Tag Archives: BLM

Americans want aid sent to pregnant wild horses and babies—not to stampede them

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Privately owned livestock allowed to remain on the range while wild horses risk death in helicopter roundup

For immediate release:

Freedom Lost & Hell Begins (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved)

WASHINGTON (June 7, 2012)—Protect Mustangs opposes the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Jackson Mountain roundup, in northwestern Nevada famous for Burning Man, set to begin tomorrow. The preservation group and members of the public are reaching out to elected officals nationwide to come to the aid of America’s wild horses and burros. The BLM has chosen to endanger heavily pregnant mares and tiny foals by stampeding them in a terrifying helicopter roundup. Protect Mustangs asked BLM to continue trucking out water and other aid as needed for the wild horses. Their request was refused. Trucking aid to them is cheaper than a cruel million dollar roundup paid for by the American taxpayer. Originally the wild horse removal was planned for after foaling season in July but BLM claims the indigenous horses are at risk because of drought conditions even though rain is forecasted and private livestock is allowed to remain grazing on the range.

“We need our elected officials to intervene at this point,” says Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “We asked the BLM to continue bringing them water but they refused to wait until foaling season is over. Now the BLM will round them up and jeopardize their ability to peacefully birth their babies.”

The helicopter roundup will endanger more than 96 foals counted in April 2012 as well as the newborns and pregnant mares carrying the unborn.

In March 2012, Joan Guilfoyle, BLM wild horse and burro division chief, announced to the world they would use a new method to capture mustangs—bait trapping. Now the government agency is demonstrating their double speak and lack of human care for America’s wild horses. The roundups, funded by Congress, continue.

“The BLM obviously doesn’t care about the welfare of pregnant mares and tiny foals,” states Novak. “Stampeding them will cause spontaneous abortions and newborn foals won’t be able to keep up. Will they be separated from their mamas and left out there to die?”

Protect Mustangs is calling on Americans to contact their senators and representatives because theses wild horses belong to all Americans. Members of the public are encouraged to ask their elected officials intervene–to stop the Jackson Mountain foaling season roundup and bring America’s indigenous horses aid if needed.

The preservation group also suggests voicing concerns to Nevada’s Congressman Joe Heck 202-225-3252 (fax 202-225-3252) and Senator Dean Heller 202-224-6244 (fax 202-224-6244).

Protect mustangs feels the BLM’s estimate of 930 wild horses is inflated to justify a massive roundup. The entire capture area is more than 775,000 acres including the 286,000 acres within the Jackson Mountain Herd Management Area.

“The BLM is using the drought as an excuse to clear out wild horses while risking their death,” explains Novak. “They are leaving livestock on the same allegedly drought afflicted land to graze, so BLM’s actions don’t make any sense. It just shows how the government agency wants to dispose of America’s icons.”

Protect Mustangs is a Bay Area-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.

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Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Contact Protect Mustangs for interviews, photos or video

 

Links of interest:

 

Reno NBC affiliate News 4 reports: Wild horse advocates say the BLM jeopardized public process http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/Wild-horse-advocates-say-the-BLM-jeopardized/a8kN1TVKZ0WLiaEBaISvDA.cspx

KPFA Evening News, KFCF Fresno, KPFK Los Angeles, WBAI New York, KPFT Houston, WPFW Washington, DC  Protect Mustangs says the Nevada BLM jeopardizes public process, privacy and free speech http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/81120  report at 22:35 on the link.

BLM’s plans for bait trapping ~ Gone Viral ~ Las Vegas Review Journal Land managers try new method to capture mustangs http://bit.ly/HKKIrL

America’s wild horses are indigenous: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=562

Helicopter roundup video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_dhnqCijOk&feature=plcp

Tweet Congress: http://tweetcongress.org/

Contact elected officials: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Burning Man: http://www.burningman.com/

Protect Mustangs website: http://protectmustangs.org/

BLM Press Release on the alleged emergency Jackson Mt. roundup: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/june/winnemucca__blm_to.html

Link to this press release: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1614

 

Evening news interview: BLM Nevada jeopardizing public process, privacy and free speech

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Stallion & Sweaty Mustangs Trapped at Calico Roundup (Photo © Cat Kindsfather)

Hear the report about the Nevada BLM jeopardizing public process, privacy and free speech and the call for the public to weigh in by faxing the BLM in Washington at 202-208-5242 .

The interview aired on KPFA, KPFB Evening News Berkeley, as well as on KFCF Fresno, KPFK Los Angeles, WBAI New York, KPFT Houston, WPFW Washington, DC.

Listen here: http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/81120  at 22:35

Ask your friends to fax in requests for BLM to have a public helicopter hearing in Nevada with 30 days notice.

Thank you for doing what you can to save America’s wild horses and burros.

Breaking News: Invasion of privacy suppresses free speech

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BLM places outrageous conditions on public comment

For immediate release:

WASHINGTON (May 31, 2012)—Protect Mustangs, a Bay Area-based preservation group, asks the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to revise their conditions for receiving written comment that requires personal identifying information that BLM says they can not safeguard. What started as an issue jeopardizing public process for people who want helicopters roundups to stop has mushroomed into a free speech issue for all Americans.

“This in an invasion of privacy—a restriction of our rights of free speech,” states Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “It will stifle public participation.”

Due to the BLM’s lack of public notice for a public hearing, the preservation group released an alert titled: Government transparency and public process jeopardized. They gathered comments requesting the Nevada public hearing  be rescheduled with 30 days notice and comments against using helicopters and motorized vehicles for roundups and management. Early Tuesday morning the group sent the comments to the Director of BLM in Washington requesting he intervene and reschedule the public hearing. Wild horse photographer, Cat Kindsfather, hand delivered the comments to BLM officials at the hearing.

As a result of Protect Mustangs’ grassroots efforts and the public rallying for their right to comment,  the BLM released the press release announcing they will extend only the written comment period for the use of helicopters and motorized vehicles for roundups and management in Nevada.

BLM also states:

Comments submitted to BLM must include your address, phone number, email, or other personal identifying information in your comment. Please be aware your entire comment–including your personal identifying information–may be made publicly available at any time. While you may request we withhold your personal information from public view, we cannot guarantee we will be able to do so.

The preservation group opposes BLM’s terms for public comment for 2 reasons:

1.) The controversial Nevada public hearing regarding using helicopters and other motorized vehicles for roundups and management, must be held with 30 days notice so the American public may attend and give oral comment as well as written comment.

2.) The BLM must accept written comments and protect personal identifying information if the commenter has requested their information be withheld from public view. Requested personal identifying information should not be excessive.

“Any person who requests that their personal information be safeguarded should have that right to privacy—especially by a government agency,” states Kerry Becklund, director of outreach for Protect Mustangs.

Refusing to keep personal identifying information confidential, stifles the public process because anyone can get a copy of the comments according to BLM protocol. The public wants to know their rights to privacy are ensured.

“Are the BLM’s new written comment conditions intended to suppress public comment?” asks Novak. “It’s a no-brainer that this is going to discourage people. What’s happening to America’s public process and our rights to free speech?”

 

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Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454 Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913 Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Contact Protect Mustangs for interviews, photos or video

 

Links of interest:

Reno NBC affiliate News 4 reports: Wild horse advocates say the BLM jeopardized public process http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/Wild-horse-advocates-say-the-BLM-jeopardized/a8kN1TVKZ0WLiaEBaISvDA.cspx

BLM press release with comment guidelines requiring personal identifying information that will not be safeguarded:

http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/may/carson_city__blm_nevada.html

Protect Mustangs press release: Government transparency and public process jeopardizedhttp://protectmustangs.org/?p=1416

Video of helicopter roundup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_dhnqCijOk&feature=player_embedded

Freedom of speech in the U.S.A: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_in_the_United_States

Protect Mustangs website: http://protectmustangs.org/

 

Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.

 

 


Comment period extended but Nevada public hearing a sham

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Yesterday we took your comments to the hearing, requesting BLM reschedule the Carson City helicopter hearing with adequate public notice and comments against helicopter roundups, etc. Photographer and honorary board member, Cat Kindsfather, hand delivered them and spoke on behalf of Protect Mustangs as well as the American public.

Kindsfather brought up the fact that people across the country wanted to participate in the public process but there was not enough notice given.

At the meeting, BLM announced they would extend the comment period. Comments can be received no later than June 12, 2012. Only comments sent to the address, email or fax number identified below will be accepted and “considered”.

Comments may be sent by mail or fax:

BLM Carson City District Office

5665 Morgan Mill Road

Carson City, NV 89701

Attn: WHB Motorized Hearing.

FAX: 775-885-6147.

 

Comments may also be sent by email:

ccfoweb@blm.gov, Attn: WHB Motorized.

 

Comments submitted to BLM must include your address, phone number, email, or other personal identifying information in your comment.

Please be aware your entire comment–including your personal identifying information–may be made publicly available at any time. While you may request we withhold your personal information from public view, we cannot guarantee we will be able to do so.

 

Please copy us on all the comments you send the BLM so we can keep a record of the comments received to watchdog this faulty process.

We will send the Carson City District Office all the comments on your behalf that you have sent us after 7 a.m. May 29, 2012 to ensure your comments are received.

We continue to ask for the Carson City hearing to be rescheduled to allow oral comments and for the public to be given 30 days notice for any other BLM public hearings.

Denying the public their right to be present and comment at a public hearing shows the BLM has no intention of engaging the American public nor do they want to be transparent.

The NBC affiliate, KRNV Reno News 4, attended the public hearing and reported on wild horse advocates say BLM jeopardized public process.

Thank you for sending in your comments. Now tell your friends about what is going on and invite them to send in comments against the use of helicopters and motorized vehicles as well.

Stop the Roundups!

 

Links of interest:

KRNV Reports on wild horse advocates say BLM jeopardized public process. http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/Wild-horse-advocates-say-the-BLM-jeopardized/a8kN1TVKZ0WLiaEBaISvDA.cspx

Protect Mustangs news release: Government transparency and public process jeopardized: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1416

Protect Mustangs letter requesting BLM give the public 30 days notice for helicopter use hearing: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=1409

BLM press release announcing they will extend comments: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/may/carson_city__blm_nevada.html

BLM press release on hearing: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/info/newsroom/2012/may/blm_to_hold_public.html

 

 

Livestock’s Heavy Hooves Impair One-Third of BLM Rangelands

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33 Million Acres of BLM Grazing Allotments Fail Basic Rangeland Health Standards

WASHINGTON – May 14 – A new federal assessment of rangelands in the West finds a disturbingly large portion fails to meet range health standards principally due to commercial livestock operations, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).  In the last decade as more land has been assessed, estimates of damaged lands have doubled in the 13-state Western area where the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) conducts major livestock leasing.

The “Rangeland Inventory, Monitoring and Evaluation Report for Fiscal Year 2011” covers BLM allotments in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.  The report totals BLM acreage failing to meet rangeland health standards in measures such as water quality, watershed functionality and wildlife habitat:

  • Almost 40% of BLM allotments surveyed since 1998 have failed to meet the agency’s own required land health standards with impairment of more than 33 million acres, an area exceeding the State of Alabama in size, attributed to livestock grazing;
  • Overall, 30% of BLM’s allotment area surveyed to date suffers from significant livestock-induced damage, suggesting that once the remaining allotments have been surveyed, the total impaired area could well be larger than the entire State of Washington; and
  • While factors such as drought, fire, invasion by non-native plants, and sprawl are important, livestock grazing is identified by BLM experts as the primary cause (nearly 80%) of BLM lands not meeting health standards.

“Livestock’s huge toll inflicted on our public lands is a hidden subsidy which industry is never asked to repay,” stated PEER Advocacy Director Kirsten Stade, noting that the percentage of impairment in lands assessed remains fairly consistent over the past decade.  “The more we learn about actual conditions, the longer is the ecological casualty list.”

Last November, PEER filed a scientific integrity complaint that BLM had directed scientists to exclude livestock grazing as a factor in changing landscapes as part of a $40 million study, the biggest such effort ever undertaken by BLM.  The complaint was referred to a newly appointed Scientific Integrity Officer for BLM but there are no reports of progress in the agency’s self-investigation in the ensuing months.

At the same time, BLM range evaluations, such as this latest one, use ambiguous categories that mask actual conditions, employing vague terms such as “making significant progress” and “appropriate action has been taken to ensure significant progress” that obscure damage estimates and inflate the perception of restoration progress.  For example, in 2001 nearly 60% of BLM lands (94 million acres, an area larger than Montana) consisted of grazing allotments that were supposed to be managed to “improve the current resource condition” – a number that has stayed unchanged for a decade.

“Commercial livestock operations are clearly a major force driving degradation of wild places, jeopardy to wildlife, major loss of water quality and growing desertification throughout the American West,” Stade added, while noting that BLM has historically been dominated by livestock interests.  “The BLM can no longer remain in denial on the declining health of our vast open range.”

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Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is a national alliance of local state and federal resource professionals. PEER’s environmental work is solely directed by the needs of its members. As a consequence, we have the distinct honor of serving resource professionals who daily cast profiles in courage in cubicles across the country.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) Links:
Posted from the PEER press release

Congress considering terrible bills to speed up oil and gas destruction of public wildlands

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Water for wildlife in Nevada (Photo © Anne Novak, all rights reserved.)

Cross-posted from National Resources Defense Council

By Amy Mall, Senior Policy Analyst, Washington, D.C.

May 15, 2012

A suite of bad bills is scheduled to be considered in the House Natural Resources Committee tomorrow, and NRDC opposes all of them. Here are the details from my colleague Bobby McEnaney on the four worst:

    • H.R. 4383 – This draconian bill is designed to eliminate the public’s right to have a say in the management of public lands–lands that belong to all Americans. The bill would abolish most avenues to protest oil and gas leasing decisions, mandates unrealistic timelines for challenging oil and gas leases, aims to limit the scope of federal courts, and imposes a $5,000 fee if anyone can still find a way to protest an agency’s oil and gas leasing decision. Further, this legislation would require the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to bypass proper environmental review, even though the oil and gas industry currently is sitting on thousands of unused leases.
    • H.R. 4382 – This sweeping legislation would mandate oil and gas leasing on public lands, even when it is not warranted. It would also eliminate the public’s right to participate in management processes associated with leasing decisions by severely curtailing the opportunity to protest inappropriate leasing decisions. Lastly, it would force the BLM to lease lands when oil and gas companies want, even when such a decision would destroy or damage sensitive lands and wildlife habitat, including wilderness quality lands. In essence, this bill would cede control of federal lands to oil and gas producers and remove safeguards that balance energy production with necessary conservation mandates.
    • H.R. 4381 – This bill would require the Department of Interior (DOI) to establish arbitrary targets for energy production on federal lands–even those under the jurisdiction of other agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service. The bill would require the agency to take all necessary actions to meet the targets, leading to extraction of coal, oil and gas, and other dirty fossil fuels at the expense of cleaner sources such as wind and solar.
    • H.R. 4402 – This legislation would nearly abolish the public’s right to participate in the management of mining claims on federal lands. H.R. 4402 would eliminate the few safeguards that are in place and turn the clock back to the 19th century by eliminating the public’s right to challenge inappropriate mineral leasing decisions.

Spin-Doc paid for with tax dollars spurs wild horse advocacy

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Studs at Short Term Holding (Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.)

Their Story of America’s Wild Horses and Burros

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has spent an extreme amount of U.S. tax dollars to make a Spin-Doc to justify wild horse and burro removals while protecting THEIR jobs and the vast monetary interests of the oil, gas, water and mining corporations on public land. This slanted infomercial, they call an “internal premier”, will be aired today on the BLM internal Dish network.

BLM employees are being brainwashed so they can respond to media investigations, Congressional inquiry and outraged members of the public with the BLM spin–feeling it’s “the truth” because they saw the documentary.

Instead of providing government transparency, as requested by wild horse advocates and members of the public, the BLM has produced their Spin-Doc to avoid transparency all together.

Will they mention the 2008 secret talks to kill thousands upon thousands of wild horses in holding or sell them to slaughter in their “documentary”?

We hope BLM employees will see through the veil of subterfuge in the broken program that does not protect America’s wild horses but has a history of being involved in trafficking mustangs to slaughter since 1973.

With BLM ramping up their efforts to sway internal, Congressional and public opinion, it’s time to take the offensive in this mission to save the mustangs and ask for what we want.

Let’s promote the wild horse documentaries already out there (Cloud the Stallion, Wild Horses and Renegades, Saving America’s Horses and others) through our social media channels, friends as well as with other local and global opportunities.

We can create buzz about the documentaries in post-production like Jan Liverence’s, Ellie Phipps Price’s, Wendy Malick’s and others.

Members of the public along with wild horse and burro advocates can help new documentaries (short and long) get out there quickly by lending their support.

Let’s power up. All groups and all wild horse advocates are all needed and deserving of support.

Let’s find new ways to raise money for worthy projects and embrace the abundance in the Universe so we are united–knowing we will all have the money we need to accomplish our pledge to save American wild horses.

Today we need to shout the truth louder than before–in new creative ways–circling the planet.

Stop the roundups! Stop the removals! Stop selling wild horses to slaughter! Return wild horses from holding to the HMAs to heal the land–creating fertile rangeland–so all (livestock too) may prosper.

Stop wasting tax dollars to fund the BLM’s broken Wild Horse and Burro Program–zeroing out America’s iconic wild horses. Save the mustangs now!

(© Protect Mustangs, all rights reserved.)

 

Sources:

Spin-Doc http://www.blm.gov/ntc/st/en/broadcasts/blm_s_new_documentary.html

Wild horses at risk ~ Get the word out!

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Wild horses exist in thriving natural ecological balance on public land ~ removals are a sham. Taxpayers are funding their management to extinction while the Bureau of Land management fails to provide the American public with an accurate head count. Inflated estimates do not justify mistreatment of our living legends of the West.

Permission given to use this photo/flyer/poster to raise awareness. Contact us if you want a jpeg.

 

Information needed to arrest those who shot and killed 2 wild horses in California

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Wednesday, Apr. 11, 2012 — Federal investigators are looking into the apparent shooting deaths of two wild horses in Lassen County near the Nevada state line.
Members of a Bureau of Land Management crew working on a prescribed fire April 3 found the remains of the horses in an area about 12 miles southeast of Eagleville near Newland Reservoir in northeastern California.
The animals had been dead for several weeks but an initial investigation by BLM law enforcement rangers determined that they had most likely been shot, said Nancy Haug, the BLM’s Northern California district manager.
BLM is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the crime.
Haug is asking anyone with information to contact Kynan Barrios, BLM law enforcement agent, at (530) 224-2181.

Mustang advocates ask for federal spending transparency

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Calico Roundup (Photo © Cat Kindsfather, all rights reserved)

For immediate release

Outrage over livestock auction companies—paid with tax dollars—to ‘control’ wild horses and burros

WASHINGTON (February 20, 2012)—As the American public prepares their tax returns, Protect Mustangs asks the Department of Interior to disclose why $116,744,281 of taxpayer dollars was paid to 86 contractors from fiscal year 2000 to 2009 for “Wild Horse and Burro ‘Control’ Services“. Besides the more than $13 million paid to a roundup contractor named Dave Cattoor, why was more than $16 million paid to Tadpole Cattle Company, Inc. and more than $15 million paid to Fallon Livestock Auction Inc.?

“Why are livestock auction contractors paid to ‘control’ wild horses and burros?” asks Anne Novak, executive director for Protect Mustangs. “What’s going on? Are America’s living treasures being sold at auctions where kill buyers shop for horse meat?”

“The word ‘auction’ raises the red flag for all horse advocates,” says Kerry Becklund, director of outreach at Protect Mustangs. “Auctions are the first step in the slaughter pipeline—resulting in a cruel death.”

America’s wild horses are particularly vulnerable.  They live in remote regions where they can be rounded up and sold to slaughter. They are not filled with chemicals like domestic horses so their meat could be in high demand on the Asian market.

The preservation group wants to know how many wild horses have been rounded up and sold at slaughter auctions since 2000 under BLM, U.S. Fish and Wildlife or the Forest Service’s jurisdiction.

Protect Mustangs maintains its adamant stance that no tax dollars should pay for inhumane horse slaughter nor support the barbaric industry in any way.

The preservation group is currently working on meeting their goal of one million signatures to petition President Barack Obama and Congress to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011, S.B. 1176/H.R. 2966—to ensure all horses in America are treated humanely.

“Be the one in a million who ends horse slaughter”, says Novak. “Sign the petition and share it with your friends.”

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Media Contacts:

Anne Novak, 415-531-8454  Anne@ProtectMustangs.org

Kerry Becklund, 510-502-1913  Kerry@ProtectMustangs.org

Contact Protect Mustangs for interviews, photos or video

Links of interest:

Contracts for Wild Horse and Burro Control Services (FY 2000-2009) http://bit.ly/xVlVm5

Contractor handling wild horses: http://bit.ly/xxUzJz

Resources to advocate for horses: http://bit.ly/z99DSm

Saving America’s Horses (film): http://bit.ly/A1gxPJ

The Petition (film): http://www.ThePetitionmovie.com

Change.org Petition to Protect Horses & pass American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act: http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-usa-horse-slaughter

Protect Mustangs on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/uDF5JP

Protect Mustangs on Twitter: http://twitter.com/protectmustangs

Protect Mustangs on You Tube: http://www.YouTube.com/ProtectMustangs

Protect Mustangs website: http://www.ProtectMustangs.org

Protect Mustangs is a Bay Area-based preservation group whose mission is to educate the public about the American wild horse, protect and research wild horses on the range and help those who have lost their freedom.