Our teams are out covering the Calico roundup in NV and the Cedar roundup in Utah as the fiscal year roundup schedule comes to a close.
Cedar, 2022
Team Updates:
Calico, NV: Nevada continues to demonstrate the highest number of deaths during capture operations: so far 15 have died at the ongoing Calico roundup.
Below: BLM has returned to this same trap location on 9/20 for the 4th day to squeeze all the horses out of the area at a trap they literally have to run through the cows on the way into the trap.
503 of the 1,556 targeted have been captured to date. BLM estimated that there were 1,593 wild horses in the entire complex as of May 2022. The complex contains 5 Herd Management Areas (HMAs): Black Rock Range, Calico Mountains, Granite Range, McGee Mountain and Warm Springs and spans over 584,101 acres.
Below: Wild horses from this operation are being taken behind closed door of Broken Arrow (Indian Lakes) just as they were in 2009/10 where a record number of deaths were reported including youngsters who suffered road founder so bad that one even had his hooves slough off. BLM and their partners (Path Forward) have dragged the program back a decade and it looks like history is repeating.
BLM NV is continuing to deny daily access to temporary holding corrals and no processing of wild horses has been seen. Access will only be provided two times each week. Access to view trap has been impeded for the entire operation so far by distance and obstruction.
Our ongoing team coverage of the Calico roundup can be found HERE.
Cedar Mountain, UT: The first day of public observation was yesterday, the first two days were on military grounds.
223 Wild Horses (83 Stallions, 87 Mares, and 53 Foals) have been. captured to date and 153 have shipped to the off-limits facility at Axtell.
The plan at Cedar is a ten-year remove/fertility control plan and not a management plan. The underlying documents were approved on August 18 and this operation put on the schedule even before the appeal period expired. WHE has filed a legal appeal (litigation) to stop this ten-year nightmare.
You can see our team reports from Cedar here.
Budget Watch
The federal government works on a fiscal year that runs from the first day of October through the last day of Sept; the money from the 2022 budget is running out. Both houses of Congress must pass a unified budget and send it to the President to sign before it becomes law and funding can be released. We do not know if we will see a funding bill pass for the entire year or head into a series of continuing resolutions (smaller bills) to run federal agencies for shorter periods until a full bill can pass (as we have seen the last few years). (You can track progress of the bills HERE)
At this time it looks like Congress will pass a bill with the same language for the BLM Wild Horse and Burro program as they have the last 2 years (rearranged with a few words added that do not actually change how funding will be spent). The “BLM 2020 plan” will continue with full support of current BLM leadership. Our outreach team is busy trying to educate key influencers to achieve a last minute change. However, the “Path Forward” players are well funded and organized and getting Congress to hear anything that is not focused on “population growth suppression” is difficult. The “ten-year” removal plans need to stop; removal is not management, we need actual management plans.
We expect the 2023 roundup schedule (that begins Oct. 1) to drop soon. We will continue to update you.
Active Action items
You can learn more about a bill that could stop choppers and gain a real review of capture methods, CLICK HERE.
You can help us gain a science-based review of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro program, CLICK HERE.
We need your help to take the fight against abuse to the next level. CLICK HERE.
A WHE report that can help you address the inflated numbers game presented to Congress/media as you advocate for wild horses, CLICK HERE.
Our teams need your support to stay in the field, at the table and in the courts. We are up against a very well funded machine that spans both sides of this issue. With your help, we can continue to keep the fight alive.
Fiscal 2022, helicopter capture WHE team reports.
Litigation breakdown can be found HERE.
Categories: Wild Horse Education
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