Since our last report on Heber, construction (and apparent intended use) of corrals in and around the Heber Wild Horse Territory have continued, even as the Forest Service insists there is no new construction permit and no formal capture contract in place.

Volunteers and local residents continue to send photos and eyewitness accounts of corrals that look and would function like traps, reportedly associated with the same permittee who participated in the 1989 Gentry Allotment removal agreement.

The Heber plan is clear: any trap or handling facility used to capture Heber or other wild horses on U.S. Forest Service lands must fully comply with CAWS design and operational standards. This includes specific requirements for how wire fencing is constructed and treated when jute is hung as a visual barrier. A corral cobbled together with barbed wire — where horses could be injured or entangled — is the exact opposite of what CAWS is meant to prevent. The existence of such structures raises serious concerns about both legality and humane treatment should wild horses ever be driven into them.

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Above: Even though construction and reinforcement continues, the barbed wire is clearly exposed on all structures, used for construction, and in no way resembles a CAWS compliant trap or corral.

Despite repeated reports from the public, the Forest Service has yet to provide a meaningful, written explanation detailing what these corrals are for, who authorized them, how they have been reviewed for CAWS compliance, or how they fit within the Heber plan. At the same time, the agency has still not resolved the ongoing shootings of the Heber wild horses — with at least 13 confirmed dead so far in 2026 — nor has it offered a transparent accounting of what, if anything, has been done to identify and prosecute those responsible.

This continued silence from U.S. Forest Service leadership is becoming intolerable. The national Wild Horse and Burro Program, under Chief Dr. Teresa Drotar, is fully aware that Heber remains a flashpoint — an isolated, embattled herd surviving in a landscape haunted by side agreements, removals, and years of unsolved gunshot killings. Allowing questionable corrals to appear and remain without public documentation of CAWS compliance, contracting, or oversight only deepens public distrust and inflames a community that has been asking legitimate questions for a very long time.

What is happening today in the Black Mesa Ranger District does not reflect a program committed to transparency, welfare, or public accountability.

Instead, it looks alarmingly like a quiet return to the “trap and dispose” culture that the 2007 settlement was supposed to end.

Meanwhile, public concern continues to escalate. Local ranching representatives have been speaking at grazing-related hearings hosted by the Small Business Administration, repeating long-debunked claims that the Heber horses are unregulated or trespassing. She blamed horse advocates and litigation for preventing management and allowing the herd to “explode.”

This narrative misrepresents both law and history. The allotments in question are public lands — not private property — and the sole legal action she references resulted in a settlement requiring the Forest Service to formally recognize the Heber herd and to honor federal protections established under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. That agreement was designed specifically to end the kind of mustanging — baiting and trapping horses for sale to slaughter — that had persisted under the guise of local management. The court settlement in fact represents “regulations” and lawful regulation, not a return to a pre-1971 Act mindset.

As USFS leadership stays silent, rhetoric like this fuels fear that the agency will again turn a blind eye and allow local permittees to profit from activities that betray both the spirit and letter of federal law.

We are preparing another letter to the U.S. Forest Service demanding an update and requesting a public meeting within the next 60 days to address these issues directly.

If you would like to sign onto a public version the letter, click HERE.

We thank you for being an active advocate and standing up for Freedom, Mercy and Justice. 

Every mile we travel to cover roundups or assess a herd, every court case we bring, every win, every action we take is only possible because of your support.