Our wild ones were removed from the range to allow taxpayer subsidized private profit users of public lands to continue to get the lions share of land and resources. Wild horses and burros are not a burden. They are part of the cost of livestock and mining on our lands. Caring for them in holding is a resulting responsibility.
Spotlight Facilities Articles:
Last week Wild Horse Education and Rewilding America Now filed a brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to shed light on neglect and abuse in the current BLM system of holding focusing on the privately owned facility in Winnemucca, NV.
One short life. How the system failed a baby burro.
The final installment examines alternatives (below)
Above: Post-roundup orphans
Just like the on-range program, the off-range system of holding and the adoption/sale programs need serious reform. In the spotlight articles featured over the last week we touched on a few of the areas needing reform and gave specific examples.
As government programs are being defunded, federal employees purged and thrown into chaos, we are expecting another call to kill or sell off all wild horses and burros in holding facilities as happened in the Presidential Budget Request of 2017.
Instead of continuing to treat our wild horses and burros, a symbol of the spirit of the West, with disdain and neglect, there are so many ways money could be saved in the program and create long overdue reform at the same time.
Review Billing:
Over the course of the last five years our team has been working on tracking deaths in facilities. One of the things we look at when tracking deaths, are render receipts. Render receipts show all bodies picked up at facilities, not just those branded. As in the story of the baby burro in an earlier article, not all animals are treated equally when it comes to record keeping. What we have found is that render receipts from one facility will show up in FOIA requests for others. We are continuing this investigation. But there are indications that submittal for payment for rendering may suffer from the same poor record keeping we see again and again in the program and it would be likely there is waste and/or outright fraud. This aspect of facilities should be reviewed by the Office of the Inspector General (when there is an IG again) and we are preparing a packet we will send.
The area between Schell Creek and Moriah is an area where a former mustanger that was extremely active during the claiming period had livestock grazing permits. The horses that lived in this area were removed (or shot and killed) before BLM drew HA boundary lines in 1975. Moriah was also declared “not fit for horses” and reverted from HA to HMA. This area is one that needs to be reevaluated to rectify both the original boundaries and for repatriation.
Repatriate Herd Areas (HA):
Herd Area is a label given to land designated for wild horse and burro use after the was codified and the claiming period* ended. The need for artificial boundary lines arose during debate to pass the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act and the “free-roaming throughout the West” had to be removed in order to pass the Act. BLM then designated boundary lines called “Herd Areas” covering about 54 million acres. BLM then removed acreage from the “management” citing things like “the terrain is too difficult” or “conflict with users” cutting acreage to around 27 million acres of BLM land. The designation Herd Management Area (HMA) was given to what BLM decided they would manage. (*After the Act was passed, from 1971-1976 the “claiming period” allowed mustanging to continue as ranchers claimed ownership of tens of thousands of wild horses wiping out mustangs from many public lands grazing allotments. The claiming period came to an end in 1976 after the agency began requiring proof of ownership.)
Today, when an area is “zeroed out,” that area reverts from HMA to HA status. That means the HA is still designated for horse and/or burro use, but not managed for their use.
None of the removal of territory was done with any analysis process in actual management planning that would determine when the area would be evaluated for repatriation or setting of AML (a number of horses and/or burros allowed in the area).
Repatriating HAs is within the current authority of the Secretary of Interior, but that authority has never been exercised. Today, there are around 13 million acres of BLM land that were originally designated for horse and/or burro use that could support introduction of horses and/or burros or already have existing populations where an AML should be set. Triggers for repatriation must be included in Herd Management Area Planning (a process BLM has illegally withheld for over 40 years).
Repatriating HAs could save millions of dollars in holding costs.
Rewilding
Rewilding using horses is being done all over the globe. Using horses as a keystone species to heal landscapes has been proven again and again. The North American continent, where the horse originally evolved into the modern horse, is the ideal environment to use horses as habitat architects.
Repatriating HA land using the principles of rewilding could be just the prescription needed to heal landscapes battered and abused under centuries old misuse.
Rewilding could also be done on land privately owned and with privately owned horses on public lands grazing allotments. Partnering with organizations like Rewilding America Now to rehome captive wild horses in holding could save BLM a lot of money.
Moriah
Placement of Special Needs Agreements:
There have been numerous instances where members of the public have been ready to take wild horses or burros with special needs or in need of medical care. In a previous article, we outlined one baby burro that had private placement and was refused with the death of the baby burro the resulting consequence. The individuals and organizations that are willing to take on this task have the financial ability to pay for the care of these animals and provide care BLM cannot. BLM should create a mechanism that allows expedient adoption of special needs animals and keep a listing of these individuals for when the need arises. BLM makes these arrangements for “friends and family.” BLM does not allow any participation by anyone that dare criticize any part of the program and needs to create one set of rules.
This would save BLM money, free up BLM employees for other tasks and give them time to catch up on the abysmal record keeping plaguing off-range corrals. It could also assist BLM in providing the adequate care outlined in law.
Allowing the public to supplement facilities (example: Shelters)
From 2009-2015, the public repeatedly requested they be allowed to place shelters in BLM holding corrals and were repeatedly refused. Many organizations raised tens of thousands of dollars that BLM never permitted to go to shelters (WHE made offers to help, but never raised funds).
The only time BLM allowed outside assistance with shelters was in 2013, covered in a previous article, where HSUS and Nat’l Mustang Association of Utah provided materials for a “shade test.” The shelter was constructed in one of the small interior pens at Palomino Valley Center (NV). The majority of the pens in that facility having no adequate structures to this day. The vast majority of facilities provide no shelter.
Would it really be so horrible if BLM had visible shelter in facilities provided by advocates and
advocacy organizations and had to acknowledge them? Or could it be the beginning of an
actual “cooperative” future BLM likes to claim they are working toward?
Validating AML BEFORE Mass REMOVAL:
Since the claiming period ended BLM continued to create policy to avoid addressing any conflict with private profiteers. Most management levels (numbers BLM will allow on the range) were set in the years following the claiming period through agreements, not data. HMAs for wild horses and/or burros are made up of numerous fenced allotments and set on a “livestock grazing allotment-by-allotment” method (23 agreed to in this allotment, 50 in that one, and then added up to reach what BLM calls “AML”).
What many of you do not know is that the “National AML” BLM cites in population statistics reports of 26,785, is the National HIGH AML. This number is not genetically viable. BLM has started using the phrase “meta population” to claim that as a national population this number is viable and there is no danger. Scientifically, this term is used with the typical nonsense factor in which BLM’s paid shills parrot nonsense to sound smarter than you are. A minimum migration rate of 0.05 into the smallest subpopulations of Ne = 25 (i.e. 1.25 migrants/generation) is needed to avoid excessive inbreeding accumulation (short-term goal). Larger subpopulations are preferable to several smaller subpopulations with the same number of effective individuals, even when the latter are well connected. When we are dealing with far removed HMAs that have zero exchange where populations are being driven to fewer than 100 individuals, there is no recipe for sustainability over time at all. (Learn more about “meta population.”)
When BLM does a roundup they are targeting the LOW AML. Low AML for wild horses is 14,259 and burros is 2,101. That is the target herd after herd is being driven to: a number set by politics, regurgitated as fact and never disclosed or evaluated before cramming tens of thousands of wild horses and burros into holding facilities where they are considered a “taxpayer burden.”
Before doing roundups, HMAPs should be done to actually disclose how AML is set and
evaluate both AML and boundary lines for mistakes. This would save a lot of money in holding
and litigation.
OPENING CLOSED FACILITIES
Regular visiting hours must be established at all facilities that house wild horses and burros.
It has been proven time and again that BLM does not have the ability or personnel to monitor all captive wild horses and burros. Allowing public visitation increases adoptions and, for zero cost, increases oversight to prevent undue suffering.
Before our wild ones are again targeted through administrative politics to pay with their lives for a system that has consistently failed them, there is a lot that can be done to save money AND put the program on a sustainable path that protects our wild ones, habitat and our integrity as a nation.
All of the alternatives listed above and more can be built into a spending bill or simply into a directive from the next Secretary of Interior. As soon as the chaos ebbs and we have a name to send a request to, we will add an action item all of you can take.
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!
By request we have relaunched our shirts. You can order a sweatshirt or t-shirt to support our work through February 1. All proceeds go to keep out team in the field, at the table and in the courtroom. Just click on the image or click HERE if you would like to were your support for our wild horses and burros proudly while supporting our critical mission.
Categories: Wild Horse Education
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