As we advocate for wild horses and burros we have to take actions toward long term goals as well as short term actions.
We update this page as often as we can. However, we get very busy and new action items come out without much lead time for fast action. The best way to stay on top of changing actions is to subscribe to the website to receive notifications when we publish new articles. Click HERE.
Preface to all actions: Actions that address policy fall into 3 different branches of government. More HERE that can help you understand that a bit about the “who and how” of advocating for change.
Learn: WHE reports and pages that can assist you in your advocacy. Having information you can present to bolster your claim to create the changes you seek can be vital.
Reports:
Analysis of BLM 2022 Population Statistics Report
3-part CAWP assessment and recommendations Report (pdfs listed at bottom of page linked)
WHE 2022 FOIA report that demonstrates the lack of basic record keeping
Articles:
A bit about overstocked BLM facilities in 2022
How title transfer works and places wild horses in jeopardy
This page contains several distinct actions you can take.
The budget debate (Appropriations) has begun again.
Each year you see pleas in your inbox from may large orgs to give BLM more money and, when BLM gets more funding, they call it a “victory.” Then you see the consequence, BLM uses that funding to amp up removals and stockpile more and more wild horses that are placed at risk of slaughter.
Do you want something else?
Since 2018, there have been calls by many to increase the BLM budget. These mass calls to action have claimed that the increased funding is to “Stop the Roundups!”. Each year more money has been added to the budget as roundups increase to hit historically high rates. BLM won’t change course for any herd until they hit the target population level for the area. Remember, BLM calls a removal of 2000, with a release of 70, a “fertility control operation.”
If you do not agree with how BLM is using extra funding, why not ask for a funding freeze instead of more funding? You could ask for a freeze until the following is addressed:
- BLM should be reporting to Congress on the number of actual management plans they create. The last time BLM released any update on the lagging Herd Management Area Plan (HMAP) creation process was in September 1996; where the few existing plans were documents stating that more data needed to be collected to create a plan. This lack of actual management planning has been replaced by removal plans and is an outrage that needs to be corrected.
- We need an online portal that gives full transparency. BLM needs to post facility intake, inventory and vet reports. BLM needs to make public all independent contracts, agreements, Memorandum of Understanding. BLM needs to include any monitoring data and flight inventories on their website.
- BLM needs to revise the animal welfare policy. Since adopting a policy in 2016, BLM simply began insufficient reporting in 2021. Infractions during roundups have become routine and disease is far too common in BLM facilities.
Before BLM is given more money to continue the 2020 plan, we need to see something that reflects some type of reform. All we have seen is that BLM ran a broken program toward collapse with no regard for protecting wild horses/burros and the range designated for their use.
You can use the link below to send a letter to your representatives or you can find your reps and create your own message. House and Senate
Scoping for Clan Alpine has been extended until March 30th.
This is an area where BLM counts horses that cross HMA boundaries from one district into another. BLM needs to figure out which horses are which before creating another removal plan. ACTION HERE.
Each Action is prefaced in red.
PLEASE NOTE: All legislation including the SAFE Act (stopping transport for slaughter), Ejaio (against imports of products that include the donkey skin trade), the Grazing Retirement Act (allowing public lands grazing allotments to be retired), etc. needs to be reintroduced before we can add them as action items for you to write your legislators about.
As our legislative team works for our wild ones (and tracks progress on reintroduction of bills like SAFE) we are noticing a trend toward bills aimed at transferring public lands into private and state hands (to remove any regulation against expanding industry).
We urge all of you to watch the full committee meeting scheduled for Feb. 7. https://naturalresources.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=412759
The Committee on Natural Resources will hold a Full Committee meeting on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, at 10:15 a.m., in Room 1324 Longworth House Office Building. The purpose of this meeting is to consider the Committee Authorization and Oversight Plan for the 118th Congress.
H.R. 200 – Forest Information Reform Act or the FIR Act, Introduced 01/09/2023 by Rep. Rosendale Sr., Matthew M. [R-MT-2]
This bill specifies that neither the Department of Agriculture nor the Department of the Interior may be required to reinitiate consultation on a land management plan when a species is listed as threatened or endangered, critical habitat is designated, or new information concerning a listed species or critical habitat becomes available. (In other words, if Sage Grouse are listed no approved plan that decimates habitat could be impacted or evaluated.)
We urge you to contact your representative in the House and tell them to vote “NO.”
More info on the bill HERE.
The bill has been referred to the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Agriculture
H.R.615 – To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture from prohibiting the use of lead ammunition or tackle on certain Federal land or water under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, and for other purposes.
The absurdity of the bill above lets you know we are back to the days where lead poisoning of our wild places and wild things is (once again) seen as “fine” by many in Congress. Even before the full text of this bill is available it already has 31 cosponsors of anti-environmental names.
We urge you to call your Rep and urge them to vote “NO.” More on the bill HERE.
The bill has been referred to the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Agriculture
As you can see, this is a dangerous time to have any debate in Congress that claims to further any protections for wild places; the debates will be populated by extreme views that aim to remove regulations, protections and “national” voices.
However, the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act (WFRH&B Act) will be open for debate. On February 1 the bill to open the WFRH&B Act to amendment was introduced. Text of the bill in a current form is not yet available. It has been referred to the House Natural Resources Committee for debate and amendment (yes, open sales to slaughter could be a proposed amendment with the current make-up of these committees).
H.R.726 – To amend the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act to direct the Secretary of the Interior to implement fertility controls to manage populations of wild free-roaming horses and burros, and to encourage training opportunities for military veterans to assist in range management activities, and for other purposes.
Once the text is available we will give you a rundown on the wisdom of current text and an action item.
The House Natural Resources Committee has not yet listed Democratic members. But these are the people that will be debating/amending all bills before that go to a vote. (Check back to see if they fix the listing). You can see a full committee agenda meeting HERE.
Reminder: PLEASE keep in mind that almost every extra dollar given to BLM right now goes for removal and stockpiling. We need to ask that the budget be frozen and not support any additional funding (in any fashion) until BLM gets management planning done.
There are currently 2 open comment periods for wild horse removal plans.
One plan aims to remove all wild horses from Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Comment closed.
The other is to gut the BLM McCullough Peaks herd and switch to fertility control methods that will cause permanent infertility. Comment period expired.
You can learn more about each and take action HERE.
Fight Abuse
Abuses on an off the range continue. We must gain expansion and revision of the Comprehensive Animal Welfare Policy (CAWP). Just like everything: there is a law and then an internal policy to carry out the law. The law says management must be humane, CAWP is the policy driven by litigation to carry out that law.
You can learn more by reading our 2022 CAWP report and recommendation sheets.
You can help us bring this important work to the next level by adding your name HERE.
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If you want to learn more about the “HMAP” and the BLM plan: https://wildhorseeducation.org/2020/05/20/blm-plan-and-the-hmap/
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Help us stay in the fight.
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