Our legal team has been really busy over the last few months on active cases and filing additional appeals and in federal civil court.
On the first day of the Pancake roundup of 2022, a young colt broke his leg. Wild Horse Education carried an active appeal against the newly approved ten-year removal plan. The tragic loss of that young life garnered support to jump the appeal into federal court. The case was successful in showing that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was, in fact, illegally withholding the creation of actual management planning and disclosure of how things like Appropriate Management Level (the number of horses or burros a range can sustain) are set and any actual data used to set those numbers. The case was brought to conclusion successfully in 2024 and also won against the inadequate analysis contained in the roundup plan. This effectively gut the ability of BLM to remove more wild horses until they complete a real analysis.
The case became an unexpected beginning of a string of strategic litigation efforts. By definition, “strategic litigation” refers to cases that have broad impact outside the courtroom and beyond the individuals involved in taking the case (or one location or circumstance) and usually involve more than one case that solidifies precedent and expands a breakthrough. Herd Management Area Plans (HMAP) have never been done for the vast majority of herds and the few that have been done, have had abysmal follow-through and failures to do updates. Instead, BLM basically simply omitted the HMAPs a “gather assessment” should tier to and tried to pass off those roundup plans as management.
Even before the ruling, we filed additional cases that address the lack of HMAPs, lack of compliance or updated HMAPs, failures to disclosure of any kind and more. The second case at Blue Wing affirmed the ruling where the deficit in actual management planning was found in Pancake, solidifying the precedent.
We have numerous additional cases on file in both the land use court and Federal Civil Court. Many of you have been asking for updates. Below you will find a very fast update on some of our active litigation.
Status update from our legal team:
The Antelope Complex and Triple B Complex case is moving forward into a second phase where the BLM will be supplementing the record with additional information prior to the filing of Motions for Summary Judgement. (This case addresses issues under the largest removal plan in the country. The sheer lack of actual data and foundational planning is staggering.)
The case against the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) for denying WHE the right to appeal the lack of mitigation of damages to, and loss of habitat due to mining expansion in the Triple B Complex is on file.
In order to keep wild horses and burros on the range, there must be resources to sustain them. Just like wildlife groups fight loss of habitat from mining, we need to be able to step up and address the damage. The lower court basically said wild horse advocates do not have “Standing” to address issues like the lack of mitigation off-set loss of critical resources. We have taken them to Federal court.
The BLM has formerly dropped their Appeal to the Ninth Circuit of the Pancake decision allowing the precedent to stand at the district court level. This case has finally ended.
The Stone Cabin/Saulsbury case is moving into Summary Judgement. This is the area the permittee filed suit to force a removal. WHE filed a suit that demonstrated BLM did not adhere to the 1983 HMAP nor update the management plan, basing the removal plan on (special interest) agreements rolled into land use planning (and not data nor existing approved management planning for wild horses).
UPDATE: The ranchers bid to force a removal lost. Our push to gain real management planning is still alive and moving toward a final ruling.
WHE has also filed a Petition For Stay against the Three Rivers burro roundup. The first removal operation under the newly approved ten-year roundup plan is on the schedule for May. We are aware of pending roundup and if the IBLA case is delayed, we will need to seek relief in Federal Civil Court.
This week we did win on the Standing issue in the IBLA to address additional mining exploration in the Triple B Complex at Limo. We are currently fighting this hurdle to address the Robertson mine that will impact Shoshone.
We have submitted comments and are awaiting BLM to create final planning documents at Carter, Blue Wing, Pancake and more. Once planning documents are complete, we will look at options if BLM does not fully address concerns before finalizing proposed actions.
We are working on briefing this week addressing holding facilities and more.
Litigation is a critical arm of advocacy for every subject from health and safety to species welfare. Coupled with outreach and education campaigns in the media and with lawmakers, the full scope of advocating for change is engaged.
Litigation is a long and complicated process. However, it is a necessity. Even BLM leadership has admitted that any changes are “litigation-driven.” In other words, nothing will change unless we go into a courtroom.
Our team is working hard in the field and in the courts. Without your support, none of our work is possible. Thank you for keeping WHE running for our wild ones!
Categories: Wild Horse Education
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