National Public Lands Day (Editorial)

By Laura Leigh on September 27, 2025

Wild horses are the only animal in our country legally defined by where they stand, not what they are biologically. Wild horses, as a “living symbol of the (pioneer) spirit of the West” literally carry the history of the land they stand upon.

At a time when our public lands and the wild things that call them home are under attack, it might seem like an odd time to revel in the beauty of these places… or is it the perfect time?

During a really hard time in my life I also saw our public lands as “home.” A place I felt accepted and safe. Isn’t that what the word “home” should mean?

Our public lands are a place you can connect, take a real breath and the sound of noise imposed by others can fade away and you can hear your true self. Maybe our own identity is as tied to natural wild places as our wild horses are?

Our public lands are and have been assaulted. The only way to describe the industrialization, the beating down of something beautiful for personal profit and private enrichment is an assault. Once beautiful places have been turned into scars.

But between the scars the beauty shines through.

Traveling our public lands for nearly 18 years I have seen the beauty of our public lands nine western states. Over the last 20 years I have watched the places you can find that beauty shrink into pockets… but the beauty is still there.

Protecting our wild ones must mean protecting the land they stand on.

The land our wild ones live on encompass what was once the most remote places in our nation. Often land no one really wanted due to the rugged nature or lack of steady resources like water. Our wild ones thrived in these places.

They thrived until (of course) someone wanted to reap a greater private profit off the land and they have been squeezed out. Squeezed so hard that the goal today is to achieve 10,000 fewer wild horses and burros than the number (approximate 27,000) found on the range when the law to protect them was finally passed in 1971 and Congress found that number “fast disappearing.”

Back in 1944 Guthrie had revised the title to “This Land is Your Land.” The original title to his song was “God Blessed America for Me.” He reworked the last line of each verse to a friendlier, “This land was made for you and me.” He then went on to nix the two most controversial verses, verses that accused the American system of business of greed and disregard for the needy.

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me. As I go walking my freedom highway. Nobody living can make me turn back. This land was made for you and me.

Seems like a very appropriate verse to sing today?

Celebrate our public lands. The uniquely American idea of the public commons that many American’s do not even understand that it is supposed to managed for the public good, not putting mass sums of money into private pockets often by foreign owned companies.

At WHE we are fighting for our wild ones. Most of you know about our work in the form of fighting against abuse and the fight to gain an enforceable welfare policy. Or you know about our lawsuits that have proven BLM has skipped actual management planning and simply calls removal “management.” Or you are following our lawsuit for Devil’s Garden where the court has stated we have a high likelihood of success, the roundup will end shy of the goal and we will see horses returned.

But we also fight for the land they stand on. We have derailed grazing schemes in court. We joined with a coalition and stopped a mine expansion. We are working hard to speak for a herd that will lose a third of their territory to a mine (this case is still active).