We thought you might enjoy seeing a few of the new lives that have entered the world as the seasons turn.

For wild things, the harsh winter that takes it annual toll has ended. The cycle of renewal begins. However, the cycle is changing. Winters are starting later, lasting longer. Summers are getting hotter and hotter. 

When we check on bands with new foals, we try to stay as far away as we can and use a long lens. Mares have carried foals through the hard season, given birth and are using their energy to nurture new babies; energy they need to replenish. We do all we can not to disturb natural movement or panic bands that may run while new babies are sleeping nearby. If you go out on the range in spring into wild, wild places, please try to keep your distance particularly where there are not regular visitors and they are not used to people.

You can take ACTION for this herd that has been untouched for fifteen years. A focal point of WHE advocacy for a long time, we now have the opportunity to “get it right” and gain fair, transparent management planning to keep them truly wild.

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This time of year we also document rangeland that has no wild horses, often these lands will be in the same valley. We document what the range looks like where there is only domestic livestock.

All of us have seen BLM use pictures from autumn, taken after a range has been battered all growing season by livestock. Or they will use photos taken before the growing season begins renewal.

Everything has an impact on the range. Livestock, wild horses, wildlife and even your own footsteps create an impact. How the land recovers from the wounds, or can no longer recover, is key to understanding “capacity.”

If a range that BLM says is so degraded that 80% of the horses need to come off (even though that range will have sheep, cattle wildlife and wild horses), then a range that has no horses but looks identical, must need an 80% reduction in livestock? We wish that type of logic simply prevailed. Until it does, we document and use that information as we seek justice.

In fact, whatever (contrived) connection there may be to forage (how it is allocated) and the number of wild horses or burros BLM allows on the range, is not truly provided to the public on a site-by-site basic through any Land Use Plan (LUP), Final Multiple Use Decision (FMUD), Gather-EA, etc. BLM is supposed to disclose this magic formula in Herd Management Area Plans (HMAP), something we are fighting for in the courtroom (disclosure of methods and reevaluation). (More HERE)

Today we celebrate new life. 

We commit to continuing to seek justice; fair and balanced management with real protections from abuse. 

We need your support to keep our teams running. On range, through capture and into holding, our team is ready to go the distance to protect and preserve our precious wild ones. Thank you so much for standing with us!