July 18 Tuscarora update:
Craig Downer- Tuscarora photo June 2010
The death toll has risen to at least 14 horses as the roundup continues following the lifting of an injunction to stop the roundup. However, Federal Judge Hicks did rule that the BLM must open the public lands and allow observation of the roundup by plaintiff Laura Leigh and all others interested. Despite this court ruling the BLM initially denied members of the public access, would not disclose to Leigh where the trap site was located and continues to bar observation at the roundup trap site as it has been placed on private land within the horses’ range. The BLM stated in court that there were no cattle on the horses’ range when in fact there are and this has been documented, as well water in water holes and many fences. The horses are witihin ten miles of a river and the Cloud Foundation questions what is impeding their access to this perennial water source. You can read more in our frequent press releases – online here. The BLM has now opened the public lands of the Owyhee Complex herd management areas and Leigh and others observing are safe. Please disregard rumors that circulate in this heated time and understand that Leigh, The Cloud Foundation and others are doing all we can. Proceedings continue in court and you can check for frequent updates from the Straight from the Horse’s Heart blog. Thank you for your support during this time and help in preserving, protecting and celebrating all of our American wild horses and burros.
Action Alert- please help support “Herd-Watch” (public eyes for public horses) with your donations and support- click here to learn more and help. You can also learn more about signing up to be a part of Herd-Watch. Remember, your donations are 100% tax deductible and help keep gas in the tank.
The legal actions of Leigh are being supported by grassrootshorse.com
BLM is posting updates on the horses here as death toll continues to rise.
Please call Secretary Salazar and your Representative and Senators and demand that they stop the tax-payer funded disaster in Tuscarora before more mustangs are killed.
Phone: 202-208-3100 Fax: 202-208-6956 E-Mail: feedback@ios.doi.gov (send free online faxes via faxzero.com)
SIGN HERE TO STOP THE SUMMER ROUNDUPS
thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com 
July 18, 2010 at 5:25 pm |
these horses are dying and Calico horses continue to die; this is very sad and totally unnecessary.
July 18, 2010 at 9:01 pm |
This is so incredibly sad. It just makes me want to cry. Why are people doing this? Why are those cattle ranchers shutting the horses out from water? They can’t be this greedy…
Why was Laura refused entrance yesterday? Why did the Sheriff’s Dept not get the memo that said Laura was granted access????
Running horses in this hot weather. God, I can barely stand it and I’m just sitting still. Those poor horses are not only being run but their being stressed. I am so angry that Bob Abbey could lie to the judge and have no consequences.
July 18, 2010 at 10:09 pm |
One reason why people are not getting in to the capture site is- it is on private land. Since this is the case the local sheriff is not letting people in unless they have been given permission from the owner of the land.
Private land is not needed for the roundups. BLM does this to avoid the public. Again this is a deliberate action done to prevent our ability to observe the horses during the activity. This is a further violation of our 1st Amendment rights. mar
July 19, 2010 at 12:13 am |
just read update from mustang project about more horses were rounded up – so far 18 have died – and some horses had birth defects – sure dont understand that one but guess its possible – blm says there are no cattle in the area at this time – well why would water be closed off from horses
July 19, 2010 at 1:45 am |
Use the link provided to go to BLM’s update page, it seems they are sending ALL of the stallions to gunnison, utah, all the rest to PVC. 3 more dead today, 2 more babies.
July 19, 2010 at 11:18 am |
Doesn’t it make you wonder how many of these horses would’ve died if simply left alone in their HMA? Would this many have perished, with more expected to go downhill? Or would they have moved on to areas with more water sources?
I cringe every time I see that this in now an “emergency” operation. More like a “justification.”
Please note that there are no news stories about ranchers responding to this drought emergency situation, hauling their dehydrated cattle away from the HMA. If the situation were really, truly THAT BAD, that’s exactly what ranchers would be doing — or hauling in millions and millions of gallons of water — as the livestock are a financial investment to ranchers. You wouldn’t simply let the cows stand around and die of thirst.
If nothing else tells me that the emergency is fabricated, the fact that the ranchers haven’t moved their livestock and no one has reported seeing emergency water trucks going to the cattle is a clear indicator that this is just one more BLM smokescreen.
July 19, 2010 at 12:20 pm |
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July 19, 2010 at 2:51 pm |
Laura is going back to court today? The results should be very interesting—can’t wait to hear.
July 20, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Vicki Tobin just posted the documents from yesterday on the above article at R.T. Fitch. (court documents)
July 20, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Yes, thanks, I saw that she said she would post them after they were filed. Even if they rule on the motion for contempt fairly soon, it is essentially too late for the horses.
July 20, 2010 at 5:47 am |
found the following online – blm sold public land in may
Posted: 8:10 PM May 12, 2010
BLM Auctions 75 Geothermal Sites in Nevada
The federal Bureau of Land Management says it sold 75 parcels totaling a combined 332 square miles for geothermal development during a statewide lease sale in Reno.
Reporter: Associated Press
Email Address: news@kolotv.com
Story 2 Comments Font Size: RENO, Nev. (AP) – The federal Bureau of Land Management says it sold 75 parcels totaling a combined 332 square miles for geothermal development during a statewide lease sale in Reno.
Magma Energy of Reno placed the high bid of $640,000, or $1,000 per acre, for a Churchill County parcel during the Tuesday auction at the BLM Nevada state office.
The sale offered 114 parcels totaling more than 500 square miles. Most were in Nevada’s Esmeralda, Churchill, Pershing, Elko, Humboldt and Nye counties. Others were in Mineral, White Pine, Lander and Washoe counties.
Officials say 50 percent of revenues will be distributed to the state, 40 percent to a reclamation trust fund and 10 percent to the federal government.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
July 20, 2010 at 5:48 am |
didnt know blm could just go off and sale our public lands – elko nevada is mentioned as one of the sites sold
July 20, 2010 at 6:35 am |
If these lands were set aside by the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971, which I am not sure, but if so, what right does the BLM to sell lands entitled to mustangs for their preservation?
July 20, 2010 at 6:38 am |
Yesterday I filed a complaint against the BLM at the Inspector General’s website who was set up to oversee reform in the DOI during this Gulf Disaster… well let’s tell them about the corruption in the BLM.
http://www.doioig.gov/contact-us
July 20, 2010 at 11:20 am |
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July 20, 2010 at 1:57 pm |
A few months ago we watched the Appropriations meetings with Salazar when Landrieu engaged him on behalf of the wild horses and burros. . .remember, anyone?
During that meeting, I heard mention that the current Long Term Holding facilities were being incorrectly funded from an account set up by Kennedy. Here is a recent article about that fund: it is under intense scrutiny since the oil spill, as I anticipated (in my feeble 2-celled brain) that it would be:
Perhaps we are going to see a rapid implosion of BLM’s little WHB empire with the horses being the ones “caught in the middle” and the beaurocrats and Catoors the LAST ONES STANDING.
DEPRESSING THOUGHT!
July 21, 2010 at 3:38 am |
CLOUD FOUNDATION: “The horses are witihin ten miles of a river and the Cloud Foundation questions what is impeding their access to this perennial water source.”
According to “Interum Report of the Review Team Tuscarora Gather”, it is a pipeline. Page 6 of the report, they discuss herding the horses to the river: “Water is the limiting factor within the two pastures of the Owyhee HMA where wild horses are currently without water. The option of moving the horses by helicopter toward the river and them finding and using the pipeline crossing trail to access the river could place undue stress on the horses, with an uncertain probability that the horses would actually go to the river and drink. Once the horses reach the trail and due to the pressure from the move, those horses not familiar with the trail are very likely to turn back without attempting to go down the trail.
July 21, 2010 at 4:50 am |
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July 21, 2010 at 10:30 pm |
I spoke to Matt Dillon at the Pryor Mountain Range the other day. My assessment of the state of our nation in regards to the wild horse and burro population comes down to one simple concept, after having talked with him, and I would like to share that here.
But first, I want to say that I understand the extreme urgency of the situation, and that there is a problem of events happening without public consensus, in fact, with public outcry and rage. That the agency of BLM is regarded with an absolute hate and distrust by many, if not all, lower states advocates at this moment; and that in their opinion, they have work to do and no policy otherwise.
I see that the problems occur much faster than can be documented or contested, and seem covert. This looks like a case of cat and mouse, in one way. The more advocates chase the BLM in the lower states, the more the BLM will try to do its job without interference, trying to anticipate the moves of the advocates as they in turn attempt to do the same; and the two are chasing each other, more like the snake chasing its tail.
What I think needs to happen is a new Roam Act needs to be written. Has anyone done this?
If not:
Advocates would be wise now, I think, to put their heads together to write this. In Pryor there is much less trouble between the BLM and the caretakers of the range heard. That is for two reasons, in my opinion. One is the tradition, focus, and formality of an established range site. The time of the act dictated that range be set aside in Colorado and Montana/Wyoming to facilitate the Wild Horses. The simplicity and purity of the designated range, and the longstanding tradition, fosters this ease of relations between all parties and the public.
The problems come in the “lower” management areas, so I propose that the new Act doesn’t have any lower management areas. I propose that only range areas be designated, and also that the Wild Horse population be taken out of the adoption population using fertility control for one year only.
The second reason for ease of relations in Pryor, for instance, is the hope of fertility control as the only method. But in Pryor the problem comes down to the well meaning BLM officials who have difficulty obtaining license for PZP from HSUS, who is also confused about their task as provider of the method.
So, provisions need to be written into the new act to account for PZP distribution.
Mr. Dillon makes a wonderful point, that in managing the breeding of their herds using the less expensive one year PZP treatment, they allow the mare back into production, and offspring of a variety of genetic inheritance. They ease the commitment of the mare to only the one year.
I suggest that at least one range in each state be designated, if applicable, and designation is where the BLM knows who wants what land for what purpose right now and so must be consulted. Locking horns or otherwise destroying this relationship puts everyone further from resolution.
In Pryor, the BLM is looked upon relatively respectfully. This tells me we have regional-specific policy problem for the lower management areas.
Mr. Dillon says he would choose to do away with gathers of all kinds, and that with fertility control it is quite possible. In this case, the BLM is free to manage lands in areas where they need to focus their efforts, and would be largely released from the current heavy obligation to the Wild Horses, which is their goal.
We see a long history here. And we now have a very cramped state of affairs in our country. We would like to win our case by losing the biggest pushers of what we see are the problems, the Senators etc. We’d like to take our case all the way to the Supreme Court. That is where it should go! We must have something to offer as an alternative in hand during that process, though. For no one person can be hired or fired to solve this without an accurate, relevant, comprehensive, new Act.
It is worthwhile, simply to have peace between the citizens of this country and the government agencies.
While commercial ventures are able to thrive and strive ever forward, with advertising and marketing that adapts to an ever changing commerce, it is funny how government agencies continue to be caught in an eddy along with good, concerned citizens. Step back, offer an alternative. If we have our priorities straight– our desires on both of the sides– then a comprehensive plan shouldn’t be impossible to write- a win/win plan.
This plan must also take Indian Reservation horses into account. These tribes were not offered an alternative, and so have forgone their ancestral heritages to sell their Spirit Animals. We now allow this. We must offer them an alternative, and occupations in range management may be one good alternative.
We have a problem of over-stressed non-profit rescues. As long as there is a structure to maintain the status quo it can continue. With the Wild Horse situation resolved and the Wild Horse and Burro population in tact on ranges, efforts can go to curbing the ills of the transport and slaughter trades, where overpopulation is key.
What I am suggesting is that someone who can try to write the perfect solution. Then offer it to the appropriate officials.
July 22, 2010 at 12:14 am |
Just found this on the BLM’s facebook page:
“BLM Wild Horse & Burro Program The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) accepted an offer from the American Horse Protection Association (AHPA) to initiate a pilot Independent Designated Observer Program that involves observation and reporting on the care and handling of wild horses and burros during this summer… See More’s gather season. One of AHPA‘s missions is the protection and preservation of America’s wild horses and burros on US public rangelands. AHPA is responsible for selecting the team of independent credentialed professionals who are academia-based equine veterinarians or equine specialists, from among universities with established equine veterinary medicine or equine science programs, such as Michigan State University, University of Kentucky, University of Vermont, West Texas A&M, Rutgers University, and UC Davis, who will attend at least three of this summer’s major gathers. Two such observers were on site at the Tuscarora gather from July 18-20.”
A poster on an I-Team Ch. 8 news article said that the executive director is Robin Lohnes of the BLM’s Advisory Board. I couldn’t find that yet, but I agree with the poster’s comment: “how is this an independent, non-bias observer?”!
They’re up to something…again.
I’ve posted this on RT’s site, too.
July 25, 2010 at 10:29 am |
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August 4, 2010 at 10:16 pm |
Maps, maps, and more links and more maps (Nevada wildlife +)
http://ndow.org/hunt/maps/index.shtm