Pickens welcomes move to change wild horse strategy
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Pickens welcomes move to change wild horse strategy
February 28, 2011
Wild horses in the news
Prominent wild horse advocate Madeline Pickens has welcomed the Bureau of Land Management's proposal to make changes to its wild horse and burro programme.
Bureau director Bob Abbey said his agency was aiming to run fewer musters, make greater use of long-term contraceptives, explore more partnership programmes and make greater use of volunteers in running the programme.
Pickens, however, said she had many concerns about the timetable to make the changes and actions the bureau will take in the meantime.
"It is also hard not to recognise that promises have been made in the past with no results and the startling number of horses that continue to be gathered remains an untenable fact," she said.
"Something needs to be done about gathers in the short-term to protect the diminishing numbers of wild horses left on the range.
"The incremental and minimalist approach taken in the past has not served anyone well and the public is crying out for reform in the short-term.
Pickens and her Saving America's Mustangs foundation called on Abbey and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to take an in-depth look at several key aspects of the wild horse programme:
"We offer our resources and commitment to assist the Secretary and Director Abbey in any area where we can bring about change more expeditiously and help manage more effectively."
February 28, 2011
Wild horses in the news
Prominent wild horse advocate Madeline Pickens has welcomed the Bureau of Land Management's proposal to make changes to its wild horse and burro programme.
Bureau director Bob Abbey said his agency was aiming to run fewer musters, make greater use of long-term contraceptives, explore more partnership programmes and make greater use of volunteers in running the programme.
Pickens, however, said she had many concerns about the timetable to make the changes and actions the bureau will take in the meantime.
"It is also hard not to recognise that promises have been made in the past with no results and the startling number of horses that continue to be gathered remains an untenable fact," she said.
"Something needs to be done about gathers in the short-term to protect the diminishing numbers of wild horses left on the range.
"The incremental and minimalist approach taken in the past has not served anyone well and the public is crying out for reform in the short-term.
Pickens and her Saving America's Mustangs foundation called on Abbey and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to take an in-depth look at several key aspects of the wild horse programme:
- The current Appropriate Management Levels (AML) system is severely flawed in a number of ways, her foundation argues. The bureau, it says, must do an audit of the forage on all public lands allotments and ensure that there is true equity where multiple uses are concerned - specifically, the grazing of cattle.
- When the Wild Horse and Burro Act was passed, 53 million acres were allocated to the wild horses. The foundation says 21 million acres of that has been removed from use, leaving only 32 of the original 53 million acres for use by wild horses. Re-establishing acreage formally designated as wild horse Herd Management Areas that have been zeroed out and converted to other use to return wild horses where possible should be a major goal of the new overall assessment.
- Emphasis on public/private land partnerships should take into consideration private investment, entrepreneurship, volunteerism and value to the public good. Simply issuing new contracts to warehouse wild horses does little or nothing to move in a new direction when looking at the vast number of horses currently in holding pens, the foundation says.
- The reference to additional science being required to respond to many of the deficiencies in the current management of wild horses could not be more pressing than when looking at the current approach to gathers, the foundation says. "We are gathering very healthy horses off of range with sufficient forage to support not only the horses currently there but even larger numbers if the truth were told," it says. "The claim that large numbers of wild horses are starving or will starve is an exaggerated conclusion that has been offered as a stalking horse to continue the current gather policy."
"We offer our resources and commitment to assist the Secretary and Director Abbey in any area where we can bring about change more expeditiously and help manage more effectively."