Debbie Coffey Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved
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A current Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wild horse “eco-sanctuary” proposal by T. Boone Pickens’ wife, Madeleine Pickens (Saving America’s Mustangs) is for a NON-REPRODUCING herd, so HOW, exactly, is this supposed to save America’s mustangs?
It’s important to take a close look at what the BLM is doing with this plan (and with other eco-sanctuary plans), which also seems to be a new way to package the closing off of public lands to the public. 
Where you could once get out of your car and walk on public land, will you now be fenced out of/off of any public lands? Where you could once drive your car on public roads, will the “eco-tours” on the eco-sanctuary put you on buses or on wagons (like the BLM “tours” of the Indian Lakes Rd. short term holding facility in Fallon, NV)?
Will you now have to pay (either by fee or tax dollars) to see something you could see for free in the past? Where you could once camp on public lands, will you now have to pay for accommodations at an eco-sanctuary? Where you could once travel at any time of the day, will you now only be allowed to “visit” during certain hours?
Three Nevada wild horse Herd Management Areas (HMAs) are to be included as part of the “Northeast Nevada” (Saving America’s Mustangs) eco-sanctuary: the Spruce-Pequop HMA, the Goshute HMA and the Antelope Valley HMA.
Saving America’s Mustangs will be using the Spruce Allotment, and grazing horses instead of cattle. How will the wild horses on the HMA be kept separate from the horses on the eco-sanctuary? It seems that there will need to be a lot of interior fences on public lands.
Removing protected wild horses
The BLM is removing wild horses from their federally protected wild horse Herd Management Areas while they over designate many other “uses.” So much so, that it looks likes the wild horse Herd Management Areas are for everything BUT the wild horses. For example, in a land use map of the Spruce-Pequop HMA, the HMA seems to contain Department of Defense and National Antelope Refuge (NAR) areas and many uses other than the wild horses.
It’s important to note these maps show land “use” designations like E-4 Use Area, C-1 Use Area, D-2 Use Area, etc. These designations don’t seem to be listed in the BLM Land Use Planning Handbook (
H-1601-1). So where can we find out what these designations mean? More importantly, what inventory system is our public lands a part of?
The Saving America’s Mustangs eco-sanctuary will use about 14,000 acres of private land, and 508,000 acres of public land. The BLM has plans of “restructuring” the three HMA boundaries and “revising management objectives.”
The BLM hasn’t yet given the public any details of how it plans to “restructure” the three HMAs. A crucial part of this eco-sanctuary plan has been glossed over.
The Wild Free Roaming Horses & Burros Act of 1971, even with revisions that watered it down, states under “Limitation of Authority,” “Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize the Secretary to relocate wild free roaming horses or burros to areas of public lands where they do not presently exist.“
Now look at the map of the proposed eco-sanctuary: There seems to be public lands in this plan that aren’t part of the HMAs.
Has Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, exceeded his authority?
Wild horses, by law, are “to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands,” so how can the BLM possibly claim they’re “maintaining a natural thriving ecological balance” when they zero out HMAs (remove all of the wild horses and burros) or remove so many wild horses and burros that they risk the variability and viability of the herds?
And then there’s the very questionable issue of the BLM actually putting wild horses and burros on private property, knowing that the law states that wild free roaming horses and burros lose their status as wild free roaming horses and burros when they are transferred to private maintenance and are then no longer protected under the Wild Free Roaming Horses & Burros Act of 1971.
In the Saving America’s Mustang eco-sanctuary proposal, the BLM states “Those areas of the HMA that aren’t part of the eco-sanctuary will be evaluated to determine their ability to sustain a viable horse population with reduced acreage and water resources.”
Let’s cut to the chase.
There will only be about 7% left of the Spruce-Pequop HMA, for example, so the BLM will probably conclude that this newly reduced area of the HMA won’t sustain a viable, healthy herd, and will then use the excuse of not enough land/forage/water to roundup the remaining wild horses. Will those wild horses then be sent to another eco-sanctuary or to long-term holding in another state?
While I commend Madeleine Pickens for saving hundreds of horses from going to slaughter and nothing in this article is meant to question what seems to be her good and generous intentions, the public needs to play the devil’s advocate with the BLM and consider all aspects of this plan.
Saving America’s Mustangs has 66 water rights in 5 Basins, many on the HMAs. What if the eco-sanctuary isn’t approved? Saving America’s Mustangs will still have all those water rights in and near the 3 HMAs. Will Saving America’s Mustangs then apply for a change of use for all of the water permits?
Of course, the elephant in the room is that T. Boone Pickens (Mesa Water) is on the Advisory Board of Saving America’s Mustangs. This could make you wonder if he’ll ever give advice about the water rights at any point in time. Just last year in Texas, Mesa Water was in a legal
fight with the Texas Water Development Board over underground water goals. Also, the executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality dismissed Mesa Water’s request for an inquiry and to possibly dissolve local water conservation districts, dismiss their boards or force them to change their goals.
If the eco-sanctuary is approved, what happens in 20-30 years when all of the horses in the non-reproducing herd have died? Will we even have any wild horses left on public lands in another 20-30 years to put on this eco-sanctuary? Where will those horses be removed from? Will the BLM put another non-reproducing herd on this eco-sanctuary? Where is all of this heading? The BLM plans more eco-sanctuaries, so the Saving America’s Mustangs plan seems to be setting the stage for more to come.
The BLM had several “open houses” about this eco-sanctuary plan, to offer brochures and show maps to the public, but the BLM has not had a formal public meeting to listen to public comments. In a formal public meeting, statements are on the record, and there are minutes for the public to read (even if it takes the BLM many months to type up and post them). It seems as if this eco-sanctuary is already a done deal, and that the BLM is only feigning interest in public comment.
Did any of the maps the BLM showed at the open houses show the two new mining projects that are just 10-15 miles north of the eastern part of the Spruce-Pequop HMA: the West Pequop Exploration Project and the Long Canyon Mine? These will likely use millions of gallons of water from the aquifer in coming years.
What about the money? On the Saving America’s Mustangs website, it states: “the foundation still needs money to manage the ranch, the farm, repair the fences, install new irrigation, rebuild homes for the help, and care for the horses.” It also states “The Foundation provides the government with: (1) abundant long term capacity for horses at about the same cost, $500 per year per horse, as its current long term holding facilities…”
BLM’s non-reproducing herds idea is a plan for extinction.
At the National Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board meeting, it seems that Dean Bolstad, Deputy Division Chief of the Wild Horse & Burro Program, announced that both the Saving America’s Mustangs and the Wyoming eco-sanctuaries would contain non-reproducing herds. Zachary Reichold (BLM) told a wild horse advocate that the idea for non-reproducing herds originated with himself and Dean Bolstad. Do these two BLM employees who arbitrarily made this decision have more power than you, the American public?
You can, and should, send your written comments regarding the eco-sanctuary plan, by September 19, 2012, to the project e-mail address:
EcoSanctuaryComments@blm.gov or to the
BLM Elko District Office,
Wells Field Office,
3900 E. Idaho Street,
Elko, NV 89801,
Attn: Wild Horse Eco-Sanctuary, or fax at (775) 753-0385.
You also pay the salaries of and can send comments to Dean Bolstad at
dbolstad@blm.gov, to Amy Lueders, BLM Nevada State Director at alueders@blm.gov, and to Ken Miller, the BLM Elko District Manager, at kmiller@blm.gov. You can read all of the information about the eco-sanctuary here:
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/elko_field_office/blm_information/nepa/nenvwh_ecosanctuary.html
This eco-sanctuary plan is not only about the wild horses, it’s about our public lands. The BLM wild horse eco-sanctuary plan is a “public – private partnership” that seems like it will ultimately close off public lands to the public and one way or another, make you pay for what you once had for free.
SOURCES:
The Wild Free Roaming Horses & Burros Act of 1971:
BLM info for the eco-sanctuary:
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/elko_field_office/blm_information/nepa/nenvwh_ecosanctuary.html
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/elko_field_office/blm_information/nepa/pequop_exploration.html
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/elko_field_office/blm_information/nepa/long_canyon_eis__7.html
https://www.savingamericasmustangs.org/index.php/info/horse_sanctuary/
http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2011-01-06/mesa-requests-new-trial
http://www.savingamericasmustangs.org/
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/august/elko__blm_begins_process.html
BLM Land Use Planning handbook:
Sep 20, 2012 @ 08:03:26
Sep 11, 2012 @ 10:59:28
Sep 08, 2012 @ 17:30:47
Thank you for addressing this issue Debbie. The questions about water rights are indeed valid. You also brought up the question I have had. What happens when the non-reproducing, unnatural Kodak-moment horses all die? Will BLM continue to collect specimens off the range to keep the eco-sanctuaries up and running? Why doesn’t Madeleine rescue the mustangs that are found individually on feed lots? People that I know have asked her this point blank as there are indeed many BLM branded mustangs that show up on feedlots. She wasn’t interested in hearing about it. I know she helped out with a mass rescue not long ago but there are still mustangs going to slaughter all the time. Why don’t they get a chance at life? She wouldn’t even have to ask BLM for these horses, they are right there waiting to be saved.
Sep 07, 2012 @ 22:18:03
http://elkodaily.com/lifestyles/nature-notes-juggling-horses-for-the-eco-sanctuary/article_a533bf68-f904-11e1-bf23-001a4bcf887a.html?comment_form=true
Read this please. IMO this plan is terribly flawed. How can the BLM turn parts of HMA’s into a so-called eco-sanctuary ?
Sep 06, 2012 @ 22:29:49
Lisa Griffith, how would you know details about plans that “AREN’T AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC” or if they are or “AREN’T COMPLETELY FORMULATED” yet? Who are you working for?
I used T. Boone Pickens name in the title because a lot of people have concerns about Mr. Pickens and water rights, and it was an issue I brought up in the article. And of course this article is about the PLAN. Debbie
Sep 06, 2012 @ 21:55:45
Debbie, the headline of the blog post refers to Pickens and is a play on her name as well, so how could one not suppose this blog entry was aimed at her plan?
Also, it’s interesting that you note this:
” There seems to be public lands in this plan that aren’t part of the HMAs.” If so, no wonder some of the ranchers oppose it. However, if the BLM is already putting horses on Non HMA lands (ie. LTH) I wonder if anyone has used that action by the BLM to counter their excuse for gathers of horses that have wandered outside HMA borders?
Seems as though the BLM thinks they can put wild horses anywhere they want. Certainly that has to work both ways.
And BTW, as sanctuary horses die, the BLM should replenish with three strikers on their way to LTH but the details of the plan have not been made public and/or they are not completely formulated.
In the meantime, the Wyoming sanctuary that was fast-tracked has been approved.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 21:41:24
Glad you chose to write about this, Deb. Look at all the unanswered questions! BLM Policies need public input and influence. When is that gonna happen, BLM? We will have our say before you can remove all the wild ones. These plans do not meet with public approval. Maybe Madeleine should have her way but it is not the Saving of America’s Mustangs by a long shot.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 20:33:20
Debbie, as always, your research is impeccable and your questions are valid. I too, commend Madeleine for trying to save our wrongfully captured Wild Horses from slaughter. I have also wondered about the capture Wild Burros. What happens to them? They are being wiped out of their Legal Herd Managements Areas as we speak.
For me, these paragraphs mirror my thoughts and concerns. You didn’t question Madeleine’s intentions or integrity…she isn’t on trial. You questioned the plan and its merits, as we all should. There’s too much at stake and we’re at the 11th hour:
“While I commend Madeleine Pickens for saving hundreds of horses from going to slaughter and nothing in this article is meant to question what seems to be her good and generous intentions, the public needs to play the devil’s advocate with the BLM and consider all aspects of this plan.
There will only be about 7% left of the Spruce-Pequop HMA, for example, so the BLM will probably conclude that this newly reduced area of the HMA won’t sustain a viable, healthy herd, and will then use the excuse of not enough land/forage/water to roundup the remaining wild horses. Will those wild horses then be sent to another eco-sanctuary or to long-term holding in another state?
If the eco-sanctuary is approved, what happens in 20-30 years when all of the horses in the non-reproducing herd have died? Will we even have any wild horses left on public lands in another 20-30 years to put on this eco-sanctuary? Where will those horses be removed from? Will the BLM put another non-reproducing herd on this eco-sanctuary? Where is all of this heading?”
Sep 06, 2012 @ 18:19:18
Why should the public support replacing a dynamic Herd Management Area (HMA) with a sanctuary that is really an interactive long-term holding with sterile mustangs? Sterile wild horses do not demonstrate wild horse behavior so there is not much to learn about except for the history of wild horses. We want America’s wild horses to live in freedom on the range. AML is out of date, favors livestock use and is simply too low already–lowering it further goes against the intention of the Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act. Sanctuaries should not be an excuse to take away wild horses’ freedom and right to land. Create a sanctuary that helps at risk wild horses not one that takes away what little they have today.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 17:58:34
Lisa Griffith, I’m not “confused” about the eco-sanctuary plans. This article was to put some issues on the table surrounding these HMAs, that will most likely have wild horses taken off of them for all time. and issues surrounding the eco-sanctuaires and public land use. I didn’t “overlook” anything about Madeleine Pickens, since this is not an article about her. Debbie Coffey
Sep 06, 2012 @ 16:30:56
I have writings of mine from 6, 8, 10, and even 12 years ago trying to rally EVERYONE that likes to recreate on our public land to do something SOON because the master plan by the factions who seek to control OUR public land is to fence it off! Then we will either be cited and/or arrested for tresspassing, or we will have to pay a usage fee to go on OUR public land.
It has seemed to fall on deaf ears for the past many years, even when speaking with other advocates who have had the rudeness to “pooh pooh” the whole “silly notion” that our public land could possibly be fenced off and we wouldn’t be able to use it for anything unless given permission and paying to use it…..yes, we have obnoxious idiots in our movement that refuse to see beyond the end of their noses. I’ve pointed out time and time again that the ONLY things standing between us and our continued ability to use and recreate on our public land are the wild horses and burros…….with the other animals that are on the public land, the ranchers do this thing every year that they call “sanitizing” in which they go out and systematically kill through shooting, poisoning, burning, etc, every living, breathing animal that is either a predator to their cattle, or that eats the forage that the cattle eat and use the water sources too….the ONLY reason they don’t do that to the wild horses and burros is because it is still against Federal and State laws….otherwise, the ranchers would be out in force shooting every wild horse or burro they saw and/or roping them and hauling them off to the kill sale or directly to the slaughterhouses as they used to do in days of old before the protection act went into affect.
The reason they are also ramping up the captures is for the same reason they did in the late-’60′s; they see the writing on the wall that the “uninformed, naive general public” is becoming a bit more educated regarding what is going on and the factions evil plan may get stopped dead in its tracks, so they are doing as much damage as they can while they still can.
It’s for this reason that many of us fighting this fight are NOT on-board with Madeline Pickens sanctuary for MOST of the wild horses and burros and demand that they be managed primarily in the wild as per Federal LAW. To some of us, Madeline Pickens sanctuary serves the purpose of sparking people’s interest in the issue and plight of the wild horses and burros by having a destination people can go to see them….however, the horses and burros at her sanctuary should be the horses and burros that are “failure to thrive” horses and burros, those who are perhaps getting older and not doing so well on the range, the horses that might have disabilities that keep them from thriving in the wild, perhaps those horses that will go into a “gentling” program and be offered for adoption after some training, etc.
So yes, this is a long term plan by the factions who want the public land and will still expect that we, the tax paying public, will still be forced through subsidies to pay for them to run their private businesses with our hard earned dollars.
It is a racket, plain and simple, and it will serve to keep EVERYONE, be it campers, hikers, horse back riders, motorcyclists and 4-wheel riders, etc, EVERYONE will be kept off the public land and cited and/or arressted if we trespass on our own land, or will be forced to pay a fee to be on OUR land…….understand people that without the protected wild horses and burros on our public land as per Federal law and PROTECTED from being murdered by these factions, and also that because of the wording in the Federal Law that the wild horses MUST be allowed to ROAM and they couldn’t do that if fences were run everywhere as the factions want to do to totally CONTROL our PUBLIC land this take-over would have been all over many years ago…..the time is NOW to band together with everyone from the public sector who uses the public land to recreate on and/or anyone who is demanding that the factions and the BLM leave OUR wild horses and burros ALONE….if we “band” together like a band of wild horses, we CAN still STOP this take over of OUR public land and PROTECT OUR wild horses and burros from the eradication the greedy factions are attempting to complete with the use of the slaves that we the tax paying public are forced to pay for, and those slaves are called the BLM!
Sep 06, 2012 @ 13:49:53
Thanks, Barbara! And grandma Gregg, yes, the BLM plans to “restructure” all 3 HMAs that are part of this eco-sanctuary plan.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 13:48:27
Thanks, Barbara! And yes, Grandma Gregg, the BLM plans to “restructure” ALL of the 3 HMAs that are part of this deal.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 13:33:32
You might be overlooking the fact that Ms. Pickens has been on record as opposing the roundups, the brutality and the overall bias and activities of the BLM regarding wild horses. She has always criticized the BLM’s LTH plan where the horses are removed from their ranges and shipped across the country to be kept by unknown ranchers out-of-sight of the public. She confronted Lummis in a budge meeting over a year ago when she lobbied to reduce the roundups and she has been active on the anti-slaughter side as well.
And you might be confused about the eco-sanctuary proposals, which were meant to address advocate concerns about the horses being hidden out of sight in LTH pastures in the mid-west. And yes, I fully expect the BLM to use this to benefit themselves and their rancher buddies though I’m not sure how they will do it.
As for Pickens while she is only being allotted 900 horses, I know those few, once the BLM has made her sanctuary wait through another two yeas of obstacles in their “approval” process will be much safer with her than on the ranches of the mid-west where the BLM allows their “dog and pony” viewing show only once a year.
If I comment to the BLM at all, it will say something like why did you fast track and approve the sanctuary in Wyoming and not the Pickens’ plan? Its clear that the BLM doesn’t want to give her one single horse, probably out of spite, and that is enough of a reason for me to support SAM.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 12:47:44
Yes, the restructuring really means reducing those 3 HMA’s and probably zeroing out the few remaining wild horses.
Sep 06, 2012 @ 11:24:20
Sep 06, 2012 @ 09:42:30
Thanks, Debbie, for this in depth and informative article.
I don’t see how these so-called eco-sancturaries can be called that anyway when the wild horses won’t be able to naturally reproduce .
Sep 06, 2012 @ 02:10:51
Thank you again, Ms. Coffey for your research and insight into another “steal the public blind” proposal by the Bureau of Land Management. I agree with you and also commend Madeleine Pickens for saving hundreds of horses that would now be on someone’s dinner plate if she had not stepped in to help but regardless … that does NOT give the BLM any right to blackmail the wild horse loving and public land loving Americans by trying to remove true and legal Wild Horse and Burro Herd Management land in trade for Mrs. Pickens being allowed to graze her horses on public land. It is the same thing as livestock grazing by allotment permitees – only horses are far less damaging to the land and water and forage than grazing cattle and sheep. If she has a right to graze her horses on public land (and I believe she does) then fine – let her do it but NOT at the expense of the Wild Horses or their legal land.
Actually Ms. Coffey, I believe the BLM proposal is even worse than what you say. Correct me if I am wrong, but per the BLM proposal and map, it is not only ONE Wild Horse herd management area in jeopardy – it is THREE. I quote from the BLM proposal: “The proposal would result in the adjustment and/or modification of portions of the existing Spruce-Pequop, Goshute, and Antelope Valley HMAs to create a new modified herd management area to be managed as an eco-sanctuary. Those areas of the HMAs that are not within the proposed Eco-Sanctuary would be evaluated to determine their ability to sustain a viable horse population with reduced acreage and water resources.”
So this would include the Spruce-Pequop and the Goshute and the Antelope Valley herd management areas. So does that mean that all three HMAs will be “restructured” by the BLM? It sounds like it to me and I do NOT like the sound of that at all. The BLM agency has a very long and loud history of “restructuring” our public land and NONE of it has been in favor of the Wild Horses and Burros OR the American public OR the land itself!