Elko commissioner opposes Pickens’ wild horse sanctuary

If destructive thinking continues like the sort by the Elko Commissioner, the only wild horses in Nevada will be the ones on the back of this Quarter.

This type of thinking makes me shake my head in wonderment.

How does it hurt the U.S. economy for range destroying cattle to push range restoring wild horses off public lands? Thousands of federally protected wild horses and burros have lost their homes, family bands and freedom to benefit thousands of head of cattle that are an insignificant part of the beef industry. Now all one woman wants to do is establish a sanctuary for them to redress this error.

The Associated Press reports:

ELKO, Nev. (AP) — An Elko County commissioner says a proposed eco-sanctuary for hundreds of wild horses in northeast Nevada will damage the range and could put some ranchers out of business.

Demar Dahl says backers of the project “have a big hurdle to cross” to prove the concentration of as many as 900 horses won’t cause harm to public rangeland in violation of U.S. environmental regulations.

He told the Elko Daily Free Press it makes no sense to him to take viable cattle ranches important to the economy and turn them into taxpayer-supported horse reserves.

Madeleine Pickens and her non-profit group Saving America’s Mustangs want to establish the eco-sanctuary across nearly 100 square miles east of Elko and south of U.S. Interstate 80 — from the Ruby Valley to near the Utah line.

Boo, hiss!

Source: http://www.kivitv.com/news/local/148540095.html

Public Lands Council opposes Pickens’ wild horse sanctuary

Cross-posted from Drovers Magazine online

Wild Horse Grazing. Photo (c)Tamara Gooch

The Public Lands Council this week sent a letter to Director of the Bureau of Land Management Bob Abbey supporting BLM’s response to a prospectus submitted by Madeleine Pickens’ Saving America’s Mustangs Foundation (the Foundation) to build and establish an eco-sanctuary for wild horses. PLC President John Falen said the problem of wild horse overpopulation is one that must be dealt with but that creating a horse sanctuary will not solve the problem.

“Wild horse overpopulation poses a threat not only to the health of the range, the rural economies and families making a living off the land, but also to the wild horses themselves,” Falen said. “However, the Foundation’s proposal is not the right solution, and we’re glad the BLM shares our concerns. In addition to sharing BLM’s concerns regarding the nuts and bolts of the proposal with respect to title transfer of the wild horses, the cost of the proposal and the range’s ability to sustain 10,000 horses, we also question the accuracy of some claims the Foundation and Madeleine Pickens made regarding livestock grazing on public lands.”

According to the letter, PLC opposes any agreement that would include increasing any herd management area (HMA) or inflating appropriate management levels (AMLs) beyond what the resources can sustain. Expansion of HMAs to new areas would require an amendment to the Free-Roaming Wild Horse & Burro Act of 1971 and would pose a threat to multiple-use on public lands, the letter says. It goes on to say that converting livestock Animal Unit Months (AUMs) or livestock grazing permits to single-use horse permits or sanctuaries for wild horses would violate the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, thereby jeopardizing grazing permits and presenting opportunities for anti-grazing interests to push for more conversion of livestock allotments to other single-uses.

Falen said that while PLC does not believe the overpopulation issue can or should be solved by expanding HMAs or converting livestock grazing permits, the organization supports using science and research to find new effective ways of decreasing the reproduction rate of the entire herd.

“Decreasing the reproduction rate of the herd is a viable option that should be considered as BLM works to improve the wild horse and burro program,” Falen said. “BLM made the right decision to deny the Foundation’s proposal for a horse sanctuary, and we look forward to working with Director Abbey and others at BLM to find a sustainable, sensible solution for wild horse management.”

Report Source:
http://www.drovers.com/news_editorial.asp?pgID=675&ed_id=8489

Image Source:
http://www.tamaragoochphoto.com/gallery/WildHorses/Wild_Horse_Grazing_Photo_MG_0105
This image was not filed with original report.

———
What the BLM says about the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934
http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/field_offices/Casper/range/taylor.1.html

What Wikipedia says about the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Grazing_Act_of_1934

Read “Las Vegas City Life: Revenge of the Bureau of Land Management,” by George Knapp

Elko Commission opposes Pickens wild horse sanctuary

Is it really the cattle ranchers and water rights, or simply the BLM’s politically motivated agenda that is destroying what’s left of America’s Mustangs? And why a “non-breeding sanctuary?”

No matter what the plans, or what the arguments, it all accomplishes the same end. The greed, lies, deceit and government corruption surrounding the cruel and tragic annihilation of our wild horses and burros is an American abomination.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see what the destruction of these living, breathing icons of American spirit and freedom represents of this nation as a whole. Is there no one with the power who will stop the rot?

Excerpts cross-posted from the Houston Chronicle via the Associated Press

ELKO, Nev. (Nov 5, 2010) — The Elko County Commission has taken a stand against a proposed wild horse sanctuary in northeast Nevada, partly out of concern that further protection of the mustangs could lead to cutbacks on livestock grazing on federal land.

Madeleine Pickens, the wife of Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens, bought a 14,000-acre ranch in Elko County last month and wants to turn it into a sanctuary called “Mustang Monument.”

She told the commissioners this week it’s the perfect place for such a project, among Nevada’s high desert rangeland and snowcapped mountains. She pictures it turning into a vacation destination for families, with covered wagon rides, campfires, storytellers and ecological activities.

Pickens, founder of the Saving America’s Mustangs foundation, said she has already spent several million dollars developing a business plan when she could have left that money to her daughter.

If the proposal is approved by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the sanctuary would be home to 1,000 mustangs initially and would be a non-breeding sanctuary.

Elko County has no legal jurisdiction, but Commissioner Demar Dahl said he fears it could lead to the conversion of more cattle ranches to horse sanctuaries at the expense of future cattle ranchers. He said he wanted to go on the record against it and the panel agreed on a 3-1 vote.

Commissioner Warren Russell said he fears Pickens will try to buy additional water rights for the ranch.
“We’re very, very touchy with our water in Elko County,” he said.

Pickens said she has no interest in buying water rights.

Read full report >>