TCF Joins Coalition Calling on Interior Secretary Haaland to Remove Livestock in Wild Horse Habitats
American Wild Horse and Burro Coalition Calls on President Biden’s Interior Dept. to Eliminate Livestock Grazing and Prioritize Wild Horse Protection and Preservation
More than 70 organizations and 60 Individuals Join Effort in Letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland
Washington, D.C. – This week a coalition of more than seventy equine protection, animal welfare, and environmental groups, as well as numerous wild-horse and ecotourism businesses called on newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, to halt livestock grazing and revoke grazing permits on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Herd Management Area (HMA) lands in an open letter to the Secretary.
In 2018, Haaland was elected as one of the two first female Native Americans in Congress, and recently served as the Vice-Chair of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, and Chair of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands where she frequently sided with wild horse protection advocates over Big Ag, Big Oil, and Big Animal groups who’ve sought to round-up and eradicate wild horse and burro populations on federal lands with a maniacal scheme known as the “Path Forward.” Haaland’s confirmation to lead the Interior Department was considered a tremendous victory for wild horse, animal protection, wildlife, and environmental advocates, and Indigenous leaders who campaigned to elevate one of their own to the powerful federal seat that oversees natural resources, public lands, Indian affairs, and the BLM.
The coalition letter dated April 9, 2021 went further to advocate for:
• Management of horses on all BLM HMAs to retain horse population sizes that will maintain TNEB [(Thriving Natural Ecological Balance)(where TNEB already exists)] or promote rapid progress toward TNEB (where TNEB does not currently exist). Management should prioritize keeping horses on designated HMA lands, within ecological parameters that maintain or promote continued progress toward TNEB.
• Immediate commencement of a NEPA-conforming BLM Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment processes for all BLM Districts that have contained (both historically and currently) legally-demarcated horse-related BLM HMAs (pursuant to the 1971 Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act) to bring about the TNEB-associated outcomes articulated above.
• Preparation of a robust, broad-based scientific assessment of the baseline ecological conditions that have been adversely impacted by livestock grazing (and associated infrastructure) to serve as the basis for determination of sustainable wild horse numbers and use, and for determining HMA restoration/recovery/sustainability actions.
“It seems incredibly appropriate to finally implement the genuine intent of the Wild Horse and Burro Act on its 50th birthday,” states Ginger Kathrens, founder of the Cloud Foundation and Emmy award-winning documentary film producer. “Since its unanimous passage in 1971, over 150 herds have been eliminated on over 30 million acres of public lands. Wild horses and burros are simultaneously marginalized by welfare ranching and scapegoated for range degradation. It is beyond time to open the gates of their squalid holding facilities. Give them back their lands, their families, and their freedom.”
"For over a decade BLM's plans have failed to use the NAS' recommendation and all other on-range solutions have been disregarded." States Lisa Friday, Communications Director for The Cloud Foundation. “It’s time for the BLM to use science as a basis for management of our wild horses and burros.”
“The answer to sustainable, humane, fiscally responsible wild horse and burro management is to manage them on the range. These protected animals receive less than 20% of the forage on their own dedicated lands, while 80% is designated for privately owned livestock, states Dana Zarrello, Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation. “It’s time to finally honor the intent of the 1971 Act and give wild horses and burros their fair share on the lands that were, as Congress stated, to be ‘devoted principally’ to their welfare.”
The full letter to Haaland can be found here signed by the following organizations: Western Watersheds Project, Wildlands Defense, WildEarth Guardians, The Cloud Foundation, Wasteful Unreasonable Use, Coloradans Against Horse Slaughter, The Daily Pitchfork, Living Images, Friends of Animals, Wild Horse Education, In Defense of Animals, Kimerlee Curyl Fine Art, Animal Wellness Action, Animal Wellness Foundation, American Horse Protection Society, Center for a Humane Economy, Sequoia ForestKeeper, High Noon Horse Farm, Central Oregon Wild Horse Coalition, Fleet of Angels, Wyoming Untrapped, Mary Hone Fine Art, Yellowstone to Uintas Connection, Horses for Life Foundation, League of Humane Voters, Equine Rescue and Adoption Foundation, Western Wildlife Conservancy, Safe Haven Equine Warriors, Sand Wash Advocate Team, Equine Collaborative International, Running Horses Studio, Colorado Wolf Alliance, Rob Lee Photography, Stop Wild Horse Roundups Coalition, Water for Western Wildlife ENI, World Park Educational Institute, Western Montana Equine Rescue, Wyoming Mustang Institute, Sandy Sharkey Photography, Al Hone Fine Art, Skydog Sanctuary, WindDancer Foundation, Predator Defense, Citizens for a Humane Los Angeles, Grazing Reform Project, The Two Suite Ltd., Love Wild Horses, American Equine Awareness, Friends of Animals, Native American Church of the Ghostdancers, Wild Equid League of Colorado, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Conservation Congress, Lynne Pomeranz Photographer, Wild Horse Tourist, Wild Horse Photography Collective, Chief’s Old Friend Inc., Wager Counseling, Habitat for Horses, Horses Happily Ever After, Equine Advocates, John Muir Project, Animals’Angels, Carter Reservoir Mustangs, Northern Colorado Wild Horse & Burro Partners, Devils Garden Wild Horse Emergency Rescue, Larimer Co. Horsemens’Assoc./BCHA, Wild Mustang Community, Serengeti Foundation, Adobe Mtn. Equine, Friends of the Bitterroot, and the Gila Herd Foundation of Arizona.
The Cloud Foundation (TCF), a 501(c)3 non-profit, has been at the forefront of wild horse advocacy since its inception in 2005. TCF was founded by Emmy award-winning filmmaker Ginger Kathrens, creator of three acclaimed PBS Nature series documentaries that followed the wild stallion Cloud throughout the seasons of his life. Dedicated to the protection and preservation of wild horses and burros on our public lands, The Cloud Foundation advocates for protecting natural wild equid behaviors, repatriation of wild horses to zeroed-out Herd Areas, and equal allocation of forage within Congressionally-designated Herd Areas.
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