Internal BLM Memo Recommends Killing Sick Wild Horses On Range

http://rtfitchauthor.com/2014/02/25/internal-blm-memo-recommends-killing-sick-wild-horses-on-range/

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Story by Vince Patton as published at Oregon Public Broadcasting

“Suddenly they’re going to kill off the wild horses because there’s a man-made drought caused by the BLM’s own mismanagement of our public lands…”

Joan Guilfoyle & Euthanizing Wild Horses on the Range

Debbie Coffey, Copyright 2014     All Rights Reserved.

V.P. and Director of Wild Horse Affairs, Wild Horse Freedom Federation         ___________________________________________________________________

As the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) facilitates unprecedented “uses” on public lands that use vast amounts of water from aquifers and drop the water table, Joan Guilfoyle, BLM’s Division Chief of the Wild Horse & Burro Program, issued an information memorandum that stated because of lack of water and forage (which are man-made drought conditions caused by BLM’s mismanagement of public lands), wild horses & burros could die, and recommended that the BLM euthanize wild horses on the range.

Photo of Joan Guilfoyle – NBC News

And, at the end of this memorandum (received in a Freedom of Information Act request), in case of large scale mortality of wild horses as a result of declining water (and thus, lack of forage) Guilfoyle wants to avoid “a public spectacle.”  Once again, the BLM seems to worry more about their public image than their mandate to protect the wild horses & burros.

(Note to Joan:  You may want to avoid a public spectacle, but this horse has already left the barn, as all aspects of the BLM and the Wild Horse & Burro Program are increasingly under public scrutiny.)

You can read this information memorandum by Joan Guilfoyle here.

Related articles

• Joan Guilfoyle & Euthanising Wild Horses in the Field
• BLM’s trend: manipulation of public
• BLM Honcho: “It’s not MY job- but I can sure doubletalk”

And, at the end of this

Craig Downer & Bob Bauer on Wild Horse Wednesdays radio tonight!

7:00 pm PST … 8:00 pm MST … 9:00 pm CST … 10:00 pm EST

Listen Live Here!

Call in # 917-388-4520

You can call in to the live show with questions!

The shows will be archived, so you can listen anytime.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tonight’s guests are:

Craig Downer, wildlife ecologist and a member of the
Board of Directors of the Cloud Foundation.  Craig is the author of the
book “The Wild Horse Conspiracy” and has a website http://thewildhorseconspiracy.org/.  (photo below of Craig Downer .)

Robert Bauer, Wildlife Biologist,

(photo of Bob Bauer)

Bob and Craig will debunk the Bureau of Land Management’s unscientific  “myths” about wild horses & burros.

Wild Horse Wednesdays is co-hosted by Debbie Coffey, Director of Wild Horse Affairs at Wild Horse Freedom Federation and Marti Oakley, PPJ Gazette. This series of radio shows on Wednesday nights will feature upcoming guests including Elizabeth Lovegrove of Wild Horses Kimberly in Australia and Ginger Kathrens of The Cloud Foundation. _______________________________________________________________________________ To contact us: ppj1@hush.com, or call 320-281-0585

LISTEN TO ARCHIVED WILD HORSE WEDNESDAYS SHOWS:

11/6/13 – John Holland, President of Equine Welfare Alliance discussing the latest in horse slaughter issues. Click HERE.

11/13/13 – Marjorie Farabee, Director of Wild Burro Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation and founder of Wild Burro Protection League (under Todd Mission Rescue) and Carl Mrozak, videographer (Eagle Eye Media), with work appearing on CBS, PBS, the Discovery Channel, the Weather Channel and other networks. Click HERE.

11/20/13 – Simone Netherlands, Natural Horsemanship Trainer, founder of respect 4 horses Organization, and director & producer of the documentary “America’s Wild Horses.” Click HERE.

11/27/13 – R.T. Fitch, President of Wild Horse Freedom Federation and author of the much acclaimed book “Straight from the Horse’s Heart: A Spiritual Ride through Love, Loss and Hope.”  R.T. also runs the blog “Straight from the Horse’s Heart,” which posts current news and information and gives a comprehensive education to the public on issues in connection with wild horses & burros and public lands issues.  Also, Ginger Kathrens, Director of the Cloud Foundation, joined in on the show to talk about the Salt Wells & Adobe Town roundups.  Click HERE.

Animals’ Angels 2013 fundraiser

When:

Saturday December 7, 2013 from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM EST

Contact:   Sonja Meadows        

Animals’ Angels USA

 

443-821-3343 sonja@animalsangels.org

This is an invitation to a night you will never forget when you see the sky come alive in beautiful light that honors the lives of so many cherished animals. Listen to the stories of people whose love for animals have no bounds…share your own.

“The symbol is so beautiful. The work Animals’ Angels does is vitally important.” – Melody H.

“Thank you, Animals’ Angels for the truth you bring to us. We need you!” – Anne S. M.

Animals’ Angels employees and friends will meet on this night with thousands of candles to Light the Sky for the animals—to symbolically alleviate suffering by casting a collective light against the darkness. This is a heartfelt opportunity to reflect upon our humanity and our respect and concern for the animals, and the conditions of their lives. It is all of us, coming together on a beautiful night to proclaim our message of hope and commitment.

Light the Sky is also a time when our investigators remember the animals who have touched their lives during 2013—the many horses, cows, calves, pigs, sheep, goats, chicken, turkeys, and dogs they met at auctions, feedlots and, slaughter plants. And it is a time to renew our resolve to never forget them.

We hope you will take part in this night with a small donation of $5 per candle. We would be honored to include your personal message and light your Candle(s) of Hope.

How it Works

Please register today and secure your personal candle. Share with us for whom you want to light a candle, and your story or personal message of hope.

During the event, all the flyers and photos will adorn the “Tree of Hope”. We will light all the candles donated –our goal is 6,000! Proceeds will be used to help finance 2014 investigations.

Animals’ Angels work is possible because of you, your candle, and your support. AA investigators are “there with the animals” to fight cruelty and improve lives—thanks so much to you.

Light the Sky!    CLICK HERE to register.

R.T. Fitch on Wild Horse Wednesdays radio!

7:00 pm PST … 8:00 pm MST … 9:00 pm CST … 10:00 pm EST

Listen Live Here!

Call in # 917-388-4520

You can call in to the live show with questions!

The shows will be archived, so you can listen anytime.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tonight’s guest is R.T. Fitch, President of Wild Horse Freedom Federation and author of the much acclaimed book “Straight from the Horse’s Heart: A Spiritual Ride through Love, Loss and Hope.”  R.T. also runs the blog “Straight from the Horse’s Heart,” which posts current news and information and gives a comprehensive education to the public on issues in connection with wild horses & burros, public lands and the activities of the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service. 

Wild Horse Wednesdays is co-hosted by Debbie Coffey, Director of Wild Horse Affairs at Wild Horse Freedom Federation and Marti Oakley, PPJ Gazette.  This series of radio shows on Wednesday nights will feature upcoming guests including Elizabeth Lovegrove of Wild Horses Kimberly in Australia and Ginger Kathrens of The Cloud Foundation. _______________________________________________________________________________ To contact us: ppj1@hush.com,  or call 320-281-0585

LISTEN TO ARCHIVED WILD HORSE WEDNESDAYS SHOWS:

11/6/13 – John Holland, President of Equine Welfare Alliance discussing the latest in horse slaughter issues. Click HERE.

11/13/13 – Marjorie Farabee, Director of Wild Burro Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation and founder of Wild Burro Protection League (under Todd Mission Rescue) and Carl Mrozak, videographer (Eagle Eye Media), with work appearing on CBS, PBS, the Discovery Channel, the Weather Channel and other networks. Click HERE.

11/20/13 – Simone Netherlands, Natural Horsemanship Trainer, founder of respect 4 horses Organization, and director & producer of the documentary “America’s Wild Horses.”  Listen HERE.

Simone Netherlands on Wild Horse Wednesdays Tonight!

7:00 pm PST … 8:00 pm MST … 9:00 pm CST … 10:00 pm EST

Wild Burro night on Wild Horse Wednesdays radio tonight

TS Radio: Wild Horse Wednesdays radio show starts tonight!

Join us this evening, Wednesday November 6th, 2013 at 9:00pm CST!

Exclusive Report: Where Have All the Wild Horses and Burros Gone?

 Straight From The Horse’s Heart

Twin Peaks Report from Kathy Gregg, Environmental Researcher and Craig C. Downer, Wildlife Ecologist, A.B., M.S., Ph.D. Candidature  Photographs by Craig Downer

There are no “excess” wild horses and burros on their legally designated land.

This wild horse looking across the vista appears to be wondering the same thing that continually crossed our minds during this three day journey … “Where have all the wild ones gone”?

Although a very few wild horses and burros were seen, the best way to describe our three days on the Herd Management Areas (HMAs) is “mile after mile and hour after hour seeing no wild horses or burros”.

During this three day ground survey there were two experienced wildlife observers with binoculars searching for wild horses and burros and other wildlife in the Twin Peaks, New Ravendale, Buckhorn and Coppersmith Wild Horse and Burro Herd Management Areas (HMAs).   We traveled approximately 160 miles over 3 days and

17 hours in the herd management areas.  We drove slowly with many stops along with some limited off-road hiking and we constantly looked for signs of wild horses and wild burros.  A total of 23 wild horses and 18 wild burros were observed. All observed horses and burros and range conditions appeared to be in excellent health – the only good news.

Near Rye Patch Road, we saw two family groups traveling together.  One family is Magic, our treasured son of the great Twin Peaks stallion BraveHeart who was captured in 2010 and Magic’s faithful mare Hope.  The other family consists of a bay stallion, charcoal colored mare, their yearling and their new foal … and a burro!  Although having been spotted earlier this year – safe and sound – these two families had been missing after the Rush fire raced through their home area last summer.  It was an inspirational moment to see them safe after having escaped the massive 2010 capture and the uncontrolled Rush wild fire – the white/appy stallion again lived up to his name, “Magic”.

This public land is set aside by Congress principally for wild horses and burros, but there are very few that remain since the roundup of 2010.  It is incredible and unbelievable when the BLM says there are 1,684 out here again…

Magic and Hope

Per the 1971 Congressional Act, the land is to be devoted PRINCIPALLY but not exclusively to the wild horses and wild burros welfare in keeping with the multiple-use management concept of public lands.   Definition of “principally”: First, highest, foremost in importance, rank, worth or degree, chief, mainly, largely, chiefly, especially, particularly, mostly, primarily, above all, predominantly, in the main, for the most part, first and foremost.

There are no “excess” wild horses and burros on their legally designated land.  The American people are being deceived by our government agencies that are mandated by Congressional Law to protect these animals.  The wild horses and burros ALREADY have a place to live and it is not in governmental corrals.    These animals and this land do NOT belong to the government … the wild horses and burros and the lands belong to you and me.

Please click (HERE) for the entire independent observers’ summary report and many photos.

More information:

Exclusive: Wild Horse and Wild Burro Good News and Bad News from Twin Peaks HMA

Straight from the Horse’s Heart

Exclusive: Wild Horse and Wild Burro Good News and Bad News from Twin Peaks HMA

 

Exclusive report from “Grandma” Gregg, Environmental Researcher and Jesica Johnston, B.A., M.A in Biology and Environmental Planning

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“The forage has grown back from last summer’s fire and there is an abundance of food…”

DSC06304_zps35963a14 (1)Last weekend several experienced wildlife observers with binoculars and long-distance camera lens thoroughly combed 77 miles of the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area (HMA) and found only 27 wild horses and 5 wild burros. Is this good news or bad news? This is good news for those few wild horses and burros that remain on their legally designated land, but bad news for the Twin Peaks HMA as a whole. The forage has grown back from last summer’s fire and there is an abundance of food as was obvious by the condition of the few vigorous and healthy wild horses and burros that were observed, but this is still a small and discouraging number of wild horses and burros. This survey is consistent with previous surveys and documentation supporting the impacts of an enormous and devastating roundup in 2010. There seems to be few remaining wild horses and burros in the Twin Peaks HMA. In our two days of ground observation the BLM’s mantra of the term “excess” was on our minds as we traveled numerous miles; most of which had no wild horses or burros or even signs of wild horses and burros. This public land is set aside by Congress principally for wild horses and burros, but there are very few that remain since the roundup of 2010. It is hard to believe when the BLM says there are 1,750 out here again…

Click (HERE) for the entire independent observers’ summary report and many photos.

There has been no further official round-up announcement for Twin Peaks since last fall’s after the Rush Fire Environmental Assessment was published by BLM stating that they were going to capture and remove all but about six-hundred wild horses and burros. It is unknown at this time when this capture has been rescheduled for but in the meantime BLM did an aerial population survey in April of this year and stated there were 1,750 wild horses and burros on the Twin Peaks HMA. This data was FOIA’d and although that number was written on the aerial log, they only photographed 460. They had two photographers in the helicopter and per their map a very thorough coverage of the HMA was done, but they only physically photographed 460 wild horses and burros. Even though we paid with our tax money for four BLM employees and the cost of the helicopter to document the actual population of wild horses and burros … they did not. Over the four days in flight only 26% of the wild horses and burros that were “counted” were photographed.

In fact there were far more photos taken of coyotes, elk, antelope, and other landscape features than of wild horses and burros. Although there was ample opportunity, this left 1.290 wild horses and burros that they “counted” undocumented with photos during the census flight. Why? The aerial census over the four days clearly fails to sufficiently document BLM’s stated wild horse and burro population.

In the meantime, this Thursday will be an important day for the future of the Twin Peaks HMA and all wild horses and burros. This is the first time in the history of the Wild Horse Act that an Appeals Court will determine whether the BLM’s interpretation of the Act is consistent with Congress’s intent to protect these living symbols of the West over 40 years ago.

The 2010 Twin Peaks roundup resulted in the permanent removal of more than 1,500 wild horses and 160 burros from the range. As of August 2012, 977 of the wild horses and burros removed from the range were still in “holding” and hundreds more have died or been sold by BLM to “questionable” buyers and they cannot be accounted for. The BLM failed to consider data regarding ecological resources in the herd management area, and also illegally harassed and captured horses that were not even considered “excess” by BLM’s own standards. Don’t miss this important hearing – please fill the courtroom and show your support for the Twin Peaks wild horses and burros. They need you there…

What: Appeal Hearing for the Twin Peaks Wild Horses and Burros
When: Thursday, August 29, 2 pm – please arrive no later than 1:30 pm
Where: Ninth Circuit Courthouse, 125 South Grand Ave., Pasadena

Click (HERE) to download complete report

 

National Academy of Science tells BLM to use Delphi (manipulate you)

Debbie Coffey        Copyright 2013           All Rights Reserved.

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While some advocacy groups quickly lauded certain aspects of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report regarding the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wild Horse & Burro Program,  Anne Novak of Protect Mustangs noticed something and brought it to my attention:

On page 275 of this report, under the Chapter 8 topic of Social Considerations, the NAS Board advised the Bureau of Land Management:

“One possible method to gather the latest information from experts and to focus it on a particular problem is to use a Delphi process.”

What’s troubling about this?   The Delphi process was developed in the 1950s by the Rand Corporation, and has since been used for the purpose of maneuvering segments of the public into accepting predetermined government policies.

In other words, the Delphi process gives the illusion of public input and participation, but the input isn’t really considered and participation doesn’t matter.  It’s basically just a way for the government to pretend there is public participation and accountability.

   BLM photo of National Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board meeting

Here’s how the Delphi process works:  There is a predetermined outcome.  (Most likely, not the one you’d hoped for.)   And who picks the supposedly unbiased “experts” who will be submitting “the latest information?”  Who chooses what to “focus” on?  (Not you.)

There may be a series of meetings where people are broken into smaller groups and sit at different tables around the room.  The purpose of this is that if knowledgeable people arrive together, they’ll have to sit with strangers and hopefully be more subdued.

Each table will have a facilitator, who will know which way to help “steer” the group.  The people will be instructed to answer some questions among themselves, then arrive at a table “consensus.”

The Delphi process often uses surveys to bring about this “consensus,” but the questions on the survey are loaded and skewed to manipulate the desired outcome.  The survey will use grading like “agree all of the time, agree most of the time, agree some of the time, and don’t agree.  Or, the survey will ask respondents to use ratings like “most important, moderately important and least important.”

After the first survey, people are told most people agreed or somewhat agreed with the predetermined outcome.  Then, people are given another survey and are asked if they can be flexible and try to rethink the “few remaining” areas of disagreement.  Then, the respondents are told that the majority achieved a “consensus” (which is the direction that the group leading this meeting wanted:  the predetermined outcome).

Someone is chosen to speak for the table, most likely a person who has been secretly pre-briefed about the desired Delphi outcome.  The table “spokesperson” is the only one allowed to address the podium and there will be little, if any, opportunity to address the podium or the crowd directly.

Stop Brutal Helicopter Roundup of Wild Horses

Dear friends of the horses and burros,

BLM’s trend: manipulation of public

 

Debbie Coffey              Copyright 2013            All Rights Reserved.

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“If the BLM ever sets up a collaborative/consensus meeting again, advocates should demand that Robert’s Rules of Order be used for the public meeting.  If the BLM refuses, leave and hold a real meeting in another room or outside, and then present your plan to the BLM.  Your tax dollars pay the salaries of these people, so don’t let them manipulate you or intimidate you.  This isn’t North Korea.”

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While Joan Guilfoyle (Bureau of Land Management’s Division Chief of the Wild Horse & Burro Program) continues to struggle to learn what she’s doing and continues to have difficulties being polite to and interacting with wild horse advocates, the BLM brought in a “facilitator” to the August 6 meeting in Reno to discuss shelter for wild horses & burros that are being warehoused in BLM facilities.

    Palomino Valley

The public’s first clue that smoke and mirrors would be involved in this meeting could be found online in the BLM’s Workshop Handout, which included “WORKING IN GROUPS,” which outlined that people would be working in groups, with a facilitator, and then reporting to the larger group.

In this BLM meeting, instead of just being able to use your own words and speak your own mind, you were led into talking about “trends.”  The BLM workshop handout suggested that “One or more members should ensure that the group stays with the assigned task.”  So much for free speech.

This is the Delphi method, which the Rand Corporation developed in the 1950s.  It has been used to manipulate people.   The goal of the Delphi method is to lead a targeted group of people to a pre-determined outcome while keeping the illusion of being open to public input.

Judith A. Talbot, the meeting facilitator, is an associate with California State University’s Center for Collaborative Policy, which describes collaborative policy making as “a process whereby one or more public agencies craft a solution to a policy issue using consensus driven dialogue with diverse parties…”

Yet, the only two “groups” at this meeting seemed to be BLM employees and wild horse advocates.  So, who were the “diverse parties?” 

EVIL IS AS EVIL DOES – BLUE WING WILD HORSE CAPTURE – TODAY!

Guest OpEd by Grandma Gregg

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In addition to the thousands of livestock in the Blue Wing area, this area is valuable for mining:

The abundance of graphite mineralization at surface and at economic depths dictates the ability for USA Graphite’s Blue Wing Mountains Graphite Project to host a multi-million ton, carbon rich, large flake graphite deposit.

301 mines in this county:

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Straight from the Horse’s Heart

Posted on August 2, 2013 by R.T. Fitch

The Bureau of Land Management needs to change their name to the Bureau of Land Destruction

MURDERER’S CREEK WILD HORSES – LESS THAN ZERO?

Straightfromthehorsesheart.com

Posted on July 20, 2013 by R.T. Fitch

Guest Editorial by Grandma Gregg

Referring to today’s upcoming capture list – it says 100 wild horses will be bait/water trapped on the Murderer’s Creek HMA in Oregon starting tomorrow!  This HMA is jointly “managed” by BLM and USFS, who said in their recent EA:  “The AML for wild horses within the HMA is 50-140 wild horses with an objective of managing for a herd size of 100 animals.”

Now, take a look at the map that shows the census count.  The census count as of the spring of 2012 was 171 (foals not counted) and I have the payment invoices from the bait trap contractor to BLM that says last fall they trapped 100 wild horses and then last winter they trapped 100 more … and now they have authorized another 100 wild horses be captured.

 

Assume that the 200 (last fall and last winter) would include the original 171 wild horses plus the foals and likely some on private property/outside HMA but there is no way there will be another 100 taken this summer and still leave 100 which was the stated plan in the EA.  ZERO or more accurately stated … minus zero will be the result and thus Murderer’s Creek HMA will be the next HA land since there will be no horses to manage … thus no HMA.

And this will be the continuous plan (already going strong) for all of our WH&B … except for a few in a “zoo”.  I hope I am wrong!

 http://rtfitchauthor.com/2012/08/06/wild-horse-and-burro-bait-trapping-going-going-gone/

BLM Sells Land to Water Guzzlers During Drought

Debbie Coffey   ~ Director of Wild Horse Affairs at Wild Horse Freedom Federation        Copyright 2013     All Rights Reserved.

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From 2002-2012 (ten years) the BLM Ely District in Nevada leased 3,952,231 acres for oil & gas exploration and development.  Think about it.  Almost 4 million acres in only one BLM District in Nevada.  This isn’t counting the acres leased in other BLM districts in Nevada, or in other states.

Fracking requires enormous quantities of water.  Estimates put water usage at between 3 and 5 million gallons per fracking of a single well, and each well can be fracked several times.

A recent Elko Daily Free Press article titled “Drought causes BLM to reduce grazing, other targeted actions,” stated that “In Nevada, about 60 percent of the state has been in severe or extreme drought since January.”

The article continued with “‘Since last fall and winter, we have been working with grazers across the West in anticipation of tough conditions related to drought,’ said Neil Kornze, BLM principal deputy director…’

‘As drought conditions continue, wild horses, livestock, and wildlife that rely on rangeland forage and water will face extremely challenging conditions that may leave them in very poor condition.  We are taking action to address these situations as quickly and as effectively as we can, but our options are increasingly limited by conditions on the land,’ he added.”

Apparently, the BLM’s options don’t include any thought of curtailing the lease/sale of public lands for oil & gas exploration and development or for mining, which use a lot of water.

On June 28, 2013, the BLM Ely District office issued a Preliminary Environmental Assessment for their upcoming December 2013 Oil and Gas Lease Sale, which is offering 399,873 acres of public lands in their district.

Then, only a few days later, around July 1 or 2, the Ely district started hauling water out to the Seaman Herd Area for wild horses there, because the seeps were low and there wasn’t enough water for the horses.  Rosemary Thomas, the Ely District Manager, said that although the stallions and dry mares seemed to be doing okay, the wet mares and foals weren’t doing well.

She said Ben Noyes, the Ely District Wild Horse & Burro Specialist, has been putting water in troughs and tubs (but the horses won’t drink out of them) and even rigged a hose and buried it out of sight, to refill the seeps.  Ben has been spending days and even nights out there with infrared binoculars to see if the wild horses are drinking.  A USDA APHIS veterinarian just went out there to check the body condition of the horses.  But the BLM may have to do an emergency helicopter roundup.

Now, knowing this, and knowing that the BLM has been aware of drought conditions since last January, let’s look at a rough map of a small area of the land that was put up for an oil & gas lease/sale on June 28, within and around the Seaman Herd Area:

Now let’s look at a rough map that also includes the 2011 and 2012 oil & gas lease sales around the Seaman Herd Area:

If there is a drought, and there isn’t enough water, why would the BLM sale lease land for a use that could use a lot of water? (If you were down to your last $2, would you run out and buy a yacht?)

Here’s how that 399,873 acres (being sold out from under the public) breaks down:

• Newark Valley – 6,175 acres
• N. Railroad Valley – 710 acres
• Garden Valley – 158,924 acres
• White River Valley – 107,581 acres
• Jakes Valley – 12,159 acres
• Maverick – 21,401 acres
• Butte Valley – 2,184 acres
• Steptoe Valley – 72,681 acres
• Antelope Valley – 18,058 acres

While Nevada BLM districts have been hauling water to wild horses, it’s important to look at the “multiple uses” that are the real water guzzlers, that are allowed to continue without limitation.

The BLM’s mismanagement of the public lands seems to not only be adding to the drought crisis, but to be causing much of it, which will affect not only wild horses, but wildlife, livestock and irrigation.

Send your comments on the proposed lease sale by July 29, 2013 to the Ely District Office, by email at  blm_nv_eydo_dec2013ogsale@blm.gov

Can BLM build shade structures like this?

 Debbie Coffey                    Copyright 2013              All Rights Reserved.

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The Bureau of Land Management adoption site for wild horses at the Sundance Ranch in Redlands, CA, has excellent shade structures that don’t seem to put the horses in any danger, are open to the air on all 4 sides, and also allow sunlight on the ground in the morning and afternoons, to help kill bacteria.

photos by Debbie Coffey

Depending on the position of the sun, the shade covers different areas of the ground.  To accommodate snow at other BLM facilities, this type of roof might need to cover more area and be more steeply pitched.  But the posts are attached to the fence and don’t seem likely to cause injury.

Then again, the BLM hasn’t worried too much about the danger to the wild horses during roundups and transportation, during the use of a hot-shot, in squeeze chutes, and during the field spaying mares or gelding of cryptorchids (killing many in the process), which don’t happen to wild horses in the wild, so why their big concern about some posts attached to a fence?

While the shade cover at the Sundance Ranch in Redlands might be improved (the roof could be a little higher and an expert should make sure a horse can’t get its head caught between any pipes) this is a huge improvement over most BLM facilities, and accommodates all of the horses in their care.

Why can’t the BLM, the Department of Interior agency that drops millions of taxpayer dollars on the roundups of wild horses every year, fork over some money for shade structures like this?  The Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, has a mandate to protect the wild horses.

Send your Congressional representatives these photos, along with the photos taken by many wild horse advocacy groups and individuals at Palomino Valley, and demand some of the “loot” from the Department of Interior’s oil & gas royalties subsidize building these shelters for the wild horses, since the wild horses are being removed from their HMAs for oil and gas development on the same land.

Dept. of Interior’s “Where are they now?”

Debbie Coffey

Copyright 2013/ All Rights Reserved.

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“But two of the highest-ranking officials who were subjects of the investigations will apparently escape penalty. Both retired during the investigation, rendering them safe from any administrative punishment, and the Justice Department has declined to prosecute them on the charges suggested by the inspector general.”  Their current locations and occupations cannot be verified at this time. “

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Guess where some of the Department of Interior’s personnel are now (after running wild horses off their federally protected Herd Management Areas)?

Ken Salazar

– Secretary of the Department of Interior, 2009 – February, 2013 

In June, 2013, it was announced that Ken Salazar became a partner in the law firm WilmerHale in Denver.  WilmerHale represented BP after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  (This huge environmental disaster happened under Salazar’s watch as Secretary of the Interior.)  What’s really funny is a quote by Salazar in the Denver Post:

“I said in 2010 I will put my boot on the neck of BP,” Salazar said. “I will be completely segregated from revenues that come in from BP. I am not going to represent BP, and I’m not going to make any money from BP now or ever.”

When asked how much money he is being paid as partner, Salazar said, “It’s a very good package.

Wilmer Hale has also represented Monsanto.  

Ron Wenker

– Director of Bureau of Land Mangament (BLM) in Nevada and was even the Director of the entire BLM for awhile!

Ron Wenker was arrested in 2012 for sexually abusing a girl (a relative) from the time she was 8 years old until she was 13 years old, when he was finally caught by the girl’s brother.

So, the man who led the Nevada BLM and even led the ENTIRE BLM for a short while, was quoted on RGJ.com as making the following statements to detectives:

“Wenker said inappropriate touching escalated to oral sex. He said his behavior was “very dumb” and “illegal.”

“Ronald added that he has a deep emotional bond with (the relative) and that he thought she was enjoying the touching as much as he was,” detectives wrote of Wenker’s interview.

“…Ronald added that he isn’t a pedophile and that he had a deep, emotional attachment and love for his (relative) that evolved into a sexual relationship,” the detectives continued. “Ronald stated that he had been struggling with the urge to have sexual contact with (the relative) over the years, but he never sought any help or counseling with the issue. Ronald stated that he was telling himself ‘no more’ but he slipped …”

Think about it.  This was happening during the time Ron Wenker was at the pinnacle of major BLM decision making and this is an example of his reasoning, judgment, and (lack of) ethics.

In May, 2013, Wenker was sentenced to three life terms after pleading guilty to Sexual Assault and Lewdness with a Minor Under the Age of 14.  He will be eligible for parole in 30 years.

Bob Abbey

– Director of the Bureau of Land Management

BLM’s Oil & Gas Lease Corruption Exposed

By Debbie Coffey    Copyright 2013   All Rights Reserved.

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“The REAL criminals, the BLM, who are sale/leasing our public lands for as little as $2 an acre, who allow “volunteers” paid for by oil companies to process the permits, and do NOT abide by the law, continue to go unchecked. “

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Outbidding the rigged bids at BLM auction

“On December 19, 2008 Tim DeChristopher disrupted a highly disputed Utah BLM Oil and Gas lease auction, effectively safeguarding thousands of acres of pristine Utah land that were slated for oil and gas leases. Not content to merely protest outside, Tim entered the auction hall and registered as bidder #70. He outbid industry giants on land parcels (which, starting at $2 an acre, were adjacent to national treasures like Canyonlands National Park), winning 22,000 acres of land worth $1.7 million before the auction was halted.

Public attention was suddenly focused on the land that the BLM was going to lease for oil exploration, and “Two months later, incoming Interior Secretary Ken Salazar invalidated the auction.”  

David Letterman had environmental activist Tim DeChristopher as a guest on his show recently to talk about this BLM oil and gas lease sale, and this (approximately) 12 minute segment is a MUST SEE, not only for wild horse advocates, but for anyone who cares about clean drinking water, uncontaminated aquifers, the safety of food and the health of American families.

There is a new documentary out called “Bidder 70,” which is about DeChristopher.  Here is the trailer:

DeChristopher paid a high price for saving these public lands.  He was sentenced to 2 years in a federal prison and a $10,000 fine.  Please read Tim DeChristopher’s entire statement here:

BLM’s Pick-Up Truck Wranglers

Debbie Coffey        (c) copyright 2013 All rights reserved

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On May 23, 2013, several wranglers at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Palomino Valley facility seemed to be too lazy to saddle up their horses, so all 3 of those big boys crammed themselves into a pick-up truck and drove it around inside a pen of wild horses like they were in a Monster truck event, and what may be a government owned vehicle even fishtailed – yee haa!!  Apparently, this was supposed to have been an effort to separate out a paint horse from the other horses.

Wild horse advocate Patty Bumgarner was there and this is what she saw:

Is this BLM’s standard operating procedure?

Now, after this little joy ride failed to separate out the horse, they drove the pick-up past Patty, and one of the wranglers asked “Did you get some good pictures?”  He didn’t say this in a polite way, but in a way that seemed meant to intimidate and harass her.

It was none of this wrangler’s business if a taxpaying American, who pays his salary and for the operation and activities of this government facility (which is a public place), wants to stand there all day, every day, and take photos and/or video.

Or, isn’t this a free country anymore?

This is just one more example of not only BLM’s reckless actions around wild horses, but of an attitude towards the public that would get them fired in any other work environment.  What business do you know of where an employee could get away with treating the public rudely?   None.  And guess what BLM?   We’re NOT going to put up with it.

Bullies are brave when they think they’re anonymous, so let’s all just take a look at a photo of  these 3 yahoos:

photo by Patty Bumgarner

We encourage more advocates to go as often as possible to BLM facilities to observe both the activities and the condition of the wild horses, and to take photos and video.

Patty also observed that the horses at Palomino Valley have warts near their mouths,

(photo by Patty Bumgarner)

and noted:

“Warts can spread from one horse to another if they’re not confined.. Warts on a horse is known as papillomavirus, and they usually appear as blemishes on the face, mouth, or nose regions in younger horses.  They appear as either single warts, or as clusters of warts that have a “cauliflower” appearance. While unsightly, they usually pose no threat to the horse’s overall health and are considered merely a cosmetic blemish. In most cases, the warts will
disappear on their own, in a matter of time. But it is important to remember that warts are a viral, contagious disease and that proper steps should be taken in order to prevent them from spreading from one horse to another, especially if the horse is kept in the vicinity of other horses.

Younger horses are more susceptible to warts because they have less-efficient immune systems than older horses. Their skin also is not as tough, and they have less hair to ward off the insects that can carry the papillomavirus. The good news is that once a horse has been infected, it builds up an immunity and is less susceptible to future infections. Provided the horse is in good physical condition, has a good nutrition program, is wormed regularly, and is under good management, the warts should disappear within six to nine months.”

And what if they’re not under “good management?”

The BLM has been observed to be busy cleaning the pens at Palomino Valley.  (Has anyone ever seen warts on a wild horse in the wild?)

The BLM really needs to clean up their disrespectful attitude towards the public and immediately enforce humane handling of the wild horses and burros that they have a mandate to protect.

Critique of BLM’s Broken Wild Horse & Burro Program

Carl Mrozek, filmmaker: “Saving Ass in America” A documentary about the horrendous slaughter of wild horses in America.  Set to begin showing December 7th, 2013

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Comments on NAS’  Critique of BLM’s Broken Wild Horse & Burro Program

To their credit, the NAS critique of BLM totally discredits the BLM’s unscientific management methodology, particularly re: gauging population levels.  Unfortunately, they prescribe a primarily pharmaceutical remedy for a problem that hasn’t been established yet, i.e. ‘over-population’. How can you assert that there is overpopulation of wild horses and/or burros when you:

1. Don’t know what the population of horses or burros currently is, in a given HMA

2. Have no data-driven basis for gauging how many horses or burros a particular HMA can support. In practice BLM treats all habitats as being pretty much the same, and as resource poor, by requiring 1000+ acres/ horse or burro.　

The NAS report also buys into BLM’s myth that wild horse & burro populations are increasing at a fairly constant rate of 15-20%/ year regardless of some radical differences in range quality between one HMA and another….

as well as radical differences in the structure, health and genetic viability of one herd vs. the next.

3. Fail to address the impacts of cattle and sheep upon rangelands, and upon wild horse reproductive success and recruitment rates

What I most appreciate about the NAS report is that they confirm key criticisms made by advocates, and ignored by the BLM, for a very long time including:

1.  the BLM’s population numbers are speculative at best, and fictitious at worst !

2.  the roundups are a counter-productive and inhumane solution to a problem (overpopulation) which may or may not exist in a given locale, at a given time.

3. the frequent and aggressive regime of roundups actually stimulates increased reproduction, migration and over-population, at -least where enough equines survive the roundups or can migrate from adjacent herd areas. This creates a viscious cycle wherein aggressive roundups create a need for more frequent and aggressive roundups.

Glaring omissions in the NAS report include:

1. The question of what constitutes “fair and balanced” apportionment of forage and water between horses and livestock on a given HMA, -which is critical to ascertaining whether the range is being overgrazed, how much, and by what animals. Without exception, livestock are allocated the lion’s share of available forage, typically upwards of 80%, -where data is even available.

2. what to do with the 37-50,000 horses and burros now languishing in long and short term holding. including what proportion should be returned to their rightful range, on what schedule…. etc. Until this ‘overpopulation problem’ is addressed, there will continue to be a wild horse ‘population crisis’ and a costly one at that.

3. How to induce an agency accustomed to being regarded by the world at large as the default authority on public rangeland capacity and on wild horse and burro population levels residing on them, to begin managing both on the basis of actual, current data rather than on data, or fudged numbers, of varying age and veracity and hence with questionable credibility.

Overall, though, the NAS panel indicted a sadly flawed, broken program in desperate need of a total makeover, starting with a basic need for fresh data and a scientific approach vs. the “Trust us because we’re the authorities on public lands and the wild equines that live there” which has prevailed for 40+ years that BLM has been tasked with managing this priceless heritage for all of US.

Bureau of Land Management Ignores the Laws of United States AND Nature


Guest OpEd by Grandma Gregg

Straight from the Horses Heart

GRAPHIC: Rain Horse courtesy of Lydia Rose

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“BLM also considers themselves as being “above” Mother Nature too…”

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) publicly published the statement that they are above the law and the 1971 Congressional Wild Horse and Burro protection LAW DOES NOT PERTAIN TO THEM! BLM stated: “The … [Congressional] Act … is not pertinent to the overall management of the wild horse and burro populations by the BLM and USFS. In general, it protects the wild horses and burros from such actions by the general populous.”

Well … apparently the BLM also considers themselves as being “above” Mother Nature too because they insist wild horses must be removed from their legally designated land (our public land) because of current widespread “drought” and BLM has been pushing this same drought agenda for at least three years. Basically these “emergency” roundups are just a front/excuse to round up as many wild horses and burros as they want, when they want and behind the public’s back with no accountability by using bait/water trapping. Read this trapping article:

In order for anything to be considered normal or average there must be ups and downs. In 2011 the precipitation in Elko (mid-Nevada) was 125% of normal, 2012 was 63% of normal and as of April 2013 Elko had 78% of normal precipitation and since then [May] it has had another almost half-inch of rain and today’s forecast states, “BRIEF HEAVY RAIN” and “MODERATE TO LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN IS CURRENTLY FALLING” and “RAINFALL RATES OF ONE-QUARTER TO ONE-HALF INCH PER HOUR IS POSSIBLE IN THIS [storm] BAND”.

Fracked in Elko County, Nevada

Gary  Jacobucci, Wells P&Z

Opinion:

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Fracked in  Elko County

The open  communications forum on fracking hosted by the Bureau of Land Management at the  Red Lion March 14^th proved to be a love fest between the BLM and  Nobel Energy.

Gary Johnson, the BLM Deputy State Director for Minerals, was there to tell us how  much money had been brought in from fracking operations nationwide and to assure  us that the BLM was going to monitor surface disturbances. Jeff Schwarz was  there from Nobel Gas was there to tell us that we didn’t need to be concerned  about the contamination of our ground water and could go back to sleep. 

Schwarz  presented a list of chemicals they were going to be using in their hydraulic  fracturing operations along with a listing of how these chemicals were already  used in other household products; implying that because they are already in use,  that putting them into our drinking water was OK. Schwarz made reference to the  FracFocus website, saying that there was transparency in what chemicals they  were going to be using.

But when  asked if he could assure Elko County that BTEX compounds, and known carcinogens,  like known carcinogens were not going to be use in the drilling process,  Schwatz hesitantly responded yes, but quickly added that there are proprietary  chemicals that will be used. Proprietary, meaning secret.

This lack  of disclosure of what chemicals are actually going to be injected underground is  known as the Halliburton loophole and makes the listing of chemicals on the  FracFocus website both deceptive and meaningless. The Halliburton loophole  refers to the Halliburton legal team finding a loophole in the Safe Drinking  Water Act that exempts fracking operations from having to disclose what  chemicals they are injecting underground.

Mitigating the damage from fracking: Wyoming asks for $50 mil

Protect Mustangs™

Taking action to inform, protect and help America’s wild horses

Requesting a 50 million dollar fund to

mitigate environmental damage from

fracking for wild horses in Wyoming

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SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY

Bureau of Land Management

Attn:  Mark Ames

Rawlins Field Office

P.O. Box 2407 (1300 North Third Street)

Rawlins, WY 82301-2407

Email: BLM_WY_Continental_Divide_Creston@blm.gov

RE: Continental Divide-Creston Natural Gas Development Project (CD-C Project)

Dear Mr. Ames,

We are against this massive fracking Continental Divide-Creston Natural Gas Development Project (CD-C Project) and ask you to stop this project before it ruins the environment and endangers America’s native wild horses in Wyoming.

The drilling proposed will not only displace native wild horses but also threaten the wild herds with environmental dangers/disease.

If you choose to go forward with this during the environmentally risky CD-C Project then we ask that you do the following:

Madeleine Pickens’ $1,200 (per night) Teepees

Debbie Coffey   PPJ Investigative Reporter

Director of Wild Horse Affairs, Wild Horse Freedom Federation             

Copyright 2013       All Rights Reserved.

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Madeleine Pickens (whose organization is called Saving America’s Mustangs) plans an “eco-resort” called Mustang Monument, as part of a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) eco-sanctuary plan to put wild horse geldings (a non-reproducing herd), which were rounded up and warehoused on a BLM holding facility, onto another fenced in area (with a more glamorous title).
While Madeleine’s idea included putting horses on a grazing allotment on public land, the BLM’s plan will likely eradicate 3 federally protected wild horse Herd Management Areas (HMAs). The BLM will likely roundup the remaining family bands of wild horses currently on these 3 HMAs, ship the wild horses to short term holding, then to same sex, long term holding pastures on private property for the rest of their lives. (Which may not be very long, but that’s another story.)

In this particular public-private partnership, approximately 14,000 acres are private land, and a whopping 508,000 acres are public land. But who will benefit the most?

Bureau of Land (mis)Management excels at manipulation training

By Debbie Coffey                 PPJ Investigative Reporter

Director of Wild Horse Affairs, Wild Horse Freedom Federation                

Copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved.

“The BLM also showed a video, but since a copy wasn’t included in the materials that were sent to me, for all we know, it could’ve been old episodes of “Mr. Ed.”

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BLM’s Manipulation Training

Did you ever wonder what made Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wild Horse & Burro Specialists so “special?” Was it because they had extensive training in equine sciences? Was it because they were range management specialists or biologists who took a BLM Wild Horse & Burro Program “training” class? Was it because they had a big shiny rodeo belt buckle?

After filing a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) for documents relating to the training the BLM gives to Wild Horse & Burro Specialists, I wasn’t too surprised to see that the classes that the BLM offered, in which you, the taxpayer, paid for BLM and USDA employees to attend, (probably their travel, hotel accommodations and food), taught them to regurgitate boilerplate wild horse & burro “gather” plans(to round up the wild horses), and reviewed 82 pages out of the BLM manual (couldn’t they just read that at their desk, back at the office?).

It also included litigation, the history of the program, fertility control, the training and adoption agreement with the Mustang Heritage Foundation, and hundreds of other pages that stressed BLM’s range management and policies. Many of the instructors had backgrounds primarily in range management.

But how many pages, out of about 1,000 pages, actually dealt with wild horse behavior or health?

Wild Horses sold to Kill Buyer by BLM Contractor

Debbie Coffey

PPJ Investigative Reporter

Director of Wild Horse Affairs, Wild Horse Freedom Federation               

Copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved.

Photo by Kurt Golgart

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Debbie Coffey and Wild Horse Freedom Federation thank Animals Angels for their assistance with this investigation.

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In a telephone conversation with Jim Reeves, when asked about the 72 horses he bought as pack animals, he said “I’m told not to talk about this kind of stuff.”  He said “I can’t talk about this” and “That’s BLM business.”

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While the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been trying to convince the public that the BLM does not sell wild horses to slaughter, Wild Horse Freedom Federation has obtained proof that a BLM Long Term Holding contractor sold wild horses directly to kill buyer Joe Simon, who is well known for sending horses to slaughter, and who owns JS Ranch (“Farms”) in Perkins, Oklahoma.

To give you a little background, the BLM uses lame excuses to remove wild horses from their federally protected Herd Management Areas while letting other “uses” take over.  For instance, BLM claims wild horses cause “degradation” to the range, but then allow oil and gas drilling (and fracking) on the same land.  The BLM uses helicopters to round up the wild horses, then puts the horses in short term holding facilities, maintenance facilities, and ultimately, ships horses to same-sex long term holding pastures, where the public is led to believe the horses spend the rest of their lives.

Jim Reeves and Lyle Anderson own Spur Livestock, and have a contract with the Bureau of Land Management for a long term holding pasture for wild horses on private lands within the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, as well as on Indian Trust Lands administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  This facility is the Whitehorse Wild Horse Long Term Holding Facility.

Wild Horse Freedom Federation received records from the South Dakota Brand Board that reveal on 11/8/2008, while under contract with the BLM, “owner” Spur Livestock sold 34 horses with “BLM tattoos” to JS Farms, owned by kill buyer Joe Simon.

Animals Angels has written about kill buyer Joe Simon (scroll down to the 2^{nd article “What is the Price Tag for Suffering”) here}                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           It is important to note that state brand boards do not “recognize” BLM freezemarks  

^{(which BLM puts on the left side of wild horses’ necks after they are captured) as official “BRANDS,” so the state brand board inspectors may completely ignore the BLM freezemarks and instead, note that wild horses have “NO BRAND.”}

San Francisco and East Bay Residents Protest Killing Wild Horses near Reno

Protect Mustangs is a California-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

for immediate release:

BREAKING NEWS: San Francisco and East Bay Residents Protest Killing Wild Horses near Reno

Outraged members of the public gather tonight outside Rockridge Bart during rush hour

OAKLAND, Ca. (January 4, 2013)–Protect Mustangs, the Bay Area-based wild horse preservation group is organizing a peaceful protest during rush hour tonight outside the Rockridge BART Station (College Ave. in Oakland) from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Members of the public of all ages are gathering to show they want the cruelty & slaughter of indigenous wild horses to stop now. The preservation group learned ofNevada’s interest in opening a horse slaughterhouse to kill wild horses on tribal land near Reno. Many protests are being held in conjunction with the Carson City Protest where the protestors are marching at midday to deliver Governor Sandoval letters from around the world asking him to stop the cruelty.

“We stand together to demand a STOP to the crimes against America’s indigenous wild horses,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We enjoy photographing the very horses they want to slaughter when we go to Reno/Tahoe. These horses are on the edge of Reno. Did you know horses evolved in America and wild horses are a reintroduced native species?”

“We have been working with The Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund and other Nevada groups to bring awareness to the crisis,” continues Novak. “The public around the world is outraged. Some people even refuse to travel to Nevada because of this. Citizens have requested Governor Sandoval stop trapping native wild horses and selling them off at auctions–where kill-buyers go to pick up horses. He has done nothing–only turned a deaf ear.”

Other protests are being held such as one in Mill Valley tonight at The Depot Plaza sponsored by Wild horse Protection Act as well as protests held in Phoenix, on the East Coast and elsewhere.

“We are sharing out posts of people protesting today from around the world,” says Kerry Becklund, director of outreach for Protect Mustangs. “Our first photo came in from Barbie Hardrock’s band, Roquette, in Austria! Visit us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs.”

“Native wild horses are wildlife who create biodiversity and reverse desertification when managed using reserve design,” states Novak. “Roundups and removals are cruel–slaughtering them is a heinous idea. We want to ensure they are protected.”

 

Our biggest waste of money is Congress

Marti Oakley (c) copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved

Follow @MartiOakley

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Our biggest waste of money is Congress

Several of you have written me and said things to the effect that if I am so damn smart why don’t I tell you all how I would fix the national debt and reduce spending in the District of Criminals.  So, as my New Year’s gift to all of you, here is my idea of how to rid ourselves of massive amounts of national debt and reduce the mindless, pork laden spending done at our expense. It is not a full and complete list as this would require so much space and days of reading, that I am only highlighting three or four of the most wasteful, unconstitutional, pointless agency’s or programs.

And, no I do not think I am so smart.  I do however, think that I am highly pissed off that we allow this crap to continue.

How the Fed gets in your state

The one thing that must be understood is that the only way federal corporations who try to hide their true identity by masquerading as “Public service” or some other clever word exchange, gain access to your state is only by getting approval from your governor and directed to the corresponding agency within the state that will contract with them.  These are not laws as per the Constitution.  This is contract law and the ensuing contracting with the federal corporation attempting to gain entry into your state is a corporate business plan which has little to nothing to do with law or property rights.  These are contracts that can be revoked, and, these are business plans that should be rejected across the board.

The first order of business:

1.  I would close down and completely disassemble Homeland Security.  This monolithic monstrosity has nothing to do with national security, keeping you safe or any of the other idiotic jingoistic crap that issues from them on a daily basis.  The Economist published a wonderfully explicit graph  in September of 2011 showing the cash sink hole that is Homeland Security. 

The fictional fiscal cliff

 Marti Oakley (c) copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved

Follow @MartiOakley

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The public could have fixed this problem in short order

If you ask most people what the so-called fiscal cliff was comprised of, most cannot tell you.  They have no idea.  If you ask most congressional members what it was comprised of, most will simply tell  you what their pet peeves were/are, and yet most haven’t the vaguest notion of what was supposedly about to befall us as a nation if we went over that non-existent cliff.

The end-of-year fiscal cliff was a carefully staged production where we were led to believe that the two factions of the one party system in the District of Criminals were going “balls-to the walls” in a fight over whether or not the wealthy should be taxed to help reduce the massive and unsustainable debt the Criminals had wracked up, or, should they just increase the taxes on the middle and working classes so that the wealthy could retain more of their wealth?

Here are some quick tips on how the US government has squandered billions, if not trillions on pointless, useless and totally worthless programs.

Jerri Tillet vs Bureau of Land Management malfeasance

 

PLEASE OPPOSE BLM’S DEVASTATING PLAN FOR WYOMING’S RED DESERT WILD HORSES

Straight from the Horses Heart

RT Fitch

Call to Action from American Wild Horse Preservation.org

BLM Plans to “ZERO OUT” and Destroy Two Unique Wild Horse Herds

Public Comment Deadline: December 7, 2012

Taking its marching orders from Wyoming’s powerful livestock industry, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is planning the second roundup in less than three years of wild horses living in the Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek Herd Management Areas (HMAs) in Wyoming’s pristine Red Desert region. The 1.5 million-acre public land area is managed as a complex due to wild horse movements between the two HMAs. The roundup is proceeding despite the fact that the Adobe Town HMA is substantially below the low end of the Allowable Management Level (AML) of 610 – 800 horses. Even more disturbing, the BLM intends to remove all wild horses on “private land or checkerboard land within the Rock Springs Office portion of the HMA.” Since the majority of the Salt Wells HMA is “checkerboard” (alternating public and private land parcels), and since the wild horses living there cannot tell the difference between public and private land, this raises the alarming possiblity that the entire HMA will be zeroed out!

This stepped-up roundup plan is the result of a lawsuit filed last year by the Rock Springs Grazing Association, which owns or leases the checkerboard lands for livestock grazing. The legal action — which the Interior Department itself advised ranchers to file – seeks to compel the BLM to remove all wild horses from the public and private lands in the checkerboard area. AWHPC and our coalition partners, The Cloud Foundation and the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros, have intervened in this lawsuit in an attempt to prevent the government from simply settling the case by agreeing to wipe out all the horses on the 2 million acres that constitute the Wyoming checkerboard. Yet, deciding not to wait for the outcome of this litigation, the BLM is now proposing this potentially devastating roundup.

The BLM allows the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA) to graze the annual equivalent of 15,000 cows — or 75,000 sheep — in the alltoments that lie within and around the Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek HMAs, while restricting the wild horse population in this vast area no more than 1,165. The RSGA members enjoy the privilege of grazing their livestock on our public lands, as well as the benefits of the taxpayer subsidies that underwrite below-market grazing rates. It’s time for our government to demand that, in return for those privileges, the RSGA members be required to tolerate the presence of America’s cherished wild horses on the public and private lands in this area.

WITHDRAW BLM OIL/GAS LEASES FROM COLORADO’s PREMIER ORGANIC FARMING REGION

WE THE PEOPLE

we petition the obama administration to:

WITHDRAW BLM OIL/GAS LEASES FROM COLORADO’s PREMIER ORGANIC FARMING REGION AND UPDATE BLM’s 25-YEAR-OLD LAND USE PLAN

Tell BLM: Don’t Open Colorado’s Organic Farms to Oil and Gas Drilling/Fracking

Western Colorado’s North Fork Valley is Colorado’s only rural winery region  and has the state’s highest concentration of organic farms and ranches. It is an intimate mixture of private, small family farms–many certified by the USDA as organic–and public lands, including many managed by the BLM.

The BLM is an agency within the U.S. Dept. of Interior that manages most of the public’s minerals. BLM once wrote a land use plan for the area, twenty-five years ago. Now it seeks to use that plan–even though it never even considered oil and gas development in the North Fork to be much of a possibility–to open the area for drilling and fracking.

Finish the land use plan update and take these leases off the table

Created: Nov 19, 2012

Sign petition HERE>>> Petition

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/withdraw-blm-oilgas-leases-colorados-premier-organic-farming-region-and-update-blms-25-year-old-land/cFjBGbDM

Recent Investigation in Mexico Reveals Continuing Non Compliance with EU Standards

ANIMALS ANGELS

Animals’ Angels investigators observed harsh conditions in EU approved Mexican slaughterhouses during an intensive investigation conducted in September 2012. The goal of this follow up investigation was to check if any improvements had been made since the 2007/2008 investigations had revealed abhorrent conditions. Animal welfare investigators are accustomed to observing the most egregious treatment of animals. Even the slightest improvements are welcome, but do not bring a cease fire to the battle for humane treatment of all animals transported to slaughter.

EU inspections of Mexican slaughter houses are scheduled in advance, clearly giving notice to the slaughterhouses to comply with regulations on that one day of inspection.

Animals’ Angels arrived unannounced at several of the EU approved plants as they observed multiple trucks carrying horses from the US to slaughter. Horses were jammed into transport trailers, resulting in biting and fighting among them. The common use of trailers with no roof is cruel as the intensive sun in the transport areas beats down upon horses already over-heated due to over-crowding and long waiting times inside parked trailers at US broker offices and the border. (Please read more about this issue here…) Animals’ Angels works to improve conditions for farm animals. We closely cooperate with law enforcement and government agencies to fight animal cruelty. Our investigators are out in the field nationwide, visiting auctions, feedlots and slaughter plants.

Link to full length investigation report

Watch the video filmed at the Camargo horse slaughter plant

 

WARNING! Report and video contain extremely graphic images that might be disturbing to some viewers.

BLM counts Flyboy’s nosedive at sage grouse as “experience”

Debbie Coffey     © 2012 All rights reserved

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Confusion at BLM over sage grouse and horses…they can’t tell the difference!

In a Freedom of Information Act response that includes resumes of the crew of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) contractor Sun J Livestock, Inc., whose actions sparked a notorious internal investigation (AKA cover-up), it seems the BLM’s contractor hired a sub-contractor that is grossly under-qualified.

After numerous complaints since October, 2010 about BLM’s round up contractor, Sun J Livestock, Inc., and their sub-contracted helicopter pilot, the BLM started an internal investigation in January, 2011, and issued a report in February, 2011 stating:

“Experience of the Contractor”

The gather contract solicitation requires that all proposals demonstrate a minimum of 1,500 hours of flying experience in similar projects for the proposed primary and secondary helicopter pilots. 　To be considered for a contract award, the contractor needs overall experience of humanely capturing a minimum of 3,000 wild horses and/or burros while using helicopter- drive trapping. 　The contractor and proposed key personnel needed this overall experience in similar projects during the time from 2007 to the present. 　Sun J Livestock met all of the above criteria and qualified to have a contract awarded to it. 　Overall, the contractor has gathered over 40,000 wild horses…” (emphasis mine)

BLM’s interpretation (once again) borders on wild fantasy.  First of all, I added up the numbers of wild horses that the people sending in their resumes claimed to have rounded up, and the total came to 24,473.  (Once again, it seems BLM is almost doubling their numbers).  Not only that, if you’ve been to a roundup, you’d know that Jody Holmes, as the BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Specialist, didn’t go out and there and round up those horses herself.  She watched.

BLM to get rid of last wild horses in California:

  John Boering

NEWS ALERT!!

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November 6, 2012

The BLM Eagle Lake is proposing to remove 600 wild horses plus burros from the Twin Peaks HMA. They are claiming that there are currently 950 horses on the entire HMA.

A recent independent aerial survey estimated that there are less than 400 wild horses remaining here. BLM so far, has stated that the proposal will be in “full force in effect” once it is signed, without public knowledge or input.

A copy of the independent population survey is attached with a link to the supporting pictures.

Less than half of Twin Peaks HMA burned. There are over 400,000 acres of unburned range and the burn areas are patchy and still have some forage available for the wild horses and burros. The BLM has failed to consider alternatives like protective fencing or some relocation to the unburned areas. This plan signals the end of California’s last viable herd.

We need EVERYONE to Call and E-Mail Dean Bolstad IMMEDIATELY and ask him to reject the proposal.

His phone number is 775-861-6611 and his e-mail is      dean_bolstad@blm.gov

Sample E-mail Below

Dean Bolstad   dean_bolstad@blm.gov 

cc: Ken Collum (Eagle Lake field manager)  kcollum@blm.gov

cc: Dereck Wilson (Eagle Lake BLM)  dereck_wilson@blm.gov

I am writing to ask that you do not sign a decision to remove horses from Twin Peaks until you seriously consider alternatives. The proposal would reduce the herd numbers to well below low AML and threaten the continued health and existence of this herd. There is abundant forage in the burned area and there is the ample opportunity to protect the range through the preferred methods of protective fencing and/or minimal relocation of animals.

I am requesting that BLM reject this proposal – as the continued existence of this herd may hang in the balance. This plan has not fully considered the alternatives and has not substantiated that this is an emergency situation. Signing a decision to remove wild horses will be met with significant public opposition. Please assure me that the BLM is not going to proceed with this action without even giving the public notice and the opportunity to comment on such a proposal.

Sincerely,

Supporting Information

Twin Peaks HMA Aerial Population Survey Attached PDF

Link to 144 aerial photos from an independent population survey which estimated that less than 400 wild horses and a small population of burros are currently living in the Twin Peaks HMA.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/89702311@N03/

 

 

RT Fitch: Salt Lake City conference on wild horses

Join us this evening, October 31st, 2012, at 7:00 CST!

Madeleine Pickens’ Eco-RESORT?

Debbie Coffey     (c) Copyright 2012  All Rights Reserved

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When you read Madeleine Pickens letter to friends and supporters yesterday (9/11/2012), did any of you catch the fact that she called her planned Mustang Monument a “Wild Horse Eco-resort?”  So when did this plan go from being a wild horse eco-sanctuary to an eco-resort?

(Not to even mention that the word “monument” can mean something erected as a memorial or as a marker at a grave or tombstone.)

Mrs. Pickens’ explains that her eco-resort plan will supposedly reduce the numbers of wild horses held in short term holding pens.  Let’s do the math.  If you take 900 horses out of short term holding to put in this eco-resort, but then you round up all of the horses off of the 3 HMAs, and they are then sent to short term holding, then haven’t you just added about the same amount of horses TO short term holding as you took out?  Maybe you’ve even added more.

Mrs. Pickens wants us to believe this eco-resort “serves the greater good for our wild horses.”  Let’s see, they’ve all had their “nuts” chopped off and will live with the same sex for the rest of their lives, without any children around them.   Is this good?  It’s certainly not natural.

RT Fitch: Straight From the Horse’s Heart goes to D.C.

Join us Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 7:00 CST!

TS Radio: Wyoming activists filing IBLA vs. BLM

Join us Monday, August 13th, 2012 at 7:00 CST!