The Secretary of the Interior has suggested rounding up the wild horses and burros who run free in the West and confining
them to preserves in the East.
Ken Salazar cited financial and environmental reasons for the idea, which would affect the 37,000 wild horses and burros living in Nevada,
California, Wyoming and other Western states and 32,000 horses and burros living in corrals and pastures in Kansas, Oklahoma
and South Dakota.
He suggested capturing the animals and moving them to seven preserves. I can't help but think about
the First Peoples, living beings rounded up by the government and forced to live in designated areas.
Two of the preserves
would be operated by the Bureau for Land Management, the entity that has rounded up wild horses each year and tried to sell
them. The remaining preserves would be constructed in the Midwest and the East.
"Unfortunately, arid western lands and watersheds cannot support a population this large without significant damage
to the environment," he said.
But according to Greg Lawson, a National Park Service ranger, for each wild horse there are 160 cows on public land.
Thirty-seven thousand horses
are a drop in the bucket compared to the number of cows raised and slaughtered on these lands each year. Imagine how much
water is takes to feed these cows, to dispose of their feces, to rinse the blood from the slaughterhouse floors.
Although
The Associated Press story barely mentions ranching -- when describing Salazar's former livelihood -- that's what this is all about. Wild animals threaten
and reduce the space for cattle to graze, thereby affecting an animal ag's bottom line.
If Salazar has his way, these
wild animals will be in a type of zoo.
Spokesman Tom Gorey said the land management agency would work with state and local officials to create the preserves
-- essentially large ranches -- and make them accessible to the public.
"We think there is real potential for ecotourism,"
he said. "Everybody loves horses."
Everyone, that is, except those deciding their fate.
Input from Craig Downer on Salazar Plan for Future of America's Wild Horses and Burros
Dear Sir/Madam:
Thank you for this opportunity to comment
on the proposed plan for the future of the wild horses and burros of America.While
I am very much in agreement that changes are urgently required, I am disappointed that those suggested by the BLM are largely
more of the same displacement strategies that have been in place for years.The
following are my comments with specific suggestions and indicating my degree of agreement or disagreement with what is being
proposed with reference to page number and section:
Page 3, Letter of Abbey: opening quote:
The problem is that BLM is ignoring all the many positive contributions wild horses/burros’ make to an ecosystem if
so allowed.
Wild horse may be much loved by many
but they have been much sabotaged as well. When you state they are now protected, I have a hard time believing this, having
witnessed how their position on the public lands has been very undermined by a variety of ploys.Their place seems hardly as secure as you state.
38,000 figure seems very inflated.26.6 million acres on 180 hma’s in 10 states shows how they have been sabotaged.Original acreage could have been as high as 88 million, then went to an official 53
½ million and then to 36 million of occupied areas and now careens down to 26.6 million acres. We can see the writing on the
wall. What will it be after another ten years: 13 million?And in these areas
they are still being marginalized, not given fair share of resources to survive as truly viable and thriving populations.
The 180 hma’s have been greatly reduced. Original herd areas (ha’s) were about twice this.
Concerning your possible management actions,
I will give repeated reference to the concept of Reserve Design for wild horse/burro-containing ecosystems. I believe this
is the way to reform the program by redirecting the major emphasis away from taking away the freedom of the equids to restoring
this freedom and to allowing nature to balance itself, through proper planning and allowing and providing for this to happen.
Page 4 Introduction: I very much disagree
with the quote that there are more wild horses/burros today than at the passage of the Act.Independent assessment indicates that in 1971 there were about twice the oft-quoted figure of 17,000 horses and 8,000
burros.There are certainly much less burros today!
The introduction fails to mention the extremely
important fact that the entire horse family (Equidae) originated in North America and had the vast majority of its many-million-year-old
evolution here.All three branches originated and had the majority of their evolution
in North America: zebra, ass, including burro, and caballine horse, including the modern horse.And recent genetic and fossil evidence shows that the modern horse, Equus caballus, did in fact
originate and evolve the great majority of its time on Earth right here in North America. This is a glaring oversight not
to bring this out in this important document. These animals should be regarded as returned natives, not exotics!
To fail to do so is just plain dishonest
in our scientific day and age!Also, please don’t forget that the USFS
was also mandated to protect and manage the wild horses and burros, not just the BLM.
I detect Western hyperbole in the statements
about the rapid expansion of the wild horses and burros. What about the livestock?Game
animals?And what happened to the predators?Do not engage in scapegoating of wild horse and burros for damages that modern people ultimately cause, particularly
by the overgrazing of cattle and sheep. To say the paltry low AML’s being established by the helicopter roundups are
restoring a “thriving natural ecological balance” is to mislead the public, for the same livestock monopolies
remain after the roundup, the same ruminants chewing up the vegetation, camping on the riparian areas, and contributing little
to enrich the soils or seed the native plants, as do equids precisely because they are a different type of grazer than a ruminant
(cows, sheep, deer, etc.)
Page 5: top: The wild horse and burro gathers
are themselves excessive.As concerns the long-term protection and management
of the wild equids, here’s where implementing a properly conceived Reserve Design comes in, one that will obviate the
cruel roundups.As concerns the 35,000 now in holding, I suggest you restore
these into zeroed out ha’s now numbering ca. 24 million acres.
Page 6: The so called vision of BLM would
create semi-domesticated herds, not truly wild herds, as the act mandates.
Concerning USIECF and its recommendation,
more needs to be put from the Reserve Design concept that would allow for auto-regulating herds.Most obviously, there is an urgent need to curb dominant uses of the public lands, especially livestock
as per BLM’s exercising Code of Federal Regulations 4710.5 and .6.
When you mention “a more sustainable
approach”, I read “more wild horse and burros being subject to yet more crippling reductions of their numbers
or outright eliminations in a program that considers their welfare as a bottom priority”.
Within the seven key areas identified should
have been included viable herd populations as well as Reserve Design for the establishment of an in-the-field approach rather
than the heavy, hands-on manipulative approach that is being perpetuated.
Page 8: Principles for Success:With your heavy emphasis on control of population size, you fail to consider adequate
levels of population size that are good for the long-term future of the wild horses and burros.You also assume there are no natural predators, when in fact the mountain lion in many areas, the wolf
in some areas and bears in many areas all are predators of the horses and burros.These
are still found on the public lands, although there is a war on them by the government.They could be a major part of the solution. You should put much more emphasis in your plan upon allowing the stabilization
of wild equid societies and the intrinsic limitations on population growth that would thereby result.Your scare tactic of presenting 325,000 wild equids is just this and is insensitive to the true mandate
for and needs of the wild horses and burros both individually and collectively. You also again fail to recognize the positive,
life-enhancing aspects of wild horse and burro populations.
Your Principles for Success have
a wrong, negative emphasis.They should include: “Adequate resources should
be provided for truly viable wild horse and burro populations.”Rather
than putting “they must be controlled,” you should state these animals must be protected and provided for.Your emphasis is all wrong.
As concerns 2, you again overlook the long-term
viability of the herd.As concerns 3, you are treating wild equids like livestock
merely for human convenience and with little or no thought of the animals in the wild and their needs and contributions.You define “excess” only in terms of human convenience, not in terms of
what would be best for the wild equids as far as vigorous, long-term viability and natural adaptability.Point 4 is based on strictly economic considerations, while the horses/burros themselves are little considered.In point 5 concerning sustainable solution you should bring into play Reserve Design.
(I am enclosing my earlier input to the Denver meeting last month on Reserve Design as well as Ecological Contributions for/of
wild equids for your perusal.)
In your second point, you ignore the many
life-enhancing contributions of wild horses and burros.This is not right.
Page 9: Top paragraph: This statement is
quite tendentious – aimed at wild horse/burro elimination, or nearly so.Graph
is more scare tactics. What is being overlooked is the obvious solution: in-the-field intrinsic population stabilization.This would be all natural, not based on heavy handed, invasive interference by man.
Bottom paragraph: Again, totally ignores
Reserve Design for self-stabilizing, long-term viable populations.Again, your
heart is not in the life of the wild horses/burros in the wild.
Third point: Again you ignore in-the-field,
natural population stabilization that would occur when a given population fills its niche within a contained habitat of sufficient
size to provide for a long-term viable population in the thousands, not the mere hundreds or even worse the mere tens (as
is often the case with the ridiculous AMLs that have been set in many BLM districts).This is a very thick-sculled approach to our nation’s last wild horses and burros, giving them bottom priority
in the wild. This is not right!
Concerning Graph 3: Yes, there would remain
a bunch of crippled, non-viable, dysfunctional herds on the public lands, populations placed into a tailspin to oblivion,
managed to extinction, or nearly so!
Page 10: This heavy emphasis on fertility
control is much too invasive an approach and overlooks natural controls.Again
you seem to totally ignore my proposal of Reserve Design, which I presented at the mediation session and again at the Denver
workshop and Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting this June past.
As concerns your fourth point with the
elaborate graph, your emphasis is strictly on wild horses/burros as mere ciphers with little or no consideration given to
their fair place in nature and realizing this as a healthy number of individuals.
Concerning your fifth point, these partnerships
should include expanding contiguous areas to assure complete habitats for long-term viable herd population levels.This is currently not happening, nor is adequate water being applied for and defended on the public lands
(see enclosure on water rights by federal government).This is especially true
in the state of Nevada where the state constitution greatly acknowledges federal sovereignty.
Page 11: Implications for Strategy Development:
This represents a total ignoring of natural, ecosystem approach to wild horse/burro conservation!Totally overlooks fairness issue and population viability issue as concerns what numbers of wild horses/burros
should remain on the public lands!This is an overly simplistic and a very unjust
approach to wild horses/burros in the wild.
What do you think?Answers are NO! to questions 1,2,3 & 5.My suggestions
for 4: Return wild horses and burros to their zeroed-out herd areas throughout the West, as would be consistent with your
legal mandate and obligation as public servants to the General Public of the United States, who want these “national
heritage species” to be much more fairly treated!
Page 12: Draft Goals, etc.: This betrays
the very heart of the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act that is to preserve and restore the wild horses and burros in
the wild!
You are using habitat as a pretense
for authorizing wild horse and burro elimination or near so, treating these animals as mere negatives when it fact they are
habitat enhancers (see enclosure on ecological benefits).Your policies that
are basically anti-wild equid overlook so much and are designed to be achieved at the expense of the heterogeneity, viability
and adaptability of the wild equid populations.Though you state you will provide
these animals for future generations to enjoy, in fact your proposal fails to truly conserve and protect wild horses and burros
in the U.S.The Salazar Plan is very deceptive!Again I submit my input for Reserve Design as well as the one for positive ecological contributions (both also given
in Denver).
Page 13: Sustainable Herds: Top:Looking at these two factors alone ignores the viability and adaptability questions as well as the fairness
question.This is very poor and impertinent to the “wild horse/burro in
the wild” issue so dear to the hearts of so many.
Goal:You display no recognition of monopolistic use by livestock within the original wild equid herd areas. This is very
hypocritical.
Objective 1:I disfavor this tinkering with the nature of the wild equids.If
allowed, this will create miserable, non-adapted, dysfunctional herds.Again
this totally ignores the Reserve Design concept – the smart way.Yours
is the obstinate, human-centered, insensitive way to relate to the wild horses.
Objective 2: Yes! But add as follows: Make
additional forage, space, water and all complete habitat needs available for wild horse and burro use.
Page 14: Top: Actions: Very much
favor this approach. Yes to all three. You should follow through with 3 proposals currently before BLM in this regard: Winecup-Gamble,
Soldier Meadows/Return to Freedom, and Madeleine Pickens.But you must also use
Code Federal Regulations 4710.5 & .6 to legally curtail livestock within the legal wild horse and burro herd areas.
Objective 3: I strongly recommend you greatly
reduce the necessity of these cruel roundups including especially helicopter chases and do so through the implementation of
Reserve Design.Reserve Design should become a primary objective to make genetically
and ecologically viable self-stabilizing (auto-regulating) herds possible.
Preserves: I disfavor these preserves.The BLM’s emphasis should be on allowing larger, more truly long-term viable
populations of wild equids in the wild, not in a state of domestication or semi-domestication nor as non-reproducers.The latter are dead-end populations and make a mockery of the Wild Horse Act!You should curb the monopoly by ranchers in the legal, wild-equid herd areas, while
at the same time implementing Reserve Design for the establishment of genetically viable, auto-regulating/self-stabilizing
wild horse and burro herds (see enclosure).
Page 15: Top: Goal: This proposal, i.e.
the Salazar Plan, subverts the original intent of the Wild Horse and Burro Act by largely displacing the truly wild, free-living
wild horse and burro populations and placing them into domestication.
Objective 1: This takes the wild out of
the wild horses and burros and is therefore contrary to the law.Also, you should
provide for shelter, mineral, water and other habitat essentials for wild horses and burros.
Objective 2: This monetary incentive lends
itself to corruption, i.e. milking the taxpayer.Beware!
Page 16: Top: Transfer of animal title
to partner opens sinister opportunity for slaughter sale!
Objective 7 and Actions: This I favor but
for reproducing wild equid herds.Objective 7 is the only good objective I can
really get behind and must be implemented immediately, but for vital reproducing herds, not dead end populations!
Page 17: Top: Add 6. Employ CFR 4710.5
& .6 to reduce or eliminate livestock grazing within HAs/HMAs.
Objective 8: This should be a reproducing
herd greater than 2,500 individuals (IUCN Species Survival Commission, Equid Specialist Group. 1992.Action Plan for Equidae).
Actions: This should be done in the wild
on the legal 1971 wild equid herd areas not inpreserves with non-reproducing,
dead-end populations!
Treasured Herds:Implement Reserve Design.I disfavor this, since it would
lead to the neglect of other herds – the great majority!
I’ve visited all three of these small
remnant herds: Pryors, L. Bookcliffs, and Kigers, all of which have too low Appropriate Management Levels and are vulnerable
to inbreeding and chance die out due to their low population levels and over manipulation by man.
Page 18: Objective 3: Actions: 2.Add: “…to actively protect, enhance, restore, manage and support the treasured
herd.”Poor use of language betrays little appreciation and caring for
wild horses and burros in the wild.
Objective 4: 3.Better to allow natural selection determine what type of wild horses are to remain, for this will be adaptive
to survival in this particular area or region.
4. Concerning compatible uses, stress mutual
symbioses of wild equids within the wild-equid-containing ecosystems (see enclosed).
Page 19: Goal 2: How can wild horses and
burros be termed healthy when at such low, artificially reduced, non-viable population levels?!
Page 20: Goal 3. Action 8: Virginia Range
east of Reno abuts BLM land, yet BLM abandoned this herd, letting state declare as “estray” the wild horses here,
especially those on the east side. It should have worked out a co-managed agreement. This could be revived in this case and
I recommend it.
Action 9: Good idea, but for wild equids
in the wilds of the West and as fully reproducing herds.
Goal 4: Objectives: This solicitation of
funds from the public could be viewed as a type of extortion of the public, since wild equids’ protection is already
mandated by law and should be supported by Congressional appropriation.
Action 2: Good idea in general for all
the herds.
Page 22: Objective 3: Stress the great
paleontological evidence for native status of the horse in North America, and evolutionary roots of burro in North America.This is good justification for their return here.
Action 2. God but add as follows: Tailor
the curriculum to species biology, history, evolutionary development in North America, and ecological interactions and impacts
within larger biological communities and landscapes.
Communications: Introduction: Well stated.
Goal 1: Good, in general, but add: “…
manage wild horses and burros in the wild and tell the story …”
Objective 1: Actions: 2. Expand the partnership
base to increase the BLM’s capacity to [add] protect and manage …”
Page 23: Top: Actions: 1: Like Wild Horse
Summit, Las Vegas NV, Oct, 2008 as organized by ISPMB.2; Host range tours: good
idea tours in wild and would double as public vigilance of herds and make their enemies back off.
Goal 2: Re: transparency: Roundup in Owyhee
wh hma was not at all transparent.Rock Creek gather was not much better, although
some very restricted and limited public observation was allowed after the federal judge Larry R. Hicks in Reno mandated public
observation. How this was implemented, however, constituted contempt of court.Deceptive
and untrue statements were made in this recent case brought by Plaintiff Laura Leigh and her lawyer Gordon Cowan over these
gathers that just took place, July, 2010.There was access to water and plenty
of cattle in Owyhee, both denied on stand by Nevada wild horse lead. Elko officials were very tricky, I felt, in their implementation
of the public observation so as to preclude any close observation of just-gathered horses.
Page 24: Animal Welfare:This section mainly deals with the wild horses/burros who have lost their freedom.More attention needed to correct the terrible abuse, gut shooting, barricaded water, over fencing within
herd areas, illegal killings of wild equids in the wild.This occurs and a lot
of it, as I have extensively investigated! What is being done to stop this ongoing persecution of wild horses and burros in
the wild?!Though the claim is made “BLM has protected the health and welfare
of wild horses and burros” in an even more serious way BLM has become the wild horses and burros’ worst enemy
by betraying its responsibility mainly by promoting excessive roundups of the wild equids and designating miserably low Appropriate
Management Levels (AML’s) on the range.
Page 25: Objective 5: Again, emphasis is
on wild horses/burros who have been deprived of their natural freedom and place on the public lands.This is simply wrong and counters the Wild Horses and Burros Act!
Objective 7: Yes.
Page 26: Top: Action 2: More emphasis needed
on wild equids in the wild.
Science and Research:Opening stmt: Reserve Design category should be added here.Regarding
genetic diversity: this is very low because of very low AML’s.These need
to be reconsidered and increased to more just levels given the vast areas in the legal wild equid areas (see below).
Goal: Objective 1: Reserve Design strategy
should be utilized here.
Page 27: Top: 3. Reserve Design being ignored
here!
Objective 2: Actions 1, 2, & 3 all
quite good, and 3 should include Reserve Design..
Objective 3: Look at livestock monopoly
on public lands and address this as well as other exploitive monopolies such as hunting, mining or energy extraction that
can and do target the wild horses and burros as nuisances.Document great contribution
of wild equids in reducing flammable vegetation and preventing catastrophic fires.
Actions: 2. Sounds good. Reserve Design
could fit in here. 3 is good.4 is good. In this regard, apply for water rights
under western state law, especially Nevada whose constitution supports federal ownership of land and public values.
Page 28: Wild Horse and Burro Program History:
I disagree with the 17,000 wh’s and 8,000 b’s figure.There were
at least twice this on the public lands, but many were ignored in order to eliminate herd areas.
The prescription “where found in
1971” should mean on a year-round basis so as to cover all habitat needs.You
are wrong on the 51 million acres figure (even at odds with your 53 & ½ million). The true legal figure would be ca. 88
million acres of legal wild equid herd areas on both BLM and USFS lands.
In regard to setting of AML’s starting
in late 1970’s, and especially as continued into the 1980’s, there entered very bias policies working against
wild horses and burros because of pressure from public lands grazers and other interests not valuing the wild equids.
The 180 subsets of original HAs,
i.e. HMAs, were reduced from ca. 350 HA’s originally on BLM and USFS land.Not
long ago 53 and ½ millon was the figure for these areas, really more like 88 million acres if law had been correctly applied.26.6 million is all BLM now wants to manage for the wild equids as marginalized species
within these.
The AML is being very arbitrarily defined
to suit the monopolies of ranchers and game hunters as well as other interests like energy extractors on the public lands.
Concerning the setting of AML’s,
the problem is with the very unfair allocation of resources within the legal areas, hence wh/b’s continue to be extensively
marginalized even within their reduced areas of occupation.
Final statement: Please thoroughly revise
this plan and integrate Reserve Design.As written, your plan would subvert wild
horses/burros in the wild and make a mockery of the act. It would set the equids up for inbreeding and chance die out in the
face of natural and man-made vicissitudes.Consider this: if there are, at present,
38,365 wild equids among 180 herds, this works out to 213 individual per herd, and more than a thousand acres per individual
wild equid.This an under population not an over population!If you further eliminate the few remaining wild equids as you plan to do, the situation will be 26,600
wild equids in 180 herds on millions of acres.This will work out to 148 wild
equids per herd.This is even below the substandard standard of the BLM for minimum
genetic viability. This is truly a prescription for the decline and die-out of the wild equid herds and a cynical subversion
of the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971!This is not legal, not
in accord to the will of the American people nor the law!
Sincerely,
Craig C. Downer, Wildlife Ecologist
Centuries-old bones of horses unearthed in Carlsbad
By: PHILIP K. IRELAND - Staff Writer | Posted: July 17, 2005 12
Field Director Larry Tift, bottom, and Archaeologist Luke Piek of Gallegos
and Associates, work on a horse unearthed Tuesday at an archaeological dig on a hilltop in Carlsbad on Wednesday.
CARLSBAD —— Archaeologists working against the clock in Carlsbad have unearthed another nearly intact skeleton
of a horse that may have lived and died 50 years before the Spanish began their conquest of California.
Last week's discovery, high on a hill overlooking the Agua Hedionda lagoon, follows the discovery in June of the skeletal
remains of another horse and a small burro, said project manager Dennis Gallegos of Gallegos and Associates, the contractor
hired to explore the site.
The finds are significant because native North American horses were thought to have been extinct more than 10,000 years
ago, and the remains are older than the recorded conquests by the Spanish, who reintroduced horses to the New World.
"This is a story untold," said Mark Mojado, the cultural representative for the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians.
Why the animals were buried at all, why they were buried together, and why they appear to have been buried in a ritualistic
way is a matter of academic conjecture, according to archaeologists, paleontologists and others who have seen the site.
Radiocarbon dating of 340 years, plus or minus 40 years, puts the death of the horse sometime between 1625 and 1705, Mojado
said. Therefore, the horses died at least 50 years before San Diego Mission de Alcala, the first of the California missions,
was founded in 1769. The other horse and the burro were buried at the same level, suggesting that they were buried about the
same time.
The bones of the horses and the donkey showed no signs of having been shod, an indicator that the horses were not brought
by the Spanish, who fitted their horses with iron shoes, said Larry Tift, a researcher with Gallegos.
The site
The three animals were unearthed within a few feet of one another on a hilltop overlooking the Agua Hedionda Lagoon, Gallegos
said.
The 900-square-meter site has also revealed several "shell middens" —— or layers of disturbed shells. A pile
of small 2- to 3-inch river rocks 20 feet away may have been a part of a cooking pit or perhaps a sweat lodge, Tift said.
Shell beads, flaked cutting and scraping tools, grinding tools such as metates and manos, even relatively recent pottery
shards found over the last seven weeks, tell the story of constant habitation over 5,000 years on the hilltop, Tift said.
Possible explanations
The radiocarbon date, if corroborated by more elaborate tests, may be remarkable since North American horses were thought
to have been extinct by the late Pleistocene era more than 10,000 years ago, said Bradford Riney, a paleontology specialist
with the San Diego Natural History Museum.
"That would make (the site) extremely important," he said Thursday. "It would be an early example of domestication."
Alternately, Mojado postulated that the horses may have been Spanish in origin, perhaps from an ill-fated exploration that
never returned and so was lost to history. Perhaps the lost Spanish explorers offered the horses and donkey to the American
Indians as a gift, Mojado said.
"There were no horses here then," he said. "They didn't know what a horse or a donkey was. They would have seen them as
big deer or antelope."
As a gift, and an unusual gift at that, the animals most certainly would have been revered, which could explain why they
were buried high on a hill in the same way some Indians buried their own, Mojado said.
One horse and the donkey appear to have been buried ritualistically with their heads to the north, faces to the left, and
their bodies "flexed" in the fetal position, an American Indian method of burial. The newly discovered horse, its ocher-colored
bones already fading to yellow from exposure to sun and air, was not similarly posed.
Researchers said they know horses were deliberately buried because they can see definite lines where someone cut into the
shell layers to dig a burial pit.
"I've been doing this for 16 years and I've never seen anything like it," Tift said.
The bones show no signs of cutting, splitting or crushing that would indicate a violent death, Piek said. Researchers see
no signs the horses were butchered for meat.
Carlsbad then
Taken together, the features of the site suggest that the hilltop was used by American Indians from about 5,000 years ago.
At that time, the region now called Carlsbad was much wetter and more lush, with an average annual rainfall of about 350
inches. Although sea level was lower than now, lagoons —— fed by freshwater springs —— reached deeper
into inland valleys, providing a ready food and water source for its people, said Gallegos archaeologist Lucas Piek.
The hilltops provided an ideal place to live, Tift said. The ocean breezes would have helped cool dwellers and keep insects
away, as well as providing security. Inhabitants could watch the approach of other humans and animals. The vantage point was
also ideal for observing the movements of game animals.
The site is one of more than 300 in the Carlsbad area, Mojado said. A stone's throw away, researchers found the 8,000-year-old
remains of a human. Down in the valley, archaeologists uncovered glass beads —— trinkets brought from Spain ——
to trade with the natives.
California's Prehistoric State Artifact, a stone that some believe is shaped like a bear, was found on the Kelly Ranch
property on a nearby hill to the north. Radiocarbon dating of artifacts at that site suggest that humans occupied the area
more than 9,000 years ago.
Why was this site studied?
The cultural exploration is required by law as part of a study of the environmental impacts the project will likely create.
The study examines traffic, noise, threats to indigenous plants and animals, as well as potential damage to historically significant
sites. Gallegos said his work should conclude within two weeks.
Grand Pacific Resorts plans to break ground on a 700-room resort on the hill on Aug. 1, said Tim Stripe, Grand Pacific
Resort Inc.'s co-president. The company plans to build 350 hotel rooms, 350 time-share units, two restaurants, four pools,
tennis courts and conference rooms on a 50-acre site between Cannon Road and Hidden Valley Road. The $150 million, Mediterranean-style
complex will become Carlsbad's third large-scale resort.
After Gallegos and Associates has documented the site and removed the animal skeletons and other artifacts, a portion of
the hilltop site will be capped with sand and soil to preserve any remaining archaeological artifacts. A small park, planted
with native flora, is in the planning stage to preserve the site as open space, Mojado said.
Wendie Malick - Malick Producing Film About Wild Horse Annie
Caption: Wendie Malick (Picture) World Premiere of 'Disneynature: earth' held at El Capitan theatre Hollywood, California ....
Malick Producing Film About Wild Horse Annie
American TV actress WENDIE MALICK is bringing the story of 1950s animal rights activist VELMA BRONN JOHNSTON to the big screen in a movie documenting the campaigner's fight to end the slaughter of wild mustangs.
Malick, best known for her role on 1990s sitcom Just Shoot Me!, has optioned Deanne Stillman's book Mustang: The Saga of
the Wild Horse in the American West and will use the tome to detail Johnston's crusade, which earned her the nickname Wild
Horse Annie.
The actress will produce the film along with writer Stillman and Helen Bartlett, while Jenny Wingfield has been appointed to adapt the script, reports the
New York Post.
Recently, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar Sez’s, “There’s just no room
for wild horses and burros out West anymore”.
With the drought taking its toll on Western rangelands, wildlife
struggling to survive, and out of control reproduction rates and populations of wild horses and burros constantly threatening
fragile arid habitats, Salazar Sez’s, "The time has come to sterilize most of what is left, both on and off the
range, and ship America’s Mustangs & Burros to private sanctuaries far removed from their native ranges on public
lands".
Salazar Sez’s, “Let us not look behind the scenes at how we got here but only look ahead
at this new solution for the Wild Horse & Burro Program”, a solution many are already coining the final
one.
Never mind the fact that for two decades, the Government Accountability Office has repeatedly issued
reports stating the obvious; BLM cannot provide evidence that removing wild horses and burros improves rangeland health and
that the entire concept of excess is based on “informal decisions made by BLM Field Managers” – no data
required.
Salazar Sez’s, “Who needs BLM to finally publish their long-awaited acreage report before
they hustle more wild horses and burros off the range to multi-million dollar private sanctuaries instead?”
And,
“Why bother publishing the new policy manual BLM has been writing (for 40 years now!) to establish guidelines on
how BLM should go about determining what is appropriate use for wild horses and burros?” After all, BLM would just
ignore it anyway like so much else - so why create a legal precedent before shipping most of them
to privately owned sanctuaries?
Salazar Sez’s, “Who needs a Congressional investigation into what the
Department of the Interior has done to get us to this point?” Despite the DOI’s abysmal reputation for ethic
violations, never mind that now, Salazar’s here and those days are behind us!
Salazar Sez’s, “We
don’t need an independent count of what’s in the holding pens” – despite the fact that nobody
has ever seen all these “excess” horses causing such financial distress. And Salazar doesn’t seem too interested
in looking into an independent census of what’s still remaining on the range because, as Salazar Sez’s, “We
are going to create a new home for them now anyway!”
Despite nearly a decade of mass cleansings, which has
swept the majority of our herds from their ranges, Salazar Sez’s, “Danger! Danger! Excessive wild horses and
burros must go now!” and as a result, BLM has scheduled the removals of over 12,000 more wild horses and burros
this year based solely on those ‘informal manager decisions’ – even though Salazar’s own home state
of Colorado has reported their 292,000 elk have been “over population objectives for the last 20 years” (1) – what’s a decade or two when it comes to elk.
Before
following what Salazar Sez’s – because this is not a game and we are not children anymore - let’s take a
serious look at what “excess” wild horses and burros on public lands means to Secretary Salazar and BLM before
we blindly follow the newest Judas horse just released before the public.
Click on the link above to review the full collection of State by State analysis of wild horses and
burros populations compared to “everything else”, forage allocations of livestock, and available habitat on federally
managed lands.
(1) Taken from "Elk Management in 5 Western
States: (Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, and Utah)".
The Las Vegas I-Team and veteran reporter George Knapp's Special Investigative Report,
"Stampede To Oblivion", is now available on line with a link to the show in its entirety.
PLEASE URGE EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO WATCH THIS TIMELY AND IN DEPTH REPORT
ON THE CURRENT STATE OF THE WILD HORSE & BURRO PROGRAM!
New Mustang Research Spurs Greater Understanding
Written by L A Pomeroy
Know this about wild horses: older really is wiser. Just ask Karen
Sussman, president of the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros (ISPMB) in Lantry, South Dakota.
The ISPMB maintains four wild horse herds, and over the past decade,
has witnessed how Bureau of Land Management (BLM) round-ups and selective removal management methods have wreaked havoc on
herd dynamics.
Tearing apart the social fabric of a wild horse herd (or band) not only
displaces entire families but has a devastating effect over time on its structure. When harem stallions are separated from
their mares during frequent gathers (every 2-3 years), and are released again to the wild after the selective removal of animals
ages five and younger for adoption, such stallions often lose some of their mares to younger stallions. “Over time,”
says Sussman, “without the guidance and wisdom of older role models, a herd’s once-evolved educational structure
deteriorates.”
Over the last decade Sussman and the ISPMB have observed that young
mares, without the benefit of a wise and stable harem stallion to fend off bachelor stallions, are becoming pregnant at very
young ages. “Yearlings are now being bred when, in stable herds, fillies are not bred until they are three or four years
old. With younger and younger mothers there is a higher incidence of foal abandonment and death.” Sussman has seen recruitment
rates (or fertility rates, as BLM refers to data tracking increases or decreases in an equine population) explode from a fairly
consistent 10-14% a few decades ago among stable, multi-generational bands (according to the National Academy of Science) to more than 20% in h
Photo: Tori Seavey
erds today.
“Any time a herd’s recruitment rate goes up, we are looking
at problems. We’ve destroyed the older, social order,” Sussman claims.
FOUR HERDS, ONE BIG LESSON
Sussman’s conclusions are based on equine behavior speaking for
itself. The ISPMB oversees four vastly different bands of wild horses: White Sands, Gila, Catnip, and Virginia Wild Range
herds.
Sussman refers to the White Sands herd, which ISPMB began overseeing
in 1999, as one of the “healthiest, behaviorally-functional herds, and among the last to be removed from its natural
range.” Thanks to local range riders who were fond of the horses, the White Sands herd remained relatively untouched
or manipulated by outside management. “For almost a decade, this herd was never gathered, removed, or harassed. They
lived as truly wild horses.”
In 2000, ISPMB took in 30 wild horses from Arizona, christened the Gila
herd. In 1996, US Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt had declared this band the last wild and “free roaming” horse
herd in America; less than four years later, the BLM declared the horses feral “problem animals” responsible for
tracking weed seeds onto farmers’ alfalfa fields, and recommended that the horses be collected for removal. ISPMB stepped
in.
In marked contrast to these relatively untouched wild bands, the Catnip
herd (under U.S. Fish and Wildlife management until 2004, when the ISPMB took over) was “dysfunctional and displaying
totally different behavior. This herd had a nearly 100-year-old history, but had endured constant onslaughts of eradication.”
The result was a herd without a single animal over the age of 10. “There was very little band structure, no harem stallion
to protect mares, and the young mares, sometimes no more than yearlings themselves, were terrible mothers. Babies were having
babies and the result was that birth rates exploded and younger mothers walked away from their foals and left them to die.”
“The Catnip herd,” Sussman continues, “were dysfunctional
because they lacked the socialization and education set by older, wiser leaders. When the BLM breaks apart harems every two
or three years it results in a constant upheaval of the social structure.”
Sussman hopes the fourth and most recent herd to come under the ISPMB
aegis, the Virginia Wild Range herd, will be released back into the wild this year. “We know disruption has occurred
in this band in the past, but it has been running free for at least six years, and while the mares have been penned separately,
they tend to be older and so far, have all proven to be good moms with their foals.”
QUESTIONABLE “MANAGEMENT”
Selective or “gate” cuts (which indiscriminately trap entire
bands rather than specific animals or ages/genders) create problems “because not everybody bands up the same afterwards,”
Sussman notes. “When you separate older stallions from mares, it creates disruption because it opens up the opportunity
for younger (age six and under) stallions to take over, and young stallions have no socialization or wisdom to teach band
structure. Young bands epitomize an all-out grabbing for mares. Over time, this leads to destruction of hierarchy and social
order.”
Sussman adds, “We can no longer separate stallions from their
own band, nor try to co-mingle stallions. Mustangs cannot be managed like livestock. They need to be managed like a wildlife
species. We need to stop selective or gate cutting and gathering, and instead, collect horses through water or bait trapping
(using protein blocks as bait), or focus on capturing bachelor bands rather than herds of multi-generational families. It’s
better to bait/trap individual young horses and be more selective in our removals.”
Sussman concludes, “It is critical to never remove a herd stallion
from its harem, or to remove older mares. These are the older horses that teach younger ones how to behave and survive. In
comparison, a stable herd, with an established leader, is like a classroom taught by a Harvard professor. Everybody benefits
from his wisdom. But when you disrupt that order, what’s left is the equivalent of a sixth-grader trying to teach a
bunch of first-graders: everyone is left vulnerable by inexperienced leadership.”
ENTERING THE DOMESTIC WORLD
Maryland trainer Caroline Rider, who has worked with the East Coast’s
most famous wild herds, the ponies of Chincoteague and Assateague islands, asserts it is the responsibility of humans to educate
themselves on how to prepare both positive and productive environments for wild horses.
“The way I see it,” offers Rider, “is these horses
are our responsibility. We take them out of their natural surroundings and introduce them into our human world. And when we
do this, we often forget that they have instincts and deep levels of self preservation that inhibit them from trusting until
we know how to communicate on their level, and in a language they understand.”
In looking at the role people play in the socialization and integration
of domesticated horses, Rider, referring to the Chincoteague stallions she has retrained, says, “I see it time and again
where people have horses with all sorts of stress and anxiety issues, aggression, and even depression, and the owners either
don’t know how to read it or don’t now what to do about it.”
“Most of the horses I see are either misunderstood, or out of
control due to a lack of discipline and social order, meaning, in the wild, they have behaviors within the herd dynamic that
communicate what is acceptable behavior (i.e., in the best interests of the herd) and what is not. We must understand that
we need to provide social structures in their new environment that support their need for friendships, pecking orders, social
structure, and safety. If these needs are not met, they will revert to their instincts, fending for themselves emotionally
and physically.”
“In the end,” says Rider, “all horses want to feel
safe, comfortable, and to form healthy (not aggressive or domineering) relationships.”
For a mustang, whether still free in the wild or entering a new domestic
world, a consistent social structure is the surest way of ensuring a healthy, productive, and long life for this icon of the
American West. Anything less is but a pit stop on the way to a short and doomed fate.
L.A. Pomeroy of Northampton, Massachusetts, has been an equestrian
photojournalist, award-winning publicist, and member of American Horse Publications since 1992, working with the U.S. Equestrian
Team, Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, Equisearch.com, and Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association, as well as heading
development and marketing for zoological institutions in New England. She enjoys trail riding in her native Catskill Mountains
of upstate New York, collecting/researching equestrian art and collectibles, and making life better for the animals that share
this planet with us.
DIANA
One example of the critical role older, wiser mustangs play in the overall survival
of their band is a mare Karen Sussman named Diana (on right), after the Roman goddess of the hunt. Being hunted, by man, was
something Diana had become all too accustomed to, having grown up watching others in her band killed off by gunfire. Her wellbeing,
and that of others in the herd, depended on shrewd survival skills.
Sussman estimates the dun mare with one white sock was born in the wild around 1984. “Out of all the horses I’ve
known, she truly hated humankind.” Diana was the oldest mare of the Gila herd, and had learned to avoid gunfire by taking
the herd out to feed and find water only at night. By day, she would drive them into the densest possible tree groves as shelter
against a rifle’s crosshairs.
“She died in 2006 with peace in her heart. In her final years, she got past her hatred of humans and would walk
up to our tourists’ trucks, although she could always tell the difference, by color and sound, which ones she recognized
or still distrusted.”
This series explores aspects of America that may soon be just a memory -- some to be missed, some gladly left behind.
From the least impactful to the most, here are 25 bits of vanishing America.
Although free roaming horses, or as some people call them, wild Mustangs, are still fairly easy to find in America, the true
"wild horse" may have long become a thing of the past. Today's free roaming horse herds are well-bred groups of animals managed
by default. That is what they have been for quite some time. Free-ranging horse herds can still be found in California, Eastern
Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. These herds exist in relative security under
the watchful eye of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), with additional supervision from a handful of private organizations.
They thrive so well in fact, that the BLM has had to liquidate them by auction on a regular basis.
Equine historians
believe that the horse species originated in North America, and then they were then brought to extinction here between 8,000
to 13,000 years ago. This means that today's free roaming horses are most likely the descendants of domesticated transplants.
It is hotly debated as to whether these horses are to be considered genetically indigenous or not. Thousands of horses from
perhaps thousands of sources were released by either plan or chance into the wilds of America's vast frontiers. In virtually
all instances of release, the horses were originally brought to their new locations for human purposes. Upon release, whether
planned or accidental, they were indeed free range animals, however, they may never have been true native wild horses.
Spanish explorers are credited with reintroducing horses to their North American homeland.
Then, in the late 1600's, the Native American tribes of the Pueblo, Apache, and Comanche recognized horses as valuable for
use in hunting, warfare, and trade. They, and other Native American tribes, are to be credited with reestablishing and dispersing
the horse throughout western North America. Apparently, it wasn't until the mid 1700's that the European influx began to introduce
a large variety of horse breeds to mix with the earlier, Spanish-introduced stock.
It is estimated that 100 years ago,
as many as two million horses were roaming free within the United States. In 2001, National Geographic News estimated that the wild horse population had decreased to about 50,000 head. Currently, the National Wild Horse and Burro
Advisory board states that there are 32,000 free roaming horses in ten Western states, with half of them residing in Nevada.
The Bureau of Land Management is seeking to reduce the total number of free range horses to 27,000, possibly by selective euthanasia, stating that the department estimates it will cost up to $77 million annually to effectively
administrate free roaming horse management programs by 2012.
Please Help Preserve Our Living Legends
Wild Horses Jockey for Attention of Kentucky
Horse Enthusiasts through First-of-a-Kind Billboard Campaign
Wild Horse Preservation Billboards
Debut This Week in Lexington and Louisville in Time for Biggest Horse Events
Lexington/Louisville, KY – March 30, 2010 – As horse enthusiasts flock to Lexington and Louisville
in April to attend the big three equine events -- Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event, Keeneland Race and Sales, and the Kentucky
Derby -- they will be greeted by billboards urging them to take action to save America's wild horses.
"Kentucky is an important international hub for equine enthusiasts and we're thrilled to launch this billboard
and text advocacy campaign with the message that America's wild horses are facing their last stand on Western rangelands,"
said Return to Freedom founder and CEO Neda DeMayo.
"The American public, as well as the Congress, has made it clear that wild horses on federal land are living symbols
of the historic and pioneer spirit of the American West and must be protected," said Madeleine Pickens. "We must all work
together to preserve these magnificent animals to create a legacy all Americans can be proud of."
"America's iconic mustangs are threatened by a destructive federal policy that rounds them up by the thousands
off the Western range, stockpiles them in government holding facilities in the Midwest at taxpayer expense," The Cloud Foundation
director and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Ginger Kathrens.
"The Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) wild horse policy is bad for taxpayers, bad for the horses and bad for our
nation, which, year by year is losing an important part of our heritage. It's time for change," said Jill Starr founder and
director of Lifesavers.
The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign is using the same cell phone advocacy tool that recently gained notice
after the filmmakers of the documentary The Cove held up a sign during their Academy Award acceptance speech asking viewers
to “Text DOLPHIN” to help their cause. Respondents to the MUSTANG text outreach will be asked to join the effort
to save wild horses by asking Congress to suspend BLM cruel wild horse roundups
The brutal helicopter stampedes routinely run dozens of horses to their deaths. At least 79 horses have died so
far as a result of the recent BLM roundup in Nevada's Calico Mountains. More than 40 heavily pregnant mares spontaneously
aborted after being chased and terrorized. Two young foals were run so far and hard over treacherous terrain that their hooves
literally separated from the bone, requiring euthanasia. Dozens more horse suffered illness and injury due to the roundup.
"America is a cowboy nation but today, we are destroying the horse we rode in on," stated Deanne Stillman, author of Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West. "The wild horse blazed our trails and fought our
wars, but today their days are numbered as America wages a brutal campaign to destroy our greatest partner."
The BLM continues to perpetuate the myth that wild horses are starving and must be rescued. The BLM's unwarranted
removal of horses from the range in numbers that far exceed adoption demand has resulted in the stockpiling of over 36,000
horses in government holding pens and pastures. That number exceeds the estimated 33,000 wild horses left on the range. The
program costs taxpayers over $44 million annually. Costs continue to rise as the BLM captures thousands more horses each year.
(Nearly 12,000 are targeted for removal in Fiscal Year 2010 alone.)
The AWHPC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable free-roaming herds for generations
to come, as part of our national heritage. Its grassroots efforts are supported by a coalition of over forty organizations
representing 10 million citizens nationwide. For more information see www.wildhorsepreservation.com.
The billboards are located on major arteries into Louisville and near the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.
High resolution images are available upon request.
"The Wild Horse Freedom Bracelet"
"To heighten awareness of America's Wild Horses and Burros and to promote their preservation." NV. - Update
- The Wild Horse Freedom Bracelet was sent to The White House for President Obama, and was officially accepted on February
25, 2009. Three were sent. One for The lovely First Lady, Michelle, and the other two were for The President's two lovely
daughters, Malia and Sasha.
"The Wild Horse Freedom Bracelet" Designed by, Karen Mayfield, Jewelry Designer, Wild Horse Advocate. The bracelet is
71/2 inches and made with a diamond cut silver chain, and a sterling silver clasp. Its design displays two sterling silver
charms, one of a running horse, representing our wild horses, and the other, an American Flag, representing our great country.
It was designed to pay tribute to the endurance, strength, and freedom of our country and our wild horses.
Each bracelet comes with its own silver plated signature jewelry tag of authenticity that says, "Wild Horse Freedom Bracelet."
$25.00
Custom sizes available upon request for no extra charge.
For questions or comments mailto:KarenMayfield@U2audio.com Please allow 2 weeks for delivery on your delivery.
The Wild Horse Freedom Bracelet
U2's song - Moment of Surrender, closing the opening concert of the 360 Tour in Barcelona
- I tied myself with wire "To Let The Horses Run Free" Thank you U2 for mentioning the noble creatures once again, Bless you.
Musical instrument replacement fund developed by U2's The Edge to benefit musicians of the Gulf Coast who lost their
instruments and equipment in the 2005 hurricanes.
.jpg)
The Secretary of the Interior has suggested rounding up the wild horses and burros who run free in the West and confining
them to preserves in the East.
ecades ago among stable, multi-generational bands (according to the National Academy of Science) to more than 20% in h
Although free roaming horses, or as some people call them, wild Mustangs, are still fairly easy to find in America, the true
"wild horse" may have long become a thing of the past. Today's free roaming horse herds are well-bred groups of animals managed
by default. That is what they have been for quite some time. Free-ranging horse herds can still be found in California, Eastern
Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. These herds exist in relative security under
the watchful eye of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), with additional supervision from a handful of private organizations.
They thrive so well in fact, that the BLM has had to liquidate them by auction on a regular basis.
