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?
Madeleine Pickens was recently in China pushing her “eco-resort.” Then, Madeleine sent out an e-mail to supporters announcing that Mustang Monument will be on the cover of “Luxury Hotels of America” magazine.
When I recently saw that Madeleine was going to be on the radio show “Nevada Matters” on Renegade Radio, I called in with a few concerns. Unfortunately, much of what I said was (heavily) edited out of the archived version. http://vimeo.com/59761000]
At about 14:43 minutes into the archived radio show (link below), I called in. As I recall, it seemed that Madeleine mentioned how much money long term holding pastures received, that Saving America’s Mustangs would get $450 per horse, and that she wasn’t making money. I pointed out that she would be making a lot of money on the eco-resort. Anyhow, Madeleine stated “I’m not making money.”
To explain her eco-resort plans in more detail here, there will be 50 teepees (Madeleine calls them tipis). The Luxury Tipis go for $1,200 a night and the Luxury Safari Tents go for $1,500 a night. The rooms have 24 hour butler service.
Madeleine is banking on (and, will be cashing in on), the wild horses. After all, this isn’t called the Tipi Monument.
What’s really funny is that on page 2 of the BLM Scoping Brief, it was described that this eco-sanctuary would have “rustic accommodations similar to historic Native American dwellings…”
Does the interior of one of Madeleine’s tipis seem similar to this teepee to you? 
Back to the radio show, when I mentioned my concerns about fencing off public lands, Madeleine said “nothing changes as far as the fencing.” But, on page 3 of BLM’s Public Scoping Brief for the Eco-Sanctuary, under “Fencing,” it states:
“…it has been proposed to fence all portions of the boundary that are currently unfenced, depending on the route selected for the fencing, approximately 53 to 72 miles of new fence would be required.” (emphasis mine)
That sounds like a change to me. Fencing will be added. The entire eco-sanctuary boundary will be fenced. And unless you walk around with a pair of wire cutters or a saw in your pocket, the BLM will be fencing off public lands.
Also, on page 3-6 of BLM’s Resource Management Plan Amendment and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)public comments about fencing included concerns that the fencing would prevent wild horses from accessing water, fragment existing HMAs and create unnatural conditions for a wild horse population living within the proposed Eco-Sanctuary.
(Maybe Madeleine was too busy figuring out which “high-end toiletries” to provide in the tipis, and didn’t read about fencing in the Scoping Brief or the EIS.)
It seemed to me that Madeleine may have been making a distinction between her plans and the BLM’s plans. For instance, in what seemed to be a response to my concerns about geldings (a non-reproducing herd) on the eco-sanctuary, she said “we don’t have anything to do with that thought process” and “that’s not our thought process.”
It may not be her “thought process,” but a non-reproducing herd is what the BLM is planning to put on this eco-sanctuary, and what will be happening.
Here’s my thought process: What will happen in 20-30 years when these non-reproducing geldings die and the wild horses in BLM’s Short and Long Term Holding facilities have died, and there are no more wild horses on public lands? The Mustang Monument will then truly be a “monument.”
What will happen after Madeleine dies? Will the public be allowed to read the trust or business document that deals with the future of this eco-sanctuary?
What will happen with Saving America’s Mustangs 66 water rights in 5 basins? In the future, will someone file an application to change the “use,” and will this water then go for industrial use?
In my opinion, it seemed as if Madeleine may have tried to portray people (and possibly, me in particular) who have concerns about the eco-sanctuary plan, as “agitators.” That is why, after the commercial break, I brought up a bit about what I’ve done.
After I mentioned her/Saving America’s Mustangs’ 66 water rights in 5 basins, Madeleine said “It sounds to me like you have more sympathy towards ranchers.” But then, soon after, Madeleine stated “I’m a rancher, too.”
Madeleine also said “I think it’s rather odd that you don’t see the good side to this.”
Apparently, she missed my whole point that family bands of wild horses (stallions, mares and foals) will be taken off of their federally protected Herd Management Areas. She’ll get geldings out of short term holding, but then the BLM will roundup wild horse family bands and send them to short term holding. (That’s why I called it a shell game.)
Meanwhile, the BLM is planning the sale/lease of about 6,397 acres of land for oil and gas drilling only about 20 miles from her ranch and luxury tipis, and inside of the Eco-Sanctuary boundary. (It’ll be interesting to see who snatches up those parcels, if nobody protests them.)
BLM’s plans for other Eco-Sanctuaries, takes wild horses out of holding facilities, but may put them mostly on private property, where the public will have to pay to stay or likely make an appointment to tour, to see the wild horses that they could once see for free on public lands. The BLM, once again, puts lipstick on a pig.
Whatever the BLM plans, it does NOT benefit the wild horses, does not maintain a “thriving ecological balance,” and it is just another whitewash leading to the extinction of our wild horses.
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Sources:
The heavily edited Nevada Matters radio show on Renegade Radio: https://vimeo.com/59761000
The BLM Northern Nevada Wild Horse Eco-Sanctuary Resource Management Plan Amendment and Environmental Impact Statement (December 2012): http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/nv/field_offices/elko_field_office/information/nepa/eiss/archives/nenvwh_ecosanctuary.Par.18186.File.dat/WildHorse_ScopRpt_FINAL_508_reduced.pdf
The BLM Scoping Brief: http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/nv/field_offices/elko_field_office/information/nepa/eiss/archives/nenvwh_ecosanctuary.Par.21472.File.dat/EcoSanctuaryScopingBrief.pdf
Map of the eco-sanctuary project showing the Herd Management Areas: http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/nv/field_offices/elko_field_office/information/nepa/eiss/archives/nenvwh_ecosanctuary.Par.23699.File.dat/spruce_2%20%282%29.pdf
www.mustangmonument.com
http://mustangmonument.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/MM_RateCard-1.pdf
http://mustangmonument.com/stay/
https://www.savingamericasmustangs.org/index.php/info/mustang_monument/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tipi_Inside.png
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/prog/minerals/leasable_minerals/oil___gas/oil_and_gas_leasing.html
Mar 22, 2013 @ 09:58:44
Feb 26, 2013 @ 19:22:57
THE STALLION AND THE FOAL
Do read the comments by Pam Nickoles, the photographer:
pnickoles
While photographing in the McCullough Peaks Wild Horse Management Area in April 2008, we came upon one of the most unusual and dramatic situations I’ve seen since I began documenting the wild horses. My husband and I were told that there was possibly an abandoned foal in the company of a bachelor stallion known as “Chaco. Two of the more plausible reasons why this foal had been abandoned are that a visitor had gotten too close to a new mother who consequently abandoned the foal, or, that the mare foaled very close to the fence line (as seen in the photos) and the foal simply rolled under the fence where the mare was unable to reach it.
In any case, Chaco became this foal’s guardian and he took this responsibility very seriously as evidenced when another bachelor stallion, “Chiricahua” came to investigate the pale Palomino-colored youngster. The images depict the longest and most fierce stallion battle I have ever witnessed. Were we about to watch this little foal get caught up in and probably trampled during this stallion confrontation? That was not an image I wanted to capture. (Maybe Chiricahua simply wanted the baby as a prize, like a mare. I don’t know that his intentions were to actually hurt the foal, but he certainly gave his all vying for possession). As night fell, we knew we had to leave, but I was sick about it as I felt sure there would be no happy ending for this little baby.
When we returned to the HMA (Herd Management Area) in the morning with Tricia, the Wild Horse Specialist from the Cody BLM, we expected to find that the pretty little foal had not made it through the night (since no mare was nursing this baby). To our amazement, the foal was up and walking and still being tended to by Chaco. As we watched from a distance, Chaco coaxed the little foal until she was finally through a gate. I was told later that Chaco guided that foal all the way down a hill to its mother, Sierra – a mare in Olathe’s band. Thanks to Chaco’s efforts, the mare and baby (a filly named Little Medicine) are still together and doing well. It’s hard to guess why Chaco stayed with the little filly – stallions have been known to kill foals that are not their own or that appear to be sickly and/or crippled (as shown in Ginger Kathrens’ documentary, “Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies”).
Obviously, they can be very compassionate too.
Note: I have a long lens, the images have been cropped and, as always, my husband was spotting for me. Please do not get too close to wild horses. During foaling season from March – mid July, it is imperative to keep your distance or a mare may abandon her foal. Please do not interfere or attempt to rescue a wild foal.
Feb 26, 2013 @ 19:14:11
I have read and re-read the EIS for the Eco-sanctuary and the same concerns keeps dogging me.
First… three existing HMAs would be restructured and modified (page 2) in order to create this sanctuary. That makes me nervous. We can’t afford to let them lose any more land. Enough has been taken from them already.
The other thing that is VERY troublesome is the fact that Herds would be non-reproducing. The genetic viability is already threatened. The taxpaying Public needs to see FAMILY BANDS, IN THE WILD. How many have EVER gotten to actually see how Horses, in their natual element interact with each other….the Stallion, the Mares, the Foals. THAT’S what MUST be protected and preserved….WILD HORSE BAND BEHAVIOR.
Feb 26, 2013 @ 15:47:20
I live in this area, and I have to laugh every time I drive by those TeePees…talk about a eye sore, really, driving down highway 89 and boom, cartoon TeePees.. Really MP. What were u thinking….
Who is BLM betting on :Fitch vs Pickens? | Wind Wild Horse
Feb 26, 2013 @ 15:03:53
Feb 26, 2013 @ 12:46:25
Feb 26, 2013 @ 04:47:52
To PPJ comment, I wish to say that yours is the best possible comment and may I add that it is also true when discussing any long or short term BLM facilities. “We already had eco-sanctuaries ……we called them herd management areas.”
Legally designated land for our wild horses and burros. OUR land and OUR wild horses and burros where Congress said they were to live without harassment.
Feb 26, 2013 @ 03:12:46
My husband and I have been saying this for 20 years, and since we live in Northern Nevada surrounded by BLM and State land, we have some experience with what is happening: it IS all about FENCES and CONTROL of the non-privately-owned land, but since the wild horses and burros are supposed to be FREE ROAMING as per federal law, the factions that want to completely take over our public land/Open Range cannot do to the wild horses and burros what they do to any other animal that is either a predator to their cattle or sheep, or competes for the forage and water that the cattle and sheep eat and drink, or encroaches on mining operations, or is in the “bomb and testing zone” for the military, or is residing where developers want to develop property, or ??????, and that is “sanitize” (KILL) them through shooting, poisoning, burning, etc. So until they can get all protections removed for the wild horses and burros and will just outright kill them where they stand and/or will capture them and send them straight to slaughter, (and the plan is to send all the horses in long term holding facilities and long term holding pastures to slaughter….everyone watch and listen closely….it will be said by the BLM at some point that “taxpayers, it’s costing YOU so much money to pay for all these wild horses in long term holding –called “warehousing”– and we understand you’re struggling financially to make ends meet and can’t afford to feed these horses and your family too, so we think these horses need to be “euthanized” –and since their version of euthanizing is slaughter and/or shooting, some of us will know that it is not humane, but most of the public will think its humane and will go along with it), they have the BLM doing their dirty work and either capturing them, fencing them out of water sources so they die of thirst, putting up fences that they know will trap horses like they are doing now during wild fires, the horses will get hung up in fences that they will die slow, horrible deaths caught in wire and then probably attacked by what few predators are still out in the wild, etc.
We have seen more and more fences go up here in Northern Nevada, with not a ranch gate or an access point without chain and padlock in sight to make it user friendly for the public to recreate on public land—-the intent is clear, and if you do find a gate and go through closing it behind you, we still take the chance we will be aggressively approached by ranchers, authorities, sheriff’s, etc, telling us we’re on private property when we know we are NOT (and they get an ear-full from this mouthy b*tch if they try to intimidate me and usually drive away pretty disgruntled that they didn’t intimidate me one bit); these factions want nothing or no one on what they feel is “their property” to do with as they please but at the expense of the American taxpayers to have to keep paying subsidies for these ass-wipes to run their private businesses that would FAIL if not for us being forced to pay for them to run their PRIVATE BUSINESSES.
And recently we have all found out that the horses at Madeline Pickens sanctuary (ZOO) will be non-reproducing herds of geldings whom she will be paid per head to take care of…..my husband and I were only on-board with her sanctuary-ZOO to the extent that it might be a good home for horses that were unthrifty for whatever reason, old, had disabilities, etc, and also perhaps a place to run a successful adoption program from instead of the dismal failure it is now, however, we’ve NEVER been on-board with having our wild horses and burros managed anywhere except for primarily in the wild on public land as mandated by FEDERAL LAW.
Laura Bell/The Starlight Sanctuary on Facebook
Feb 26, 2013 @ 00:20:51
This is such an obvious plan Pickens has put together…..apparently thinking that no one out here would be smart enough to realize what a scam it was. Clever of her to claim to want to protect the wild horses and then using them to create a s0-called eco-sanctuary. $$$$ We already had eco-sanctuaries……we called them herd management areas.
Feb 25, 2013 @ 21:39:13
Well said, Ms. Coffey! This proposal by Ms. Pickens in conjunction with BLM will ultimately remove MORE legally designated Wild Horse and Burro land from the animals that Congress set aside for them … it’s as simple as that … and thus illegal and downright wrong.
Just for my own curious mind, I recently did some basic figuring to get a general estimate of how many wild horses and burros COULD and SHOULD be on their Congressional designated land and here it is:
BLM has said that it can take as much as 240 acres per horse per year in parts of Nevada – so using that general number:
1971 WH&B acreage 53.8 mil total = 224.166 wild horses and burros
1971 WH&B acreage 42.4 mil BLM = 176,666 wild horses and burros
2013 WH&B acreage 31.6 mil total = 131,666 wild horses and burros
2013 WH&B acreage 26.9 mil BLM = 112,083 wild horses and burros
As of this time, the BLM and USFS have reduced the number of WH&B down to about 20,000 and they are still removing them. What does this tell us? Our government agencies (BLM & USFS) who are mandated to PROTECT the wild horses and burros are truly managing them to EXTINCTION.