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Tag Archives: California
Donate to haul Tibet, the wild mustang, to his safe place
Tibet earned 2 Strikes from not getting picked at adoptions. (Photo by BLM adoptions)
As of tonight, January 29th we raised $400 from wild horse angels towards the total needed ($920) to bring Tibet out from Wheatland, Wyoming to us in the Bay Area. We need to raise $536 more (includes PayPal fees) by February 2, 2013. Please help and donate what you can to get Tibet to his safe place. Thank you for helping Tibet!
Please donate via PayPal to Contact@ProtectMustangs.org or mail your donations to:
Protect Mustangs, PO Box 5661, Berkeley, Ca. 94705. Make checks payable to Protect Mustangs.
It takes a village ~ Please donate any amount so Tibet can afford to be hauled to his safe place.
Tibetan prayer flag depicting Windhorse
A Win! ~ Twin Peaks Roundup on hold ~ Keep the pressure on
Reply
Twin Peaks wild horses counting on your help (Photo of “Magic” © G. Gregg)
Happy Thanksgiving!
California-based Protect Mustangs has been working hard to stop the Twin Peaks roundup once we brought you the news of the Rush Fire last summer. We are grateful several wonderful advocates such as Craig Downer, Grandma Gregg, Jesica Johnston, Barbara Clarke, Monika Courtney, R.T Fitch, Debbie Coffey and many others have joined the fight to protect the Twin Peaks wild horses on the range.
“We oppose rounding up and removing native wild horses from the Twin Peaks HMA especially now that they can play a key role in restoring the land. It’s time the BLM use good science and cut down on invasive techniques that cause global warming. Wild horses and burros can heal and reseed the range after the wildfire so let them do it.”
Keep contacting your elected officials across the country to educate them about how the Twin Peaks wild horses can heal the land after the fire. Let them know these federally protected wild horses deserve to remain on their range. Tell them removals are cruel and costly–warehousing them for decades is not sustainable. Request the Twin Peaks roundup be cancelled. Thank you for helping California’s wild horses and burros.
Please make a donation to help Protect Mustangs continue our work for the wild horses. Thank you.
Below is the email we received today from Ken Collum at the BLM.
All my best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving,
Anne
Anne Novak
Executive Director of Protect Mustangs
——– Original Message ——–
Subject: Twin Peaks Response
From: “Collum, Kenneth R”
Date: Tue, November 20, 2012
To: Anne Novak protectmustangs
There will be no imminent roundup operation in the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area (HMA). The situation will be re-evaluated this January.
HMA population information obtained from September’s aerial inventory will be available soon.
Ken Collum
Field Manager
Eagle Lake Field Office
2950 Riverside Dr.
Susanville, CA. 96130
Ph: 530 252 5374
Cell: 530 260 0158
Adopt a BLM wild horse to save it from an unknown fate
Meet Ellie (#6457). She’s a gorgeous 4 yr old Palomino mare from the Calico Mts. She is at the Palomino Valley Center near Reno. (Photo courtesy BLM)
Taking action to find homes for at-risk wild horses
Protect Mustangs is working with members of the public to find homes for all the wild horses who were not adopted during the recent Bureau of Land Management (BLM) internet adoption. The unadopted are at risk of being sold to pro-slaughter people like Tom Davis.
“We are reaching out to the public through Facebook and Twitter to find adopters,” explains Anne Novak, executive director of Protect Mustangs. “People across the country are expressing interest in adopting these great horses. I don’t know why the BLM isn’t marketing the adoption program better.”
BLM’s three strike program
America’s living legends receive a strike against them every time they are offered for adoption. If they are offered on the internet and not adopted they get a strike and another internet adoption gives them another strike. If they are offered for adoption at an event and don’t find their person then they get their third strike . . . It’s a cruel system. After three strikes the federally protected wild horses can be sold to anyone who signs on the dotted line that they won’t sell them to slaughter or for use as rodeo stock. The BLM doesn’t check that the buyers are complying so it’s a free for all.
“If indigenous wild horses are not adopted then they will be shipped out to the Midwest where they are at-risk of being sold by the truckloads–even the one year olds,” states Novak. “With the recent E.U. crackdown on American horse meat, riddled with toxic substances, we are concerned wild horses face an increased risk of going to slaughter because they have never been given substances such as bute.”
Positive communication
Members of the public may email Contact@ProtectMustangs.org to enlist their help in communicating with BLM for a smooth adoption process as well as getting information on trainers and transportation.
Below are some wild horses available for adoption:
Meet Baby Red (#2484) a sorrel yearling gelding. His mother was captured during the Twin Peaks roundup and he was born at the BLM facility in California near Susanville. (Photo courtesy BLM)
Lily (#3361) is from the Fox Hog herd. They have some draft in their line and make wonderful pets/riding horses when you give them a lot of love. (Photo courtesy BLM)
Good News! This horse has an adopter waiting for him at the Ridgecrest facility. Sam (#3275) is from California’s High Rock area and appears to be from cavalry stock. He is handsome and might make a nice little jumper or sport horse.
Meet Stuart (#2600), a yearling gelding from High Rock in California (eastern Sierra). This internet auction could be his 3rd strike and put him “at risk”. He is located near Susanville, California. (Photo courtesy BLM)
Here is Merlot (#9380) a yearling red roan gelding from Green Mountain, Wyoming. He is located in Rock Springs, WY and can be shipped to various locations.
To learn about these horses and others in need of adoption, visit Protect Mustangs on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProtectMustangs
From the BLM website:
Adoption Requirements
Applicant must be 18 years of age or older.
Applicant must have access to a stall/corral that meets the following criteria:
- Stall, corral, etc. must contain a minimum of 400 square feet per animal
- Stall, corral, etc. that is 6′ tall on all sides with access to feed, water and adequate shelter for anything 2 years or older. The stall/corral height is 5′ for a yearling and 4.5′ for a burro. (This area is only required until animal is gentled, not for the life of the animal.)
- Stall, corral, etc. must be made of protrusion-free materials, (EX) Wood, Pipe, Cattle Panels. Barb wire is not allowed in the area that is being used for gentling the animal.
- Covered stock trailer. Covered stock trailer refers to: solid top, pipe rails, tarp, etc. BLM will not load into two-horse or drop-ramp trailers.
Applicant must describe their stall/corral, etc. in the application packet and submit to BLM for approval.
- Application – Describe the area where you will keep the animal(s) during the gentling phase. (Application is located in back of brochure.)
Please fill out an application found here: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro/What_We_Do/wild_horse_and_burro0/adoption_application.html
Comments due today against removing wild horses in California
Buckhorn/ Coppersmith comments due today
Studs at Short Term Holding (Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved.)
Read the EA here: http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/ca/pdf/surprise/Buckhorn_and_Coppersmith_EA.Par.52464.File.dat/Rev%20FINAL_DRAFT_Buck_Copper_EA_RSN_9-04-12.pdf
Email comments to: BLM_CA_CBCwildhorses@blm.gov with Buckhorn/Coppersmith comments in the subject line.
Federal Plan Will Remove Horses from Nevada Wildlife Refuge
Cross-posted from The Horse
by: Pat Raia
September 07 2012, Article # 20606
Wild horses and burros will be removed from their ranges in northwestern Nevada under a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) conservation plan for the wildlife refuge on which they currently reside. The plan is slated to become effective after Sept. 24, said Jason D. Holm, assistant regional director of external affairs for the FWS Pacific Region.
Approximately 800 horses and 180 burros currently reside on the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR), Holmes said. The refuge is also home to approximately 2,500 pronghorn antelope and 150 bighorn sheep, as well as greater sage grouse, mule deer, and other wildlife species, he said.
The horses and burros will be removed from the refuge under a final Comprehensive Conservation Plan intended to rid the sanctuary of non-native and invasive species, Holm said. Officials would conduct gathers with the goal of removing all the horses and burros within five years, he said.
“Horses and burros are damaging native habitats for refuge wildlife,” Holm said. “Controlling feral animals takes away from wildlife and public use management priorities and efforts, and is costly.”
American Wild Horse Campaign Director Suzanne Roy opposes removal on grounds that horses and burros have resided on the area since the 1800s.
“These are U.S. Cavalry horses and burros used in the California gold rush,” Roy said. “They’ve been there (on SNWR lands) long before the refuge was created in the 1930s.”
Anne Novak, executive director of the wild horse advocacy group Protect Mustangs said the FWS assessment of the equids’ environmental impact is flawed.
“They want to get rid of all the horses without understanding the positive impact they have on the thriving natural ecological balance,” Novak said. “Wild horses heal the land and their grazing prevents wildfires.”
Roy said that wild horse advocates had recommended FWS officials use fertility control to phase out the horse and burro population over a 15-year period. The agency rejected the option, she said. Now she and others are exploring legal options that could block the total removal.
“Right now, we don’t know what we can do, but we’re looking into it,” she said.
Horses and burros removed from the refuge will be available for adoption, Holm said.
Link to the original article: http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=20606
Statement from Protect Mustangs:
“We are against phasing out the population using fertility control or by rounding them up,” explains Novak. “We ask that the wild horses and burros be allowed to stay.”
Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada to remove all wild horses, burros within 5 years
Cross-posted from The Republic
|
RENO, Nev. — Federal officials have approved a final management plan for the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in northwestern Nevada that calls for the removal of all wild horses and burros from it within five years.
The move is being made because the refuge was created for pronghorn antelope and other native wildlife, and horses and burros have a negative effect on habitat, said Joan Jewett, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Portland, Ore.
“They trample the habitat and overgraze and disturb the water sources,” she told The Associated Press. “We’re required by law to manage our refuges in accordance with the purposes for which they were established, and Sheldon was primarily for pronghorn antelope.”
Horse advocacy groups sharply criticized the refuge’s comprehensive conservation plan, which will guide its management over the next 15 years. It was publicly released late last month.
They say horses and burros lived in the area long before the refuge was created in 1931, and the animals actually heal the land and help prevent wildfires through grazing.
“We are extremely disappointed that the federal government has chosen to eradicate wild horses and burros from the lands where their ancestors have lived for more than a century and a half,” Suzanne Roy, director of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, said in a statement.
An aerial survey in July showed the 575,000-acre refuge along the Oregon border is home to at least 2,508 antelope, 973 mustangs and 182 wild burros, said Aaron Collins, a park ranger at Sheldon.
“We’re recording the highest numbers of pronghorn antelope since we began counting them in 1950,” he said.
Federal officials began the planning process on the refuge’s management plan in 2008, and received several thousand comments from individuals, organizations and government agencies during it, Collins said.
The final plan will be signed sometime after Sept. 24 by the regional director of the Fish and Wildlife Agency, he added.
Under federal law, only horses and burros removed from lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service are protected from slaughterhouses if they can’t be adopted.
“Rounding up indigenous wild horses is wrong — especially when they can be sold to the meat buyers at auctions,” said Anne Novak of California-based Protect Mustangs. “These horses are vulnerable to ending up going to slaughter … The Sheldon plan to wipe out wild horses is nuts and goes against the public’s wishes.”
Activists said the final management plan rejected a more humane alternative to phase out horses and burros over 15 years using fertility control, an option that would have allowed unadoptable animals to live out their lives at the refuge.
(Story distributed by The Associated Press)
Link to the original article: http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/9d2599146ac04731ae3b93a918db2c59/NV–Refuge-Wild-Horses
How many California wild horses and burros will be left after the fire?
California wild horse country ~ Rush Fire map (Twin Peaks HMA) updated August 25, 2012
How many wild horses and burros were trapped by fencing in the fire?
Fire approaching Deep Cut area by Robin Blair 8.15.12
Rush Fire update in the Twin Peaks HMA
Susanville, Calif., Aug. 26, 7 a.m.–On Saturday, firefighters successfully held fire lines in the northeast part of the Rush fire in spite of gusting winds. Large dust devils were common and firefighters remained very busy fighting fire.
The threat from dust devils has led firefighters to go to the unusual length of mopping up for 500 to 1000 feet from fire lines into the burned area. This tough work involves finding each and every hot spot and cooling them off.
In spite of the winds on Saturday, firefighters were able to hold the existing fire perimeter for the fourth day in a row.
The northeast flank is where the fire is most active. This part of the Rush fire is in Nevada, about 25 miles northeast and east of Ravendale, Calif., near SOB, Garden and Burnt lakes, the Buffalo Hills, Antelope Basin, and Cottonwood Creek.
Helicopters with buckets dropped water on hot spots in the Cottonwood Creek area on Saturday. In the southern and southwestern flanks of the fire on Saturday, firefighters continued repairing damage from fire-fighting activities.
The National Weather Service issued a red-flag warning for Sunday from noon to 10 p.m. because of low humidity and gusting winds. The winds have the potential of fanning any remaining embers and hot spots. Winds can also form dust devils that could carry hot material over containment lines into extremely dry unburned vegetation.
On Sunday, firefighters will continue their efforts to hold the fire to its current perimeter, to mop up and to make repairs on the western side of the fire.
Area and Road Closures in Effect: Public lands bounded by Highway 395 on the west, the Sand Pass road and Nevada 447 on the east, the Wendel Road on the south, and Juniper Ridge road to Buckhorn road on the north are closed. The Buffalo Meadows road in Washoe Co., Nev., is also closed. The Ramhorn Springs and Dodge Reservoir campgrounds remain closed.
Remarks: NOTE: Use of chainsaws on public lands managed by BLM in northeast California and far northwestern Nevada is suspended because of extreme fire danger. Fire officials remind residents and visitors that fire restrictions are in effect for public lands and national forests in northeast California and far northwest Nevada. Campfires are permitted only in posted recreation sites.
For additional fire information, please go to InciWeb @ http://inciweb.org/incident/3151/
| Started: 8/12/12 at 6:42 pm | Expected Containment: 8/28/2012 |
| Cause: Lightning | Committed Resources: 755 people |
| Fuels: Fire is burning sagebrush, juniper,and grass | Structures Threatened: 39 (20 residences; 1 commercial; 18 outbuildings) |
| Estimated Size: est. 320,793 acres (275,650 acres in California and 45,143 acres in Nevada) | Structures Damaged or Destroyed: 1 (barn) |
| Containment: 66% | Injuries: 3 minor |
Twin Peaks HMA wildfire ~ 300K acres burned already
Twin Peaks HMA Rush Fire (Photo © Phil Perkins)
Rush Fire Update
Tuesday, August 21, 2012 8 pm
Northern Rockies Incident Management Team – Doug Turman, IC
Fire Information Office:
530-710-8568
Staffed: 8:00 am to 6:00 pm
Started: August 12, 2012 at 6:42 pm
Cause: Lightning
Fuels: Fire is burning in sagebrush, juniper, and grass
Estimated Size: 313,911 acres
Containment: 50%
Expected Containment: 8/28/2012
Committed Resources: Approximately 832 people
Structures Threatened: 9 (6 residences; 1 commercial; 2 outbuildings)
Structures Damaged or Destroyed: 1 (barn)
Injuries: 2 (both in fire camp)
Updated Rush Fire Map in Twin Peaks HMA
Location: The fire is located on Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Northern California District (BLM-CA-NOD,) Eagle Lake Field Office, approximately 15 miles southeast of Ravendale, California. The fire is burning near a major natural gas line and transfer station, and power transmission lines that supply the Reno area and adjacent to Highway 395.
Summary: Today firefighters made excellent progress in continuing line building and mop-up around the perimeter of the Rush Fire. Fortunately the predicted critical fire weather conditions occurred for only a short time and fire spread was minimal. Most of the growth occurred in the northeast part of the fire where firefighters made progress, but have not completely encircled the fire in the SOB/Burnt Lake areas. Crews will continue line building in that area tonight and tomorrow. Tomorrow, aircraft (small air tankers and helicopters) will be used to help firefighters in this effort. The remainder of the fireline will be patrolled and any heat found next to the fireline will be put out. Suppression repair (mainly smoothing and water barring dozer lines) will begin on some cool portions of the fireline.
Area and Road Closures in Effect: On August 17, the BLM issued a closure order for public lands in the fire area to protect public health and safety. The closed area is bounded by Highway 395 on the west, the Sand Pass Road on the east, and the Wendel Road on the south. The new northern boundary for the public land closure is the Juniper Ridge, Tuledad, Stage Road, Marr Road, and Buckhorn Road extending to Nevada Highway 447 in Washoe County. Routes closed within this closure area include the Ramhorn Springs, Rye Patch Road, Buckhorn, Shinn Ranch, Stoney, Deep Cut, Smoke Creek, Skedaddle Ranch, Dry Valley, and Brubeck roads. The Ramhorn Springs Campground and the Dodge Reservoir Campground also is closed. Today, August 21st Washoe County closed the Buffalo Meadows Road to public use. This will allow firefighters better access and help protect firefighter and public safety.
Travelers along the Highway 395 corridor, please use caution where fire crews and equipment are working in the fire area.
Remarks: NOTE: Use of chainsaws on public lands managed by BLM in NE California and far northwest Nevada is suspended effective Monday, Aug. 20, due to extreme fire danger. Fire officials remind residents and visitors that fire restrictions are in effect for public lands and national forests in northeast California and far northwest Nevada. Campfires are permitted only in posted recreation sites.
For additional fire information, please go to InciWeb @ http://inciweb.org/incident/3151/
###
Help California’s last wild horses stay on the range
Fire endangers wild horse habitat
Rush Fire photo August 20, 2012 (Photo © Phil Perkins)
Close to 300,000 acres of the Twin Peak wild horse range have burned as of midnight August 20th.
We are very grateful to the Rush fire crews working to contain the fire, protect the land, livestock, wild horses and burros and especially the community.
We ask the BLM to find a way to help the wild horses on the range by bringing them food and water as needed–until the forage grows back.
Rounding up California’s last herd of wild horses and removing them from their herd management area is wrong. We don’t want them to lose their legally designated range to livestock, energy and mining use. These other forms of public land use can move elsewhere for a while, if needed, but California’s wild horses need their home on the range.
Photo © Cynthia Smalley, all rights reserved
Rush fire info and map: http://inciweb.org/incident/3151/