BLM Wyoming Moves One Step Closer to Wild Horse Extinction
BLM’s latest assault on wild horses will leave two HMAs empty and take a heavy toll on Wyoming tourism
(February 5, 2020) Rock Springs, WY. The Cloud Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit based in Colorado Springs recently denounced a plan released by the Rock Springs BLM Field Office. This draft Revised Management Plan (RMP) amendment details a plan to eradicate wild horses from two dedicated, federally protected Herd Management Areas in Wyoming’s Checkerboard area. It appears to be a capitulation to a lawsuit filed against BLM by the Rock Springs Grazing Association in 2011.
This potentially catastrophic plan calls for the extinction of the Salt Wells and Great Divide Basin herds of wild horses, and for the management of White Mountain as a non-reproducing herd, a violation of the agency’s own mandate to manage “healthy, self-sustaining herds.” BLM also intends to reduce the Appropriate Management Level (AML) in the Adobe Town HMA by 44% - talking it down to nearly half its current size.
"This proposed action is the BLM's latest assault on wild horses to accommodate the livestock industry," said Ginger Kathrens, founder of The Cloud Foundation. "Over the past 40 years, the BLM has eliminated more than 50% of the Congressionally designated wild horse habitat in Wyoming and if they continue at this rate, wild horses will become extinct within our lifetime."
The trend of removing wild horses and incarcerating them at tax-payer expense, tragically, is nothing new. BLM has confiscated over 42 million acres of dedicated land from our nation’s wild horses and burros since the inception of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, with the intention of reducing the population to the near-extinction levels that existed at that time.
“Congress needs to intervene and become the active overseer of this rogue agency before America’s wild mustangs are systematically eradicated from all our public lands.” Stated Lisa Friday, Communications Director for The Cloud Foundation. “Where is the comprehensive plan that Congress required from the BLM?”
Ginger Kathrens and The Cloud Foundation have been fighting for the protection of Wyoming’s Checkerboard herds for decades, including taking legal action to prevent dangerous plans like this one from coming to fruition. The organization is steadfast in its resolve to protect America’s wild horses and burros, our public lands and all the wildlife that live on them.
The Cloud Foundation (TCF), a 501©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 an end to tragic helicopter roundups, for the release of wild horses in holding to the zeroed-out herd areas, and for equal allocation of forage so that herd numbers can increase to truly viable population levels.
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