Flyover reveals low wild horse and burro population in California

Craig Downer and Jesica Johnston’s Twin Peaks Flight Report

An independent aerial survey was completed over northeastern California and northwestern Nevada for the Twin Peaks Wild Horse and Burro Herd Management Area on December 22, 2014. The objective was to estimate the population of wild horses (Equus caballus) and burros (Equus asinus) and to monitor the habitat recovery from the Rush Fire, which burned 315,577 acres in August 2012. The flight and pilot were arranged and made possible through LightHawk.

During the aerial survey a total of 62 horses and 11 burros were counted along the 174 miles of transect strips flown within the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area boundary. In addition, several groups of approximately 90 trespass cattle grazing on public land were documented in the no grazing restricted area from the 2012 Rush Fire. These were found in the south-western section of the Twin Peaks Grazing Allotment #00701 in the Skedaddle mountain range.

Using the aerial strip transect method, the survey estimated the populations of wild horses and burros in the Twin Peaks Wild Horse and Burro Herd Management Area as follows:
(a) 447-593 wild horses (including some mules)
(b) 101-120 wild burros

Follow this link to read the full report: Twin Peaks Flight Report

We need an EPIC funding miracle for the WY14, the only wild horses ever rescued from a slaughterhouse after a BLM roundup

© Protect Mustangs, all rights reserved

© Protect Mustangs, all rights reserved

Urgent: Our funding fell through

Please help the 14 orphaned wild horses in the next phase of this rescue. We need help to pay interstate transportation, get corral panels, hay, medical expenses, etc. We are a group of volunteers who will be donating our time to gentle these wild horses and prepare them for adoption so they can live happy lives. Your donation is urgent now. Please donate here.

We also need land in the San Francisco Bay Area to house them and a used truck and gooseneck stock trailer. Need a tax deduction? We have a 501c3 that is our umbrella while ours is pending.

We are a California nonprofit organization. We protect mustangs.

Read for more information: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6775 and http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6734 and http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6668

#DontFrackCA Join us today in Sacramento!

 

TODAY’S THE DAY for the biggest Anti-Fracking rally in California’s history! THOUSANDS of Anti-Fracking Activists & Concerned Californians are making the trek to Sacramento to tell Governor Brown and his administration one thing: #DontFrackCA! We’ll be hearing from voices from all over the state who are witnessing fracking in their own communities and organizing against it. A broad coalition of groups have come together to demand an end to fracking in California. We hope to see you there & Bring your friends!! Don’t forget to TWEET (#DontFrackCA, #fracking) while you’re making history!!

What: Don’t Frack California Rally and March
Where: The Capitol Lawn, L between 10th and 12th streets, Sacramento, CA
When: Saturday, March 15th, 2014, 1pm
Sign Up: dontfrackcalifornia.org
For Buses & Rideshares: Check out the State-wide rideboard at dontfrackcalifornia.org/rideboard
More info: dontfrackcalifornia.org
Click Here to Share the Info on Facebook & Tweet about Us! #DontFrackCA, #fracking

America’s wild horses are being pushed off public land to reduce environmental roadblocks to fracking as seen in GASLAND Part 2. Join us to say “No!” to fracking!

We’re experiencing the worst drought in the history of CA. Communities are struggling to know where their water is coming from. And, what is the solution to the administration of Governor Brown? A call to the conservation of its citizens, not the big oil and gas. Join us TODAY in Sacramento to demand an end to #fracking in our state!

If you can’t make it then Tweet and RT #DontFrackCA and share out the petition Don’t Frack Wild Horse Areas https://www.change.org/petitions/sen-dianne-feinstein-don-t-frack-wild-horse-areas Thank you!

 

Josh Fox (GASLAND) and Anne Novak (Protect Mustangs) at the GASLAND Part 2 preview in 2013

 

 

GASLAND Poster HBO Premiere

#Gratitude 2 @GASLANDmovie 4 exposing #FRACKING wipes out #WildHorses ~ Come 2 Sacramento Rally 3/15

“We’re so grateful  Josh Fox answered our call for help and included the American wild horse crisis in his awesome film GASLAND Part 2,” says Anne Novak, Executive Director of Protect Mustangs. “We won’t sell out. We will continue to fight for their right to live wild and free.” www.ProtectMustangs.org

HBO released GASLAND Part 2 in 2013 to an audience of more than 40 million people. Since then the film’s audience has grown around the world.

Please sign and share the Petition for a Moratorium on Roundups for Scientific Studies before wild horses are tampered with using risky fertility control that sterilizes, are euthanized or are slaughtered. http://www.change.org/petitions/sally-jewell-urgent-grant-a-10-year-moratorium-on-wild-horse-roundups-for-scientific-research

Today America’s wild horses are underpopulated. The Spin Dr.s have released a huge campaign to fool Congress and the public into believing there are too many when the truth is the feds are managing our native wild horses to extinction.

Why? Follow the money and it leads you to Big Oil & Gas that wants to FRACK their native land and needs tons of water for fracking.

Come to the Rally to Stop Fracking in California this Saturday March 15th in Sacramento! California wild horses need you! https://www.facebook.com/events/727804507253568/

What else can you do? Email, call and meet with your senators and representative to request a moratorium on roundups for scientific studies to ensure their survival. Fertility control is premature. http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

Read the fine print, ask questions and beware of vague pledges people are asking your senators and representative to sign. Certain wild horse groups aren’t fighting for the herds’ freedom any more but are pushing for fertility control experiments and sanctuary-style management with restricted use pesticides (PZP, etc.) branded as “birth control” and without scientific studies on population when wild horses are underpopulated and are being managed to extinction by the feds.

IN THE NEWS: http://protectmustangs.org/?page_id=218

INFORMATION:

Are wild horses going to be sterilized due to an advocacy campaign? http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6356

The Horse and Burro as Positively Contributing Returned Natives in North America: http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/journal/paperinfo.aspx?journalid=118&doi=10.11648/j.ajls.20140201.12

Press Release: No proof of overpopulation, no need for native wild horse fertility control http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4453

Bogus Science and Profiteering Stampeding Their Way into Wild Horse Country http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4475

Protect Mustangs speaks out against the Cloud Foundation’s PARTNERSHIP with BLM using risky PZP that could terminate natural selection: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4941

Wildlife Ecologist, Craig Downer, speaks out against using PZP in the Pryors: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=4178

Report unveils wild horse underpopulation on 800,000 acre Twin Peaks range: http://protectmustangs.org/?p=6278

GASLAND website: http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/

(Photo of Josh Fox & Anne Novak at the Oakland Preview of GASLAND Part 2. )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Californians Submit 100,000 Public Comments Opposing Gov. Brown’s Dangerous Fracking Regulations

Sacramento, CA – In the wake of the driest recorded year in California’s history, concerned Californians submitted more than 100,000 public comments today denouncing Governor Brown’s proposed fracking regulations and urged him to ban the water-intensive drilling activity. At today’s event, Californians Against Fracking delivered boxes filled with tens of thousands of public comments to DOGGR while chanting, “Climate leaders don’t frack,” a clear message to Gov. Brown, whose legacy as a climate leader is on the line as he green-lights a massive expansion of fracking in the state.

“As California faces a massive drought, the last thing Gov. Brown should be doing is letting oil companies frack our state and contaminate our drinking water,” said Zack Malitz, CREDO’s Campaign Manager. “The only way to protect Californians is with a ban on fracking, not weak regulations that will only encourage more drilling.”

“In order to protect our water, farms, and public health from toxic contamination Governor Brown should ban fracking now,” said Adam Scow, California Director of Food & Water Watch.

“The days of Big Oil calling the shots in Sacramento are over. Californians are rising up in record numbers to say no to these dangerous oil extraction techniques,” said Ross Hammond, Senior Campaigner, Friends of the Earth.

“Governor Brown needs to make a choice. He can stand with thousands of Californians for a safe climate future and stop fracking up our state, or he can stand with Big Oil and for more droughts, wildfires and threatened communities,” said David Turnbull, Campaigns Director at Oil Change International.

“The tide of history is quickly turning against Governor Brown on fracking,” said Hollin Kretzmann, a staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. “The question is whether he’ll be remembered as the governor who unleashed fracking’s nightmare on California or the man who stood with his fellow Californians and protected the places we all love.”

“We’re told this is a record-breaking number of comments on environmental and health policy in the state,” said Victoria Kaplan, MoveOn.org Civic Action Campaign Director. “Governor Brown can listen to the voters and ban fracking, or he can be remembered as the governor who paved the way for more climate change and drought.”

“If Governor Brown wants California to continue to hold its reputation as national leader in environmental standards, banning fracking should be a no brainer,” said Democracy for America Chair Jim Dean.

“The Central Valley has some of the most impacted communities in California, who are a key part of the movement to stop fracking. Today, we’re showing our grassroots power,” says Valley Resident Juan Flores Organizer at Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment.

“2013 was the driest year in California’s history, and opening the state to fracking will only make the problem worse. If Governor Brown wants to get serious about stopping climate change, he should listen to the thousands of Californians calling for a ban on fracking, and stand up to big oil,” said Linda Capato, Fracking Campaigner at 350.org

Californians Against Fracking is a coalition of environmental, business, health, agriculture, climate, labor, environmental justice and political organizations working to win a statewide ban on fracking in California. Groups that participated in today’s delivery include CREDO, Food & Water Watch, Center for Biological Diversity, MoveOn.org Civic Action, Friends of the Earth, Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment, 350.org, Oil Change International, Greenpeace, Democracy for America, and 350 Bay Area.

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San Francisco Supervisors Urge Halt to Fracking in California

Photo © Karen McLain Evening Light | Design by Anne Novak for ProtectMustangs.org

Photo © Karen McLain Evening Light | Design by Anne Novak for ProtectMustangs.org

Californians Against Fracking Applauds Resolution Citing Fracking Pollution’s Threat to State’s Air, Water, Progress on Climate Change

SAN FRANCISCO (January 14, 2014)— The San Francisco Board of Supervisors today approved a measure urging a halt to hydraulic fracturing in California because of fracking’s threats to the state’s air, water and efforts to fight dangerous climate change.

The resolution, which was introduced by Supervisor David Chiu and passed unanimously, was applauded by 350 Bay Area, Center for Biological Diversity, CREDO, Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth and other members of Californians Against Fracking, a statewide coalition working to ban fracking, an inherently harmful form of oil and gas extraction that endangers California’s air, water, wildlife, climate and public health.

“We are deeply concerned about the threats fracking poses to California’s water, our coastal environment, and the well-being of people across the state, so the Board of Supervisors is urging a halt to this practice,” said Supervisor Chiu. “As California studies the risks of dangerous forms of oil and gas production, it would be wise to follow New York’s lead and halt fracking.”

“We congratulate Supervisor Chiu and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for taking a stand against fracking pollution’s threat to California,” said Hollin Kretzmann, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “This resolution sends a strong message to Governor Brown that we need an immediate halt to this inherently dangerous practice, which could undermine California’s fight against climate change and do irreparable damage to the air we breathe and the water we drink.”

San Francisco’s resolution follows an Associated Press investigation that confirmed cases of water contamination from oil and gas drilling in four other states where fracking has boomed. Other local jurisdictions in California have weighed in on the issue of fracking, calling for greater regulation, bans or moratoriums, including Marin County, Santa Cruz County, Ventura County and Santa Barbara County.

“The oil industry and their allies in Sacramento would like us to believe that weak regulations can protect California from the dangers of fracking but we know that the only safe path is to halt this risky practice all together,” said Ross Hammond of Friends of the Earth. “The San Francisco Board of Supervisors should be applauded for standing up and doing the right thing.”

Fracking uses huge volumes of water mixed with dangerous chemicals to blast open rock formations and release oil and gas. Fracking releases large amounts of methane, a dangerously potent greenhouse gas.

The controversial technique has been used in hundreds and perhaps thousands of California oil and gas wells without regulation. Rules recently proposed by state officials would do little to safeguard California’s air, water, wildlife and public health from the pollution generated by this inherently dangerous technique.

Oil companies are gearing up to frack large reservoirs of unconventional shale oil in the Monterey Shale. The area is home to some of the state’s most productive farmland, critical water sources, important wildlife habitat and dozens of towns and cities from the Salinas Valley to the Los Angeles Basin.

Californians Against Fracking is a coalition of more than 150 environmental, consumer, business, faith, health, agriculture, labor, political, and environmental justice organizations working to win a statewide ban on fracking in California. For more information, visit: www.CaliforniansAgainstFracking.org

Wild horses are dying in BLM’s care

BLM’s Statement Regarding Horse Fatalities at Ridgecrest Corrals

December 6, 2013

In the past 30 days, the Ridgecrest Regional Wild Horse and Burro Corrals have reported 15 horse fatalities that appear to be related to a single undetermined cause. The Bureau of Land Management is working closely with state and federal animal health authorities along with a local veterinarian to determine the cause and decide the best course of action to protect the health and well-being of the wild horses and burros at the Ridgecrest Corrals.

At this time, the cause of the deaths does not appear to be contagious. The California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory in San Bernardino is testing samples from affected animals and feed supplies. Results are still pending.

A wild horse and burro adoption planned for December has been cancelled and no animals have been adopted since October. Animals are not being received or shipped from the facility. The Ridgecrest Corrals have approximately 800 wild horses and burros.

Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.

Contact: Stephen Razo (951) 697-5217

Top climate scientists call for fracking ban in letter to Gov. Jerry Brown

Photo © Karen McLain Evening Light | Design by Anne Novak for ProtectMustangs.org

Photo © Karen McLain Evening Light | Design by Anne Novak for ProtectMustangs.org

By Paul Rogers

Posted:   11/12/2013 04:07:39 PM PST in the Mercury News

Twenty of the nation’s top climate scientists have sent a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown, telling him that his plans supporting increased use of the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” will increase pollution and run counter to his efforts to cut California’s global warming emissions.

The letter is the latest example of the increased pressure that environmentalists and others concerned about climate change have been putting on Brown in recent months. Their argument: the governor can’t say he wants to reduce global warming while expanding fossil fuel development in California.

“If what we’re trying to do is stop using the sky as a waste dump for our carbon pollution, and if we’re trying to transform our energy system, the way to do that is not by expanding our fossil fuel infrastructure,” said Ken Caldeira, an atmospheric scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University.

Caldeira signed the letter along with other prominent climate scientists, including James Hansen, the former head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies; Richard Houghton, acting president of Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts; and physicist Michael Mann, a professor of meteorology at Penn State University.

The letter called for Brown to place a moratorium on fracking, as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has done.

“Shale gas and tight oil development is likely to worsen climate disruption, which would harm California’s efforts to be a leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” it notes.

Brown did not respond Tuesday afternoon to a request for comment on the scientists’ letter. But last month he said in response to question from this newspaper, “As you know, I signed legislation that will create the most comprehensive environmental analysis of fracking to date. It will take a year, year and a half, maybe a little longer. And I hope that all the people, critics and supporters alike, will participate and offer their best thoughts.”

The oil industry criticized the scientists’ letter.

“The authors of this letter, while clearly very respected in their fields, do not present an accurate or realistic picture of our energy needs and our energy future,” said Tupper Hull, a spokesman for the Western States Petroleum Association in Sacramento.

“California is going to need petroleum-based energy for a long time, even as it transitions to a lower carbon future.”

Brown has generally won high marks from environmental groups over his 40-year political career. He signed legislation requiring California utilities to generate 33 percent of their electricity from solar, wind and other renewable resources by 2020, for example. Last month, he appeared at an event in San Francisco to announce a pact with the governors of Washington state, Oregon and the premier of British Columbia to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

But he has come under increasing criticism — and public protests — this fall from opponents of fracking, the practice in which oil and gas companies inject water, sand and chemicals into the ground to fracture underground rock formations and release huge amounts of fossil fuels.

In September, Brown signed SB 4, a bill by state Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, that requires companies that conduct fracking operations in California to notify all nearby property owners, obtain a permit from the state, conduct groundwater testing and disclose the chemicals they are using. The law takes effect in 2015. Opponents say that water pollution and increased air and climate emissions from fracking require a moratorium, particularly in the Monterey Shale, an area that stretches from Bakersfield to Monterey and holds billions of dollars of shale oil that could be recovered from increased fracking.

 

Link to the original article: http://www.mercurynews.com/science-environment/ci_24509392/top-climate-scientists-call-fracking-ban-letter-gov

Posted for educational purposes