It is time to rally. It is not time for surrender. We must address threats new and long standing. We must not allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by fear and sow seeds of self-defeat. 

NOTE: We are reading your emails but may not be able to respond to all of them. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is under attack and we are working on an article to answer as many of your questions as we can and will publish shortly. 

Yes, our wild ones in holding are a target. Just as they were in 2017, budget cutting today aims directly at the facilities that house our wild ones that were unjustly removed from the range. Cutting the budget for staff and feed  does take aim, once again, at killing our wild ones or selling them without limits (slaughter). Ignoring causes of wide-spread damages to public lands, our wild ones were openly in the cross-hairs of William Perry-Pendley when he called them the greatest threat to public lands. The agenda of today, that Pendley help write for the new administration, is moving forward including reinstatement of the energy dominance agenda and language to fast-track easy disposal of federal public lands to states and private business and has already been passed by the House.

In a recent interview with the Reno Gazette Journal, Mark Amodei (R-NV) essentially soft-peddled the idea that the Wild Horse and Burro Program is on the chopping block. When this “idea” was openly discussed in the past, it became a massive headline met with outrage from all sides of the political spectrum in the public. This time the Wild Horse and Burro Program is a footnote as other issues take the main stage like Social Security, deportations and gutting of other federal agencies like the FAA and FDA. But make no mistake, sliding this agenda into place is at play. 

Gutting the wild horse and burro program is the first step toward disposal of the ones in holding and getting rid of federal jurisdiction (the main part of the 1971 Act that stopped mustanging) and bringing us all the way back in time to the days of the Misfits (in no way, shape, or form, were the days before the environmental laws that included the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burro Act, “great”).

You can learn more and make one simple call HERE. 

As the news cycle ignores wild horses and burros, advocacy must make it crystal clear to lawmakers that wild horses and burros matter to the public. Even in the chaos of the news cycle that ignores this issue, it is critically important to voters that our wild ones remain protected: Do not kill or sell off wild horses and burros in holding. Do not give away the land they stand on in the wild and negate the meager protections afforded to them. 

The fiscal year (FY) 2025 began in October of 2024. The budget debate to fund the rest of FY 2025 is coming to a close. We expected 2025 to maintain status quo and massive change to come through Congress in 2026 funding. However, unprecedented moves are upending traditional processes and funding (even funding designated by Congress) is on the chopping block.

Traditionally we see the Presidential Budget Request for the following fiscal year (in this case, FY 2026) by the first Monday in February. Instead, we see previously Congressionally approved funding being targeted through Executive Orders. Before the FY 2026 debate can even begin, budgetary spending approved by Congress is being diverted and rescinded by Presidential Order and is the subject of several lawsuits (as an example: Funding for USAID was approved by Congress and a Presidential order stopped funding, the court unfroze it and the fight is still on.)

We cannot allow the chaos, fear and anger it creates to halt the work needed to create real reform on range, in holding and beyond. 

The program is ripe with corruption and waste. But gutting the program is not reform, it simply creates the “end-game” that our opposition has wanted since the day the 1971 Act passed. Resentment of federal jurisdiction over public lands landed squarely in the back of wild horses as they became a sort of symbol of federal control as mustanging, and the fast cash it brought, came to a halt.

• BLM has wasted millions of dollars ignoring creating Herd Management Area Plans (HMAPs) for decades. Instead of creating a transparent management plan that clearly states how numbers on the range (BLM calls Appropriate Management Level or AML) and forage allocations are set, sets aside critical habitat for herd survival, determines a real genetic identity and how to preserve it, analyzes the role horses and burros play in fire fuel reduction, etc., they would save millions in litigation costs and save money and time in NEPA planning. Even though the courts have ruled BLM illegally withheld management planning and skipped right to a “gather plan,” BLM is now creating gather plans and labelling them HMAPs with zero disclosure of how determinations are set… setting up a scenario where millions more could be spent on litigation instead of simply doing their jobs. 
• BLM has wasted millions of dollars creating a welfare program that simply endorses abuse, neglect and and does nothing to further welfare issues. Simply formalizing rules and making them enforceable, would save millions and make everything safer for people and wild horses and burros.
• In every area where the public wants to help, from funding construction of shelters in holding to assisting with funding on range improvements, BLM has denied the public the ability to help. Instead they perpetuate the existence of a system where they like to complain, spend funds to justify complaining and increase contention.

There are so many areas where BLM could save money and create long needed reform in the Wild Horse and Burro Program. The places where fiscal responsibility and reform could walk hand-in-hand are too many to list (recent article on Holding Facilities).

Pulling the rug out from under our wild ones (basically negating the law) is not a solution.

Our team is very active, right now, in the courts: We are fighting to gain real management planning that includes transparency and habitat protection. We are suing the Interior Board of Land Appeals in Federal Court for denying advocates the right to protect wild horses from habitat loss due to massive mining expansion. We are fighting in the courts, right now, to expose cruelty and waste in off-limits to the public facilities. We are fighting to protect the last stronghold of wild burros left in this country. We are filing more litigation in the coming days to protect our wild ones from abuse and death on and off the range. 

We will not allow bully tactics and fear to stop us from taking a strong stand.

Please, do not let the chaos stop you. We know you are all dealing with a lot in your own lives. We know the phone lines to Congress are blowing up and simply getting a call through to an aide is hard. But making one call for our wild ones is important.

Making a call might not seem like much. However, aides keep track of the number of calls that come in and the related subject matter. With so much going on, simply registering the words “protect wild horses and burros” informs your lawmakers that this issue is one that is important and will impact your votes in 2 years during the next round of Congressional elections.

Call the Congressional Switchboard at: (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your representatives. Tell them: Public lands must be left in the public domain and not given away or sold. Wild horses and burros on the range and in holding must not be killed or sold to slaughter.

WHE will keep up the legal battle. Can you please make sure Congress does not forget that our wild horses and burros matter to the American people?

Onward.

All of our work is only possible with your support. We thank you for keeping the critical work we do at WHE running for our wild ones.