I am at the viewing site for the Red Desert roundup – it will be the last day for this area in Antelope Hills. It is a balmy 31 degrees this morning. Yesterday they captured 107 wild horses and I thought they were done here. They only plan to leave 60 horses in this HMA of 159,000 acres. They will release 25 horses.
I saw a colorful family run on top of the hill near the trap. They came down followed by a group of four black horses who waited on the hill while the helicopter went after a big group of about 12 pintos buckskins, grullas and bays who looked so tired – moving slowly, I am not sure how far they had been pushed. It took a while for the helicopter to get the four blacks to meet up with the big group and get pushed in. They are using only one trap for this area which is absolutely huge. More
Tonight my heart is very heavy because the wild horses I have grown to know over the last 4 years are on the brink of being chased by helicopters and removed from their homes and their families forever.
During a pandemic, the Bureau of Land Management is continuing an aggressive, punishing and devastating schedule of rounding up and removing wild horses off of our public lands. This roundup is going to be the largest in recent memory, with over 2400 wild horses scheduled to be removed. The Red Desert Complex is 5 Herd Management Areas that are contiguous: Green Mountain, Lost Creek, Crooks Mountain, Stewart Creek and Antelope Hills. In the middle is a Herd Area, Arapahoe Creek that is no longer managed for wild horses, which is ridiculous and inexplicable because the horses move though the area. More
Chief District Judge Brian Morris of the US District Court of Montana ruled that Pendley has served unlawfully for 424 days, in response to a lawsuit brought by Democratic Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. Morris additionally ruled Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt cannot pick another person to run the Bureau of Land Management as its acting head because that person must be appointed by the President and Senate-confirmed.
The judge gave both sides of the case 10 days to file briefs about which of Pendley’s orders must be vacated.
“Pendley has served and continues to serve unlawfully as the Acting BLM Director,” Morris wrote in his opinion. “His ascent to Acting BLM Director did not follow any of the permissible paths set forth by the U.S. Constitution or the (Federal Vacancies Reform Act). Pendley has not been nominated by the President and has not been confirmed by the Senate to serve as BLM Director.”
He added, “Secretary Bernhardt lacked the authority to appoint Pendley as an Acting BLM Director under the FVRA. Pendley unlawfully took the temporary position beyond the 210-day maximum allowed by the FVRA. Pendley unlawfully served as Acting BLM Director after the President submitted his permanent appointment to the Senate for confirmation — another violation of the FVRA. And Pendley unlawfully serves as Acting BLM Director today, under color of the Succession Memo.”
William Perry Pendley, serving an illegally long tenure as BLM “Deputy Director acting in the capacity of Director”
by Debbie Coffey
Brian Maffley wrote a Salt Lake Tribune article about William Perry Pendley, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) “Deputy Director acting in the capacity of Director,” and stated “…Pendley said his marching orders are centered on fighting and preventing fires, reducing the numbers of wild horses and burros, and accommodating more recreation.”
William Perry Pendley, along with the Secretary of the Interior (David Bernhardt)and the White House, continues to divert attention away from the very serious environmental and human health problems caused by well over 100,000 abandoned mines on public lands, and instead, put a focus on removing America’s wild horses and burros from public lands..
Carol Walker and I were guests on Whistleblowersradio show and talked about the abandoned mines in our nation, and noted that the BLM rarely informs the public about this issue, but blames wild horses for being the “biggest problem” in the West. More
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As of August 19, 2020 there were 367 wildfires burning in California sparked by massive rounds of lightening strikes. One of the main areas of the state which are affected and still burning is the Sierra Nevada Mountain range that begins in the foothills and lies on a long strip that is on the East side of the State of California and then rises in elevation to 7,365 feet at Echo Summit on the way to Lake Tahoe and then finally drifts over into the State of Nevada. The Sierra Nevada Mountain range is a truly a marvel to see through all seasons while Lake Tahoe is the blue diamond of the world.
Through my years as a child and also a teen I spent many weeks fishing and swimming in these mountains and took more than one hike into Desolation Wilderness, a granite rock filled dream in an area filled with various lakes and steams that can only be seen by airplane or by hiking in.
After spending many years in these mountains since I was 8 years old, I never saw one major wildfire from 1950 on. But then fires began sweeping across America in the latter 80’s beginning with the Yellowstone Fire in 1988. While not a victim of climate change, the Yellowstone fire was birthed out of a new Forest Service policy billed as “experimental environmentalism” that allowed forest fires to burn which were started by lighting. With that, President Reagan abruptly canceled the policy yet many years later the Clinton administration picked it up again and began scaling back all of the logging in California and closed down the entrances to logging roads while also backfilling many of them with backhoes in order to “protect” the spotted owl and finally 1000 other species. Thus, not climate change but the inability to fight fires because of no access became the nightmare that has followed we the people ever since. With fires being a major factor in various locations of the West and also the Sierras, the American people are still not out of the woods when it comes to thinning the overgrown forests which will take decades to fix and protect from wildfires. Essentially, these infernos in California and other states were created though decades of forestry mismanagement that relied on theories while catering to environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club and many others.
The question may arise…why has it taken so long to fix those federal and state agencies that are responsible for so many wildfires every year that could have been prevented through simple management practices such as bringing in logging contractors to thin the second growth forests. It is because of past government corruption that was investigated years ago by a person that shared this true story. His dad was asked to investigate the many areas of forestry mismanagement in the State of California. He began at the very bottom and worked his way up to the top. He found corruption everywhere and when he finally got to the California State legislature and the Governor he even found corruption there as well and was asked to then stop investigating. Why was he asked to stop? It is obvious. Was there big lobby money going to various persons in the legislature who were connected in some way to either environmentalist organizations but also other players who fly under the radar?
I cannot believe that the smoke filled West which I am breathing at this very moment is still the result of Climate Change when all of the evidence points to forestry service corruption, negligence, decades of improper leadership and politics, but all the while, millions of acres burn regularly and hundreds of millions of dollars are extracted from taxpayers for something that could have been prevented.
Misinformation is alive and well in the late great State of California and other parts of the lost West.
See the second edition of HOUSE OF LORDS:
THIS TRAIN IS BOUND FOR GLORY and the chapter titled,
“The Rising Inferno.” Author Charles W. Frank
Available through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Walmart
In August of 2018 the Bureau of Land Management began a roundup in the Red Desert Complex of Wyoming. The Herd Management Areas in the Complex are Green Mountain, Stewart Creek, Lost Creek, Crooks Mountain and Antelope Hills. They were planning to remove 2670 wild horses in total, and the last roundup had been in 2011. The BLM stopped about halfway through on August 17 because they had nowhere else to put the rest of the horses they proposed to remove. So 1444 wild horses were rounded up, 25 were released back into Green Mountain including 12 mares who were given PZP birth control. The bulk of the horses removed were from Green Mountain, with about 300 from Stewart Creek. Ten wild horses died during this roundup, including some foals who were literally run to death in the heat.
Bachelor Stallions
Now the Bureau of Land Management is planning to continue this roundup. Because it was paused they do not need to do any more Environmental Assessment, any more public comment. They can just start at their convenience, which turns out to be some time in October of this year. They plan to remove over 1000 wild horses – likely over 1500.
Just to state the obvious, come on people, wake up, there is a Pandemic! You are going to ignore that and pretend that chasing wild horses with a helicopter and separating them from their families and homes, killing some, sending most of them to be warehoused for the rest of their lives in a feedlot situation for millions of taxpayer dollars is a priority? Surely millions of dollars being squandered in wild horse roundups happening now in Utah and Nevada and soon in Wyoming could be better used helping people who are at risk people who are losing their jobs, their homes and their lives?
Apollo, Hera and their new colt
Of course, our government will say this money has been allocated to remove the horses. Yes and that is a problem – it is not a priority! These horses who are on public lands currently are not posing a threat to anything except the cattle ranchers’ greed to put more and more livestock on our public lands. And surely it has occurred to someone that what a great time to remove these horses – when most people are staying at home and trying to stay safe.
“Subsidized livestock already outnumber wild horses and burros by over 37 to 1, yet livestock overgrazing is a top cause of damage to federal rangelands.”
Environmental travesties are on the rise, many obscured by the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the biggest ones will soon be taken up by Congress.
In its long-overdue report to Congress, the Bureau of Land Management proposes capturing and removing 220,000 wild horses and burros over 10 years to achieve its unsupported, arbitrary “appropriate management level” of 26,690 — a near-extinction population level.
It will cost American taxpayers $1 billion to expel these animals from the dedicated rangelands where they currently live at no cost to taxpayers. Thousands of wild mares could be subjected to ovariectomy, a discredited, brutal form of sterilization. In the end, hundreds of thousands of once-wild animals will languish in crowded holding pens — and taxpayers will be footing the bill.
Wild horses are federally protected animals. The 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act established their ranges as dedicated habitat to be “managed principally ” for their welfare. Flouting this law, the BLM has removed wild equids from nearly half of their designated 52 million acres. Now, government machinery is accelerating to remove most of the rest.
The BLM plans to wipe out three herd management areas in Wyoming’s famed Checkerboard and sterilize an entire herd in a fourth — “zeroing out” 2.5 million acres of their habitat for continual use by privately owned livestock.
In Nevada, the BLM intends to eliminate six herds in the Caliente Complex, imprisoning 1,700 wild horses at taxpayer expense. They will also take 1,800 wild horses from Oregon’s Barren Valley, proposing sterilization as “management,” killing off the “wild” in these wild horses.
The Bureau of Land Management has spent the pandemic churning out rapacious public land projects at breakneck speed. This includes egregious grazing decisions drastically increasing livestock numbers for powerful ranchers. After complaints, Idaho BLM Director John Ruhs responded that ranching was an essential service.
At the same time, an avalanche of BLM deforestation projects hit. Ely BLM’s Long and Ruby Valley Watershed Restoration EA decision arrived by certified mail, authorizing more grotesque pinyon-juniper carnage and smashed roller-beaten sagebrush across 136,000 acres of public land. That’s 213 square miles laid to waste within a nearly half million-acre landscape, plus blanket tree removal around all springs.
It’s the latest in a dismal series of cookie cutter projects tearing apart the Great Basin. BLM’s 2008 land use plan (the Ely RMP) is based on radical deforestation and sagebrush reduction. At that time, sage-grouse were not the primary excuse for these projects. Hazardous fuels reduction was all the rage. Nowadays, both are knotted together. The RMP has served as a springboard for watershed-by-watershed decimation of native forests and sage communities, and their migratory bird and other wildlife inhabitants across the District’s 12 million acres.
The Modeling Con: Restoration = Plant Community Destruction = Livestock Forage Grass
BLM concocts models of supposed historical plant communities using inputs that ignore actual historical accounts of sagebrush and pinyon-juniper occurrence and characteristics. The models are acronym laden, confusing, and help facilitate destruction of woody plants that ranchers don’t like. Short fire return intervals and sketchy fuels assumptions from the Landfire website are plugged in to the models.
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has been deeply involved in pushing this dubious forest and sage dooming methodology. Once armed with voodoo vegetation models, BLM claims trees should not be growing where they are found across Nevada’s mountain ranges, because the models predict frequent fires would have kept forests from persisting. BLM also adds in a scheme based on arbitrary “phases” (amounts of canopy cover) to justify clearing away trees. Anything to keep a forest from being a forest. This has long been the playbook for obliterating trees in Nevada.
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Our show will open with Mathew Fogg, and Tom Devine, to discuss the new police reform bill. Marcel Reid will join in to update on the status of the 2020 Whistleblower’s Summit.
The women of Forestry are back! with Lesa Donnelly
The physical assault on Denice Rice by the Deputy Forest Supervisor was met with management’s failure to act on it, and then retaliation against Denice for reporting it by proposing she be suspended. Denise will also expose the exodus of people from fire on the Eldorado NF.
Shannon Reed is being harassed at her home by the Forestry Service.
The Coalition had a recent ZOOM meeting with Biden’s staff, while at the same time, The Women’s Working Group (WWG) never received any followup from the August 2019 meeting with the Chief and Weldon’s recent email based on complaints to the Secretary about it.
We will cover the failure of the agency to develop and establish a plan to address work place abuses. How Forestry Service does not believe Black Lives Matter because of the way they treat African American employees.
Figures Show Vast Areas Failing BLM’s Own Rangeland Health Standards
Washington, DC — The Bureau of Land Management’s most recent data on the health of federal rangelands reveal extensive damage from excessive commercial livestock grazing, according to figures posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Last month, BLM announced its intent to rewrite its grazing rules without specifying the measures it is considering.
BLM’s Standards for Rangeland Health prescribe the minimum quality of water, vegetation and soils, as well as the ability to support wildlife, required by the agency for permitting livestock grazing. The most recent (2018) rangeland health report on BLM grazing allotments across 150 million acres in 13 Western states shows –
Of total acres assessed, 42% fail to meet BLM Standards for Rangeland Health, totaling nearly 40 million acres, approximately the area of Washington State;
The largest portion (70%) of range health failure is due to livestock overgrazing in allotments covering nearly 28 million acres, an area the size of Pennsylvania; and
These figures are underestimates because nearly 40 percent of these federal rangelands – nearly 59 million acres or an area about the size of Oregon – have never been assessed.
“By its own yardstick, BLM is a poor steward of our federal rangeland,” stated PEER Advocacy Director Kristen Stade…
“BLM states biologically impossible annual wild horse population rates…”
photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently posted their annual Wild Horse and Burro Herd Statistics. As in previous years, BLM’s report is full of obviously false, biologically impossible population growth data.
WHY is it important to expose this fraud? Because BLM uses the phony figures to convince everyone (but especially, the Congress) that an overpopulation crisis exists. Given the “crisis,” BLM requests millions of dollars in funding to capture and remove thousands of wild horses and burros from the range or, alternatively, to sterilize them. The fraudulent figures reflect BLM’s corruption. Yet, the Agency is granted deference, as if it were providing true data.
BLM’s falsified population figures affect not only specific herds (by triggering unwarranted, excessive roundups) but also misrepresent the total wild horse and burro population. The astronomically-high numbers for certain herds significantly inflate the summary data, making it seem as if all herds grow at a high rate.
Here are just a few of the many false figures that BLM is alleging for the reporting-year beginning March 1st 2019 and ending February 29th 2020:
WARM SPRINGS Herd Management Area (HMA) a 497% increase in ONE year (a herd of 30 horses produced 149 successful foals in one year which would require that every single horse – including the stallions! – have more than four surviving foals in one year. Biologically impossible
TOBIN RANGE Herd Management Area (HMA) a 377% increase in ONE year (a herd of 30 horses produced 113 successful foals in one year which would require that every single horse – including the stallions! – have more than three surviving foals in one year. Biologically impossible
HARDTRIGGER Herd Management Area (HMA) a 371% increase in ONE year (a herd of 14 horses produced 52 successful foals in one year which would require that every single horse – including the stallions! – have more than three surviving foals in one year. Biologically impossible
SNOWSTORM Mts. Herd Management Area (HMA) a 252% increase in ONE year (a herd of 90 horses produced 227 successful foals in one year which would require that every single horse – including the stallions! – have more than two surviving foals in one year. Biologically impossible
DIAMOND HILLS SOUTH Herd Management Area (HMA) a 187% increase in ONE year (a herd of 216 horses produced 404 successful foals in one year which would require that every single horse – including the stallions! – have more than one surviving foal in one year. Biologically impossible
DIAMOND HILLS NORTH Herd Management Area (HMA) a 129% increase in ONE year (a herd of 271 horses produced 349 successful foals in one year which would require that every single horse – including the stallions! – have more than one surviving foal in one year. Biologically impossible
Not only are these false statements misleading to Congress and to the public but the perpetrators (BLM) of these fraudulent population increases are in violation of Title 18 (18 U.S.C.§ 1001). Making false statements (18 U.S.C.§ 1001) is the common name for the United Statesfederal CRIME laid out in Section 1001 of Title 18 of the United States Code, which prohibits making false or fraudulent statements, in “any matter within the jurisdiction” of the federal government of the United States, 18 U.S. Code § 1519. Whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, violates this federal crime shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years.
Horses and burros have an approximate 11-month gestation period but as shown above and in their statistics, BLM continually gives biologically impossible annual herd increases. A recent study of 5,859 wild horses showed that although the average annual birth rate was about 20%, the survival to the age of yearling was only half of those – therefore a maximum herd increase of only 10%. In addition, adult mortality must be factored which therefore reduces the average herd increase to less than 10% annually. The National Academy of Science report cited two chief criticisms of the Wild Horse and Burro Program: unsubstantiated population estimates in herd management areas (HMA), and management decisions that are not based in science (NAS, 2013). The BLM’s biologically-impossible and scientifically-indefensible population-growth rates constitute dishonest and distorted data, which the BLM uses to mislead Congress and the American people. These false population statements are a federal crime punishable by prison and a fraudulent action against the American public in addition to being a travesty against our wild horses and burros.
WHY is this so important? Because these are the statistics that BLM gives to Congress when requesting funding for wild horse and burro capture and management plans, including the recent BLM $1-Billion Wild Horse Disaster Plan that pushes for massive roundups and the destruction of wild horse social behaviors through surgical and chemical sterilization for both mares and stallions.
*** Click (HERE) for a complete mathematical analysis of BLM’s fraudulent and deceptive population statistics.
“BLM is far too close to the industries it’s supposed to be watching. “These are not merely probable breaches of law by private persons,” the complaint alleges, “but a pervasive pattern of lawlessness which BLM has taken affirmative steps to further and encourage.”
by John L. Smith
As an environmental protection specialist in the Bureau of Land Management’s enormous Battle Mountain District, Dan Patterson was accustomed to working under difficult conditions.
When you’re one of a handful of BLM ecologists in an area that stretches over five Nevada counties and covers 10.5 million acres, you often toil alone and can find yourself a long way from his home office in Tonopah.
But these days Patterson finds himself even further from his supervisors after filing a withering whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel and Department of Interior Office of Inspector General alleging “illegalities and wrongdoing” by managers at the BLM’s Nevada state office and Battle Mountain district. Patterson’s complaint takes dead aim at the management style and decision-making of BLM Battle Mountain District Manager Doug Furtado and accuses him of abusing his authority by fast-tracking mining and oil and gas drilling projects and playing politics with enforcement, in the process violating laws and regulations meant to protect public lands. “As an Environmental Protection Specialist, Mr. Patterson’s professional responsibilities are in conflict with the objectives of District Manager Furtado,” the whistleblower’s attorney Kevin H. Bell of the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) asserts in a 13-page complaint.
Trump administration calls wild horses biggest threat to public lands — here are the real threats
“The livestock industry continues to run roughshod over the vast majority of our Western public lands, causing a cascade of major environmental problems.”
BY ERIK MOLVAR, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR
Acting BLM Director William Perry Pendley told the Society of Environmental Journalists in Colorado on Friday that wild horses were the biggest problem facing federal public lands in the West.
The silliness of this statement becomes obvious when one considers that wild horses don’t exist on more than 85 percent of BLM lands, and where they do occur, they have to share the range with domestic livestock which typically have an even bigger impact on the land.
Pendley’s misstatement would be funny if it weren’t so dishonest and is symptomatic of major problems stemming from placing one of the nation’s most vitriolic opponents of environmental conservation in charge of our biggest land management agency.
Let’s examine some of the real problems facing the Bureau of Land Management, from the standpoint of an environmental professional, to put Pendley’s claims in some context.
Erik Molvar is a wildlife biologist and executive director with Western Watersheds Project, an environmental conservation group dedicated to protecting and restoring watersheds and wildlife throughout the West.
The “welfare ranchers” on public lands whine and blame the wild horses & burros for eating all the forage, but the bigger problem is that the Bureau of Land Management turns a blind eye to the impacts of privately owned livestock grazing on public lands. This article by Grandma Gregg still rings true today.
by Grandma Gregg
How BLM “researches” their Wild Horse and Burro Usage Data
Years ago, BLM Director’s Challenge awarded $300,000 to assist field offices in on-the-ground volunteer field research about our wild horses and burros and our public lands. The research on the public lands was to be done by the public under the direction of BLM. I witnessed a member of the public who just happened to be an environmental scientist/ biologist (obviously the BLM representative didn’t know that) getting a return phone call from BLM Eagle Lake field office employee Derek Wilson, the coordinator for this “volunteer opportunity”.
This BLM representative told the potential volunteer that the assessment was to be on the Twin Peaks HMA and all usage found was to be counted as wild horse and burro usage regardless if the usage was from private livestock or other wildlife. Since this was to be done on an HMA that had 82% of its forage allocated to privately-owned domestic livestock the biologist asked how the study would differentiate between the usage of livestock and wild horses/burros. The BLM told the biologist that ALL usage observed during the study would be attributed to the wild horses and burros … ALL … and none to the livestock or any other possible user – regardless of the fact private domestic livestock was permitted about 5 times more than the permitted wild horses and burro usage. It clearly appeared from what the BLM representative explained, that the BLM were going to use the public volunteers to gather information to paint another negative picture for the horses and burros based on this fraudulent, non-scientific study.
“County commissioners in the rural American West possess the daunting authority of Afghan warlords, it’s been said. They wield their power by demanding federal agencies do their bidding in the vast expanse of public lands in which the counties are embedded.”
By STEPHEN TRIMBLE
County commissioners in the rural American West possess the daunting authority of Afghan warlords, it’s been said. They wield their power by demanding federal agencies do their bidding in the vast expanse of public lands in which the counties are embedded. Too often, they have their way.
Last week, the Trump administration announced a plan to move the Bureau of Land Management’s top officials out of Washington and into regional western offices. The scheme will only exaggerate the influence of county commissioners, to the detriment of most Americans.
Western counties are enormous. Utah’s largest county, San Juan, at nearly 8,000 square miles, is larger than Connecticut and almost as big as New Jersey. Like many counties in the rural West, San Juan is too dry and too remote for dense settlement; fewer than two people per square mile live there.
Under the Trump administration, local officials in dozens of such unpopulated counties have been flexing their muscles, especially in Utah. Read the rest of this article HERE.
PRESS RELEASE: Rep. Maloney Demands Reinstatement of USFS Employee Fired in Retribution for Reporting Sexual Assault
WASHINGTON, DC – Following yesterday’s hearing in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee with United States Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen, Rep. Maloney requested a written response from Chief Christiansen on how the USFS will change and make better its system for handling workplace sexual assault and harassment.
In her letter, the Congresswoman points out that Shannon Reed was fired in retaliation to lodging a complaint of sexual harassment. The Congresswoman therefore requested in her letter to Chief Christiansen that “as you work to correct these problems at the US Forest Service, I strongly urge you to consider restoring Ms. Reed’s employment, if that is what she desires. It was made clear at the hearing today that Ms. Reed was forced out of her position unjustly and prematurely. Furthermore, having been a victim of both sexual harassment and the dysfunctional process after the fact, Ms. Reed is in a unique position to prevent other women from suffering the same abuse to which she was subjected.”
Once upon a time, some years ago I lived in Paradise, CA. which was a beautiful town. I remember that many times I walked the flume along the Feather River which had been built slightly above the river by the electric company. And since the Camp Fire just went through the town I wonder if that portion of the forest had also vanished. The fire is one of the saddest burns ever, displacing so many people. The property, much of what is private, was covered with thousands upon thousands of evergreen trees. Because of the devastation of the burn, there now needs to be a total reassessment of how forested public lands are managed and now we must forge ahead with a new vision of how lands and people must be protected from fire. The previous forestry blueprint laid the groundwork for seasonal fires to move dramatically and rapidly to where they would not only burn uncontrollably, they would also burn for months until the rains came. The infernos, then and now were still part of a policy that did not lend itself to proper preventative fire management which would include protective firebreaks and the thinning of trees, whether it be on public or private property.
Around the year 2010 I interviewed the Tahoe National Forest supervisor who has since retired and he then shared how the management of the federal forests was actually an “experiment.” So, there is no real science going on here, and with 300 million people in America at risk, previous policies which allowed fires to burn naturally from lightning strikes does not consider the risks involved and the safety of the people.More
Rep. Maloney Demands Reinstatement of USFS Employee Fired in Retribution for Reporting Sexual Assault
WASHINGTON, DC – Following yesterday’s hearing in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee with United States Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen, Rep. Maloney requested a written response from Chief Christiansen on how the USFS will change and make better its system for handling workplace sexual assault and harassment.
In her letter, the Congresswoman points out that Shannon Reed was fired in retaliation to lodging a complaint of sexual harassment. The Congresswoman therefore requested in her letter to Chief Christiansen that “as you work to correct these problems at the US Forest Service, I strongly urge you to consider restoring Ms. Reed’s employment, if that is what she desires. It was made clear at the hearing today that Ms. Reed was forced out of her position unjustly and prematurely. Furthermore, having been a victim of both sexual harassment and the dysfunctional process after the fact, Ms. Reed is in a unique position to prevent other women from suffering the same abuse to which she was subjected.”
Full text of the letter is below and a PDF can be found here.
Dear Chief Christiansen,
Thank you for your testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today about the systemic mistreatment of women at the U.S. Forest Service. As this hearing made clear, for many women, the US Forest Service has not been a safe place to work. Women have been sexually assaulted by their coworkers or superiors, and then retaliated against for reporting the assault. That is intolerable, and even more so because that it is happening at a federal agency. It is incumbent upon you to rectify this situation as quickly as possible.
At the hearing, you committed to providing me a written response when asked for your thoughts about the concerns raised by Ms. Reed and more than 50 other women in a letter to you dated Nov 9, 2018. A copy of that letter is enclosed. The letter details horrific allegations of harassment, retaliation and injustice at the US Forest Service and I am eager to see your response to it.
Additionally, as you work to correct these problems at the US Forest Service, I strongly urge you to consider restoring Ms. Reed’s employment, if that is what she desires. It was made clear at the hearing today that Ms. Reed was forced out of her position unjustly and prematurely. Furthermore, having been a victim of both sexual harassment and the dysfunctional process after the fact, Ms. Reed is in a unique position to prevent other women from suffering the same abuse to which she was subjected.
Your prompt attention to this matter is appreciated. Thank you.
This is a wild family in the Green Mountain Herd in Wyoming. For the past three days the BLM has been chasing hundreds of horses with helicopters and rounding them up and yesterday two foals died of what the contractor calls “capture shock.”
Here’s the BLM’s story in their Gather Reports: “Summary: BLM euthanized a captured horse with a pre-existing condition. Two colts were treated for capture shock during sorting at the holding corral. One colt died shortly after being treated and the other died while being transferred to the veterinary hospital in Lander”
Here’s our opinion: It was very hot. These foals likely ran as hard as they could to keep up with their mothers while being chased by a helicopter. The BLM ran them to death. So while the BLM attempts to put lipstick on a pig by blaming the deaths of the foals on “capture shock,” we place the blame directly where it belongs – on the BLM.
If the foals were treated, where are the vet reports?
Author,
Chuck Frank
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Only last week I passed through Yosemite National Park only to find, miles upon miles of blacked burned trees still standing, that were left over from the 2013 Rim Fire. The Rim Fire, like the “let it burn” Yellowstone Fire (1988) was a complete disaster, and I believe John Muir and President Teddy Roosevelt who together created Yosemite as America’s first National Park would be asking some tough questions of why preventative measures were never put into place to protect the most beautiful park in the world for future generations. The Rim fire, the third-largest blaze in recorded state history scorched more than 250,000 acres in and around Yosemite National Park.
“The fire also had a devastating environmental effect that biologists said probably transformed the forest for decades to come.”
The LA Tmes.
I was taken back while passing through the park and witnessed first hand the clean up “progress.” I was appalled by the lack of restoration, while at the same time I saw no conservation measures or tree planting even taking place, nor did I see “sustainable development” as an avenue to bring back the park to its natural form.
For the record, “sustainable development is a measure that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs…” Ref. International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) In this instance, the catastrophic Rim Fire event and aftermath does not even come close to meeting the criteria of sustainable development because, by their own admission, (IISD) wants to preserve the environment for future generations but this is not being done with regard to the forest service’s own flawed blueprint which adversely affects not only rural public lands but forested private properties as well. More
Tony Tooke stepped down from his role but disputes allegations against him.
The chief of the U.S. Forest Service, Tony Tooke, resigned on Wednesday after allegations of sexual harassment against him surfaced. According to PBS NewsHour, which first reported the accusations, the Forest Service hired an independent investigator to look into allegations that Tooke had improper relationships with subordinates before he became the head of the agency. Tooke has worked for the Forest Service for nearly 40 years.
In a letter to employees announcing his retirement, Tooke touted his dedication to the agency and deflected blame for his actions. “Each employee deserves a leader who can maintain the proper moral authority to steer the Forest Service along this important and challenging course,” Tooke wrote.
“In some of these news reports, you may have seen references to my own behavior in the past. This naturally raised questions about my record and prompted an investigation, which I requested and fully support, and with which I have cooperated,” Tooke wrote. “I have been forthright during the review, but I cannot combat every inaccuracy that is reported in the news media.”
Tooke did not specify what reports he labelled inaccurate.
“There’s so much work to do in the field of sexual harassment and elsewhere that it was the right thing for him to do to resign so the agency can get back to work,” said Sharon Friedman, the editor of the New Century of Forest Planning blog, a hub for discussion of public land issues.
Federal land management agencies have been slow to take action in recent years, as evidence of a widespread culture of harassment came to light. Agencies like the Forest Service and National Park Service, which have predominantly male workforces, have long standing issues of harassment and sexism and a history of not holding workers accused of harassment accountable. Reporting has found that agencies swept complaints under the rug by rotating employees and in some cases even promoted staff accused of sexual harassment.
The purpose of the operation is to prevent undue or unnecessary degradation of the public lands associated with excess wild horses, and to restore a thriving natural ecological balance and multiple-use relationship on public lands, consistent with the provisions of Section 1333(b) of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The BLM strives to be a good neighbor in the communities we serve, ensuring public safety is not at risk due to the overpopulation of wild horses and providing opportunities for economic growth with space for traditional uses.
Details of Gather:
The BLM plans to gather 1,500 wild horses and remove approximately 1,000 excess horses. The BLM will release approximately 250 mares that will have been treated with the fertility control vaccine PZP-22 to slow the population growth rate of the animals remaining on public lands. PZP-22 is a temporary fertility-control vaccine that can prevent pregnancy in wild horses for 1-2 years. In addition, approximately 250 gathered stallions will be selected and returned back to the range.
Public Observation:
Members of the public are welcome to view the daily gather operations, provided that doing so does not jeopardize the safety of the animals, staff and observers, or disrupt gather operations. The BLM will escort the public to gather observation sites located on public lands. The BLM anticipates that viewing opportunities will begin on January 23, 2018, weather and logistics permitting. Those wanting to view gather operations must notify Public Affairs Specialist, Greg Deimel at (775) 388-7078 prior to the desired viewing date to be added to the attendee list and receive specific instructions on meeting locations and times
Participants must provide their own transportation, water and food. The BLM recommends footwear and clothing suitable for harsh field conditions and a four-wheel drive, high clearance vehicle. Public restrooms will not be available onsite.
Background:
The Triple B Complex is located in both the BLM Ely and Elko Districts and consists of the Triple B HMA (Ely), Maverick Medicine HMA (Elko), Antelope Valley HMA west of Hwy 93 (Elko), and Cherry Springs Wild Horse Territory (Elko). The gather may also take place in areas outside of those HMAs where wild horses have moved in search of food and water and are creating a public safety hazard by traveling regularly across Jiggs Road.
The current population estimate for the Triple B Complex is approximately 3,842 wild horses. The cumulative Appropriate Management Level for all the Herd Management Areas within the targeted gather area is 472 – 884 wild horses. AML is the level at which wild horse populations are consistent with the land’s capacity to support them and other mandated uses of those lands, including protecting ecological processes and habitat for wildlife and livestock.
The decision record and determination of National Environmental Policy Act adequacy can be accessed at the national NEPA register. For more information on the Wild Horse and Burro Program, call 1-866-468-7826 or email wildhorse@blm.gov.
Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah deceived Congress by implying there was a 41% increase in wild horse & burro population in only 5 months, and by showing a photo of one thin horse and claiming that a majority of the wild horse population on the range were starving or dying from dehydration.
Stewart authored the recent Amendment in the House that would lead to 46,000 healthy wild horses & burros in BLM holding facilities and tens of thousands more on public lands being “euthanized” (killed).
Researcher Marybeth Devlin submitted her remarks (below) countering Stewart’s OpEd to the New York Times via its “we want to hear from you” page. However, when I clicked on the link to the “we want to hear from you” page, it was gone (so apparently, the New York Times doesn’t want to hear from anyone). Marybeth also commented on The New York Times Opinion Section on Facebook, where Stewart’s piece is listed (among others, halfway down the page).
Our thanks to Marybeth Devlin for exposing the misinformation opined by this squirrelly politician (my apologies to squirrels). Stewart’s own constituents even booed him in Salt Lake City this year.
“No birth control, no euthanasia, no slaughter: None of them fixes fraud. The problem is fraud – BLM’s fraud – not overpopulation. What is needed is honest management of our wild horses and burros.” – Marybeth Devlin
by Marybeth Devlin
The Bureau of Land Management’s wild-horse fraud: The “overpopulation” of wild horses is a pernicious lie, a concocted “crisis”. The government doesn’t have a wild-horse problem — wild horses have a government problem. More
by Debbie Coffey, V.P. & Dir. of Wild Horse Affairs, Wild Horse Freedom Federation
ACTION ALERT! Public comments are due Jan. 5, 2018.
In the BLM’s rush to drive wild horses to extinction, the BLM plans to remove ALL wild horses from the Caliente Herd Area Complex. The BLM claims that the Caliente Herd Area Complex has an estimated population of 1,744 wild horses (including the 2017 foal crop).
The Caliente Herd Complex Area consists of nine herd areas; Applewhite, Blue Nose Peak, Clover Creek, Clover Mountains, Delamar Mountains, Little Mountain, Meadow Valley Mountains, Miller Flat, and Mormon Mountains.
The 30-day public comment period concludes Jan. 5, 2018.
Please be sure to mail or email your written comments to:
Bureau of Land Management Ely District Office
Attention: Ben Noyes, Wild Horse and Burro Specialist
702 N. Industrial Way
Ely, NV 89301
We need to find a fix for the unhealthy populations of non-native, domestic cattle and sheep on public lands.
Imagine a proposal to introduce privately owned livestock onto the public lands of the American West. The owners of the privately owned livestock would successfully gain use of 229 million acres of public lands in the West. The livestock would be owned by a politically powerful industry that attracted a passionate following — people who love using public lands for their private profit so much that they influence the federal management of their privately owned animals so that they would rarely, if ever, be restricted by law. Some of them would be so passionate that they would take over and occupy government buildings for 41 days, and end up costing taxpayers at least $9 million, including $2.3 million on federal law enforcement and $1.7 million to replace damaged or stolen property.
The downside of these privately owned livestock would be that they destroy native vegetation, damage soils and stream banks, and contaminate waterways with fecal waste. After decades of livestock grazing, once-lush streams and riparian forests have been reduced to flat, dry wastelands; once-rich topsoil has been turned to dust, causing soil erosion, stream sedimentation and wholesale elimination of some aquatic habitats; overgrazing of native fire-carrying grasses has starved some western forests of fire, making them overly dense and prone to unnaturally severe fires. Not to mention that predators like the grizzly and Mexican gray wolf were driven extinct in southwestern ecosystems by “predator control” programs designed to protect the livestock industry. More
The PPJ Gazette 