehensive documents and take a lot of time. Much of what we are doing will not fit in a click and send format and involves discussion as well as correspondence.

You can help. You can use the templates below to send fast click and sends. Or you can use the letters at these links to find talking points for your own letters. 

You can send a letter to the President and Vice President HERE.

As Cabinet members are confirmed, and agency leadership chosen, giving clear direction to move our wild horse and burro program forward will be vital. 

You can send a letter to your representatives in the House and Senate HERE.

As the 117th Congress takes their seats they will be very busy facing many urgent tasks. In February the debate for funding of federal agencies for 2022 will go into full swing. Congress must take their responsibility to hold the agency accountable both fiscally and morally. It has been 50 years since Congress declared wild horses and burros as integral to the system of public lands. For 50 years our wild horses and burros have not had an equitable system of management processes.

This letter is valid the week Congress goes back into session and will change the following week.

As leadership is confirmed and/or determined, we will add more specific actions for you to take.

These older wild horses were captured by helicopter and simply treated with temporary fertility control (PZP) and released back to the range. PZP is primarily used as a substance to treat wild horses as part of a helicopter capture.Over the next few years, BLM slammed down this population to less than 600 wild horses in a project area of about 1.5 million acres as they continued token use of PZP. That is not management.

Why are we not just asking Congress to fund temporary fertility control PZP? PZP is not management. It is one tool of management that must be justified in actual management planning. Before we obligate the taxpayer
to buy a single substance (PZP) over other options, we need to determine how habitat is addressed, genetic preservation and what options work best based on each herd’s needs.

We like PZP as a temporary fertility control option, in two forms, as a part of a rigorously-completed management plan. But we do not like assertion and marketing over the best interests of our wild ones. A huge multi-million-dollar campaign has been run, including the “Ten Years to AML” debacle, to gain mandatory use of a single substance. To us, that is not advocacy, but a campaign like any other that places a self interest, over the public interest, in search of an order of a substance or potential contract.

PZP comes in 3 forms: a one year formula referenced as “native,” a formula that lasts 18-24 months called “PZP-22” that is not dartable, and Spayvac that causes long term infertility.

PZP is one form of fertility control. It is also not the only substance that can be applied using a dart gun. A method is distinct from a substance.

We need open and fair management that justifies both spending and actions. Only then will we begin to actually create any “fix” of existing flaws and move toward actual management.

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If you want to learn more about the “HMAP” and the BLM plan: https://wildhorseeducation.org/2020/05/20/blm-plan-and-the-hmap/

Important reading:

• Trespass Livestock on the Range; what you should know.
• The Deputy Director Game; avoid scrutiny and play games with the law
• The “Stewart Alliance” and the big corporate players behind it
• The Devils are in the Details (what is coming in the next BLM Report to Congress)
• The same dirty hands hold both National Monuments and wild horses
• May 8 BLM “Report to Congress” Report
  

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  Help us stay in the fight.