12/31/09

Alternative Timeline - Wednesday 13 January, 2021

This wonderful post comes to us from Earth Changes

Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Mass Removal of BLM From Public Land

Alternative Timeline - Wednesday 13 January, 2021

A controversial winter roundup of all Bureau of Land Management officials began in earnest today, as aging politicians and out of work cattle ranchers strongly protested the roundup of individuals who had protected them and their lifestyles for over half a decade. The courts turned down the appeals against the roundup of BLM officials, ruling that these wild humans pose a threat to future safety of wildlife and the sustainability of public lands.

State officials and concerned citizens used helicopters to begin the roundup of all BLM officials across the United States, who will be moved to humane holding centers in the desert where they will be contained and fed for the rest of their lives. Sheryl Crow defended the removal of the BLM from public lands as being humane and in balance with federal laws.

"We waited a long time for this day to come, and so I cannot say I am not enjoying this roundup." said a local observer...

By mid-afternoon at least 1,330 BLM officials had been moved to their holding area North of Nevada, as key Whistleblowers helped officials with the roundup.

The beginning of the end for the Bureau of Land Management came in 2010, as increasing protests at the removal of wild horse herds across the United States led to a major turn in events. New Findings of illegalities, and a growing wave of individuals who could no longer keep quiet about the secret agenda behind the illegal removal of wild horses from public lands, led to the complete removal of the BLM from America's public lands.

"It sure is a day to remember," said Ginger Kathrens, creator of the Cloud Foundation, as she helped coordinate the roundup of rogue BLM officials throughout the state of Montana.

The end of the BLM can be seen back in 2010 when they began a winter roundup to capture thousands of wild horses and remove them permanently from the Calico Complex in Nevada.

Upon hearing about the BLM’s plans for the large-scale removal of 2,500 horses in northwest Nevada near the Black Rock Desert, more than seven thousand citizens submitted public comments to the BLM opposing the Calico Mountain Complex Round Up, scheduled to begin on December 1, 2009. Public comment has been extended through November 22, 2009 according to the BLM. Lynn McKormick

Elko County Commissioner and rancher Demar Dahl's, "Horses are a resource, let's eat them..." comment, will go down in history as the defining moment when the true agenda for ranching land management let the cat out of the bag:

"We need I think to recognize that the horse is a resource. All of us love Bambi and all of us love deer, we all recognize that a deer herd has to be managed and we manage them and we control their numbers. And how do we do it? We eat them. The horse is a resource, there are horses that are good for companionship, good for pleasure riding, good for working cattle, good for jumping. There are some horses that I can tell you, and I have known horses all my life and I love good horses, but there are a lot of horses that are just to be eaten and that is their best use. And there are plenty of people and plenty of pets in this world that are willing to utilize that resource. And I think that common sense should dictate that we give the BLM sale authority and allow that to happen." American Herds

Posted by Aonach Dubh at 11:33 AM

Buried - from American Herds

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Buried courtesy of American Herds

BLM Photo - 2004 Warm Springs HMA Wild Horse Round Up

In January 2008, when the BLM Winnemucca Field Office approved the new grazing proposal for the Soldier Meadows Allotment, Western Watersheds Project filed an appeal and took BLM to court to challenge that decision.

As a result, extensive testimony from BLM personnel has been given about the Soldier Meadows Allotment and is now part of the public record, some of which included testimony from Glenna Eckel, BLMs Winnemucca Wild Horse & Burro Specialist on May 13th, 2009.

Ms. Eckel testified, under oath, in a court of law, about impacts from wild horses on the range in areas of the Calico Complex that she had been monitoring for the last six years. Below are some of the highlights of this testimony. To view the complete transcript, Click Here.

Page 818
Line 20, Answer from Eckel; “I’ve been assigned the Warm Springs Canyon Herd Management Area and the Calico Mountains Herd Management Area for the last six years. I have only been assigned to the Black Rock Range West for the last year.”

Page 796
Line 18, Answer from Eckel; “Well, I guess, honestly, I’m surprised that the number of horses that are out there, based on my monitoring data that I’ve done the last couple of years, that the monitoring data hasn’t shown a higher utilization than what I’ve read. So I guess what I am thinking is that I’m not sure it would change my conclusion.”

Line 24. Question; “Increasing the horses five times would not change your conclusion; is that right?”

Page 797
Line 1, Answer from Eckel; “Well, I think, again it boils down to that competition. And what I have seen, again based on the monitoring data, is that I would have expected different monitoring data than what I’ve collected, based on those numbers.”

Page 809
Line 22, Question; “Okay. I believe, in your testimony, you made a statement that you were surprised at the number of horses that were out there, that the monitoring data hasn’t shown higher utilizations than what you read?”

Page 810
Line 1, Answer from Eckel; “Correct”.

Line 2, Question; “Could you just elaborate a little bit more on what you meant by that?”

Line 4-16, Answer from Eckel; “Sure. I guess what I mean is, given the March ’08 census and the numbers we counted, I didn’t have that knowledge prior to March ’08. So the monitoring that I did and since the last gather, which was in 2004-2005, I was under the impression that we were at AML, those population estimates that we looked at earlier.”

“And what surprises me is that now, knowing that we had – I can’t remember what you gave it, a certain percentage over. But there’s significantly more animals out there than what we thought were, so I would have expected the monitoring data to show higher levels of use than what I collected. And I guess I’m learning it’s a big country, animals move”.

Page 814
Line 18-21, Question; “What were the implications, in your mind, of the monitoring data that you collected? In other words, once you gathered it, what were your – perhaps “conclusions” is a better word.”

Line 25, Answer from Eckel; “And at the time, again, like after the gather, I assumed that we were close to those population estimates of being under AML, and so the monitoring data was meeting management objectives that we had identified. And again, I was thinking we had a smaller population than I learned then in 2008.” (emphasis added).

To summarize, Glenna Eckle stated that, despite wild horse populations being five times over BLMs “established AMLs” in the areas she was monitoring in the Calico Complex, BLMs “monitoring objectives were being met”, that this significantly larger population was NOT evident in their forage consumption, that she had no idea they were so far over AML until they flew over the area and counted the horses, and that based on what she had seen, she was really surprised about what she was finding on the range regarding wild horse impacts.

To understand the full legal implication of what Glenna is saying here, it is also important to understand what the courts have already told BLM in the past about the legal criteria they must use to determine what is “excess” before they have any authority to remove wild horses and burros from the range.

“The test as to appropriate wild horse population levels is whether such levels will achieve and maintain a thriving ecological balance on the public lands. Nowhere in the law or regulations is the BLM required to maintain any specific number of animals or to maintain populations in the number of animals existing at any particular time Dahl v. Clark, supra, at 595. A determination that removal is warranted must be based on research and analysis, and on monitoring programs, which include studies of grazing utilization, trends in range conditions, actual use, and climactic factors". Michael Blake, supra: Animal Protection Institute of America 109 IBLA 112, 120 (1989); see Craig C. Downer, 111 IBLA 339 (1989)

The Calico Complex Environmental Assessments never mentioned Glenna’s testimony or what she found about “monitoring objectives being met” with five times the wild horses than BLM knew were out there before they counted them.

Instead, BLM buried the evidence and used old decisions to perpetuate the “Appropriate Management Levels” of wild horses in the area, some of which were set as far back as 1982.

So now, wild horses are galloping in the snow, down steep terrain, through rocky, icy, slippery paths on private land and being hauled to BLMs newly built Northern Nevada wild horse holding facility, not the publicly open Palomino Valley Facility, but a facility so new, BLM doesn’t even have a protocol established for public access yet.

There’s been a lot of speculation flying around the Internet the last few days about “why” the Calico Complex wild horses are being shipped to this facility instead of the publicly accessible Palomino Valley.

One source familiar with the Calico wild horses stated they were prone to strangles. This is being confirmed from another source that stated they have been communicating with BLM's John Neil, the man in charge of both the Palomino Valley Holding Facility as well as the newest one the Calico Complex wild horses are being shipped to. According to this source, John Neil stated, "Some of the horses coming in off the Calico Mountain Complex, particularly from the Warm Springs area, have contagious upper respiratory issues. As a result they are all being transported to BLM's new contract holding facility in Fallon."

According to a January 31, 2006 article in LA Weekly, Mustang author Deanne Stillman stated, “...46 wild horses at the BLM corral in Susanville, California, have died of strangles, an upper respiratory infection that can kick in after a horse is stressed — or after, for instance, being run too hard during a helicopter roundup.”

In Animal Welfare Institutes “Managing for Extinction”, a publication regarding critical issues found in BLMs management of the Wild Horse & Burro Program that continue to stay unresolved, it appears the issue of strangles is not isolated to just the Calico wild horses, as AWI has also reported:

“In the fall of 2006, the Palomino Valley, NV and Litchfield, CA holding facilities suffered from outbreaks of strangles, a highly infectious and serious respiratory disease. During the past two years, practically every BLM facility has experienced similar disease outbreaks, leading to the confirmed deaths of scores of animals…..”

While BLM points to wild horses being “prone to strangles” as the reason for their isolation and why it is important to keep them far from the public eye, (and we can only wonder why BLM would want to expose approximately 2,500 wild horses to each other that are now at risk of catching strangles from their new exposure to each other), perhaps BLM should begin to reconsider their decisions to manage wild horses by running them in the winter, in the snow, like they did to Jewel, the beautiful wild mare that was run down on December 13th, 2007 during BLMs round up of the Antelope and Antelope Valley Herd Management Areas in Nevada.

Was Jewel prone to strangles too?

No, she did not survive…

Posted by Preserve the Herds at 1:35 PM

12/27/09

Protest the Wild Horse Roundups Dec 27th

Protest the Wild Horse Roundups Dec 27th

PRESS RELEASE

PROTEST THE INHUMANE WINTER ROUNDUP OF NEVDA’S WILD HORSES

WHERE? THE ENTRANCE TO RED ROCK CANYON, LAS VEGAS

WHEN? 1PM, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27. 2009

CONTACT PERSON: ARLENE GAWNE, 702-277-1313 artistfromafrica@hotmail.com

Red Rock Canyon Nevada

On Monday, Dec. 28, 2009, the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) intends to roundup approximately 2,400- 2,700 of the estimated 3,000 wild horses in the Calico Mountain wild horse complex of Northern Nevada. They will be driven by helicopters in icy winter conditions, over rocky ground, for long distances. Some horses will be injured or die just as they have in recent BLM helicopter roundups.

Las Vegas realtor & wildlife artist, Arlene Gawne, says: “I am so mad, I won’t take it anymore! It is time for the public to stand up to the BLM and the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, and say no more taxpayer dollars for inhumane roundups of wild horses. We intend to protest outside the entrance to the BLM-managed Red Rock Canyon on Sunday, December 27, 2009 at 1pm.”

“What does this one roundup cost taxpayers?” says Gawne. “Apparently nearly $2 million dollars for the roundup contractor and the BLM personnel. Then sorting and transporting the horses will likely cost another $1 million! Are they crazy in this economy? The Calico range is not in poor condition and the horses are healthy, but the BLM increased livestock grazing permits significantly last year. That’s the core issue.”

Says Gawne, “Every year I go on safari to Africa’s wildlife parks where wildlife tourists spend millions and employ thousands of local people. Many tourists have asked me where they could view wild horses in North America? My answer is NOWHERE!”

”Those would-be tourists are shocked and disgusted when I explain that the BLM holds 34,000 horses in pens at a taxpayer cost of over $100,000 per day, yet sources independent from the BLM estimate there may be just 15,000 mustangs left in the wild. The BLM claims that wild horses destroy the range but the dirty truth is that cattle on public land outnumber wild horses 100 to one! According to the Government Accountability Office, we taxpayers subsidize beef interests at a net loss of $123 million a year – and most are big cattle corporations like Annhauser Busch and the Hilton Family Trust, not small family ranchers. In fact, economists estimate that additional direct and indirect costs may run that subsidy to half a billion or even a billion dollars. Oh yes, I am mad!“

”East and Southern Africa depend on the wildlife safari industry for a major part of their economy. Why don't we create new jobs in the West with Wild Horse Sanctuaries? Having done wildlife safaris from rough to “high-heeled” worldwide, I know there is a big audience to view wild horses. Some well-heeled folks will need luxury tented camps with all the comforts laid on; but many more, including families, need the inexpensive safari jeep and bunkhouse accommodation for a 1 to 2 day peek at the Mustangs at the edge of a Wild Horse Sanctuary. Serious hikers and horse-back riders would fill campgrounds deeper in the Sanctuary while wilderness lovers would definitely pay to sit in blinds at remote waterholes where they could photograph truly wild Mustangs.”

“Nevada has half of America’s wild horses but we need to get those wild horses and burros out of the holding pens and return them to public land designated primarily for their use in 1971. Recently, Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, proposed to move 26,000 wild horses to preserves east the Mississippi purchased at a starting cost of $96 million. I hate to be rude but what was Salazar smoking? The Mustang is a creature of our spectacular West! Let’s keep the jobs in Nevada! Motels, B&B's, rrestaurants, food suppliers, tour guides, transport companies, etc. will blossom as tourists come to see wild horse sanctuaries but stay to enjoy our Western landscapes and people.”

“The treatment of wild Mustangs is a huge black eye for the Obama administration. The President appears to spend more energy on selecting a dog than enforcing the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. It is time he put a moratorium on BLM roundups and invested some of the bank bailout money – our tax dollars – into creating Wild Horse Sanctuaries on public land. It is obvious that the West is badly in need of job diversification and the wild Mustang is our equivalent of lions or elephants.”

12/26/09

Calico to start on Private Land- No Public Observers + Protest Announcement

I can't remember ever being so angry and disgusted. Please spread the word! Feel free to share this! Write to Senator Reid and President Obama. This is unacceptable.

Calico to start on Private Land- No Public Observers + Protest Announcement «

By thecloudfoundation

On Saturday morning, 12/26 the Cloud Foundation learned that the Calico Roundup, arguably the most controversial roundup in the BLM’s history, will be held for the first two weeks on private land where no members of the public will be allowed to view the operation. According to BLM over half of the 2+ month long roundup will take place on private land. The immediate reaction from the public and those planning on attending on Monday is that this is unacceptable and leads to further suspicions of BLM misconduct. Don Glenn’s statement that the public is allowed to watch and welcome to any roundup and offer that we will be accommodated at a safe distance as to not disturb the horses has fallen flat. Calico cannot be conducted in secret like the Buckhorn Roundup but by working off of public land the BLM tells us that the landowners will not allow any member of the public to be present.

Demand accountability and transparency– our wild horses, our public lands and our taxpayer dollars from President Obama and Senator Reid. Free fax service: faxzero.com — just attach a pdf file of your letter. 2 free faxes per day, 3 pages each. You can fax the White House at 202-456-2461 or call 202-456-1111 or Senator Reid at Fax: 202-224-7327 or Phone the DC office at: 202-224-3542

The following is a press release that the Cloud Foundation received. We support the right of the public to gather and speak out peacefully on behalf of our wild horses and would like to inform you of this protest:
CALICO PROTEST in Las Vegas

WHERE? THE ENTRANCE TO RED ROCK CANYON, LAS VEGAS

WHEN? 1PM, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27. 2009

CONTACT PERSON: ARLENE GAWNE, 702-277-1313 artistfromafrica@hotmail.com

On Monday, Dec. 28, 2009, the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) intends to roundup approximately 2,400- 2,700 of the estimated 3,000 wild horses in the Calico Mountain wild horse complex of Northern Nevada. They will be driven by helicopters in icy winter conditions, over rocky ground, for long distances. Some horses will be injured or die just as they have in recent BLM helicopter roundups.

Las Vegas realtor & wildlife artist, Arlene Gawne, says: “I am so mad, I won’t take it anymore! It is time for the public to stand up to the BLM and the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, and say no more taxpayer dollars for inhumane roundups of wild horses. We intend to protest outside the entrance to the BLM-managed Red Rock Canyon on Sunday, December 27, 2009 at 1pm.”

“What does this one roundup cost taxpayers?” says Gawne. “Apparently nearly $2 million dollars for the roundup contractor and the BLM personnel. Then sorting and transporting the horses will likely cost another $1 million! Are they crazy in this economy? The Calico range is not in poor condition and the horses are healthy, but the BLM increased livestock grazing permits significantly last year. That’s the core issue.”

Says Gawne, “Every year I go on safari to Africa’s wildlife parks where wildlife tourists spend millions and employ thousands of local people. Many tourists have asked me where they could view wild horses in North America? My answer is NOWHERE!”

”Those would-be tourists are shocked and disgusted when I explain that the BLM holds 34,000 horses in pens at a taxpayer cost of over $100,000 per day, yet sources independent from the BLM estimate there may be just 15,000 mustangs left in the wild. The BLM claims that wild horses destroy the range but the dirty truth is that cattle on public land outnumber wild horses 100 to one! According to the Government Accountability Office, we taxpayers subsidize beef interests at a net loss of $123 million a year – and most are big cattle corporations like Annhauser Busch and the Hilton Family Trust, not small family ranchers. In fact, economists estimate that additional direct and indirect costs may run that subsidy to half a billion or even a billion dollars. Oh yes, I am mad!“

”East and Southern Africa depend on the wildlife safari industry for a major part of their economy. Why don’t we create new jobs in the West with Wild Horse Sanctuaries? Having done wildlife safaris from rough to “high-heeled” worldwide, I know there is a big audience to view wild horses. Some well-heeled folks will need luxury tented camps with all the comforts laid on; but many more, including families, need the inexpensive safari jeep and bunkhouse accommodation for a 1 to 2 day peek at the Mustangs at the edge of a Wild Horse Sanctuary. Serious hikers and horse-back riders would fill campgrounds deeper in the Sanctuary while wilderness lovers would definitely pay to sit in blinds at remote waterholes where they could photograph truly wild Mustangs.”

“Nevada has half of America’s wild horses but we need to get those wild horses and burros out of the holding pens and return them to public land designated primarily for their use in 1971. Recently, Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, proposed to move 26,000 wild horses to preserves east the Mississippi purchased at a starting cost of $96 million. I hate to be rude but what was Salazar smoking? The Mustang is a creature of our spectacular West! Let’s keep the jobs in Nevada! Motels, B&B’s, rrestaurants, food suppliers, tour guides, transport companies, etc. will blossom as tourists come to see wild horse sanctuaries but stay to enjoy our Western landscapes and people.”

“The treatment of wild Mustangs is a huge black eye for the Obama administration. The President appears to spend more energy on selecting a dog than enforcing the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. It is time he put a moratorium on BLM roundups and invested some of the bank bailout money – our tax dollars – into creating Wild Horse Sanctuaries on public land. It is obvious that the West is badly in need of job diversification and the wild Mustang is our equivalent of lions or elephants.”

12/25/09

From Indy And Me To All Our Wonderful Friends

12/24/09

Judge Friedman Denies Preliminary Injunction But Questions BLM Policies

from Animal Law Coalition

Posted Dec 21, 2009 by lauraallen

Update Dec. 23, 2009: Judge Paul L. Friedman has denied the motion by plaintiffs In Defense of Animals, Craig Downer and Terri Farley, for a preliminary injunction to stop the roundup of up to 2,736 wild horses from the Calico Mountain Complex herd management areas in Nevada.

But the judge has also rejected that BLM can continue to keep unadopted wild horses and burros in long term facilities. The judge agreed with the plaintiff that BLM has no authority to transport healthy unadoptable horses and hold them in long term holding facilities especially in places where they were not located previously, Oklahoma, Kansas or South Dakota.

The judge, however, found the plaintiffs did not raise this argument until their reply brief and it could not be the basis for a preliminary injunction. The judge said the defendants had not had time to brief the issue fully. The judge did reject the BLM's contention that Congress had ratified its policies of putting unadopted wild horses and burros into long term holding facilities by approving appropriations bills.

The judge suggested the agency postpone the roundup scheduled for December 28 but declined to issue an injunction at this time. The judge reasoned that if the BLM proceeds with the gather, knowing that long term holding may not be an option and with no funds under the Appropriations Act, FY 2010, for euthanization or sale for slaughter, the agency must come up with another solution for the horses it will have removed from the wild. The judge said that once removed as excess, the horses could not at that point simply be returned to the herd areas.

The judge found "untenable" the plaintiffs' other contention that BLM cannot round up and remove horses en masse. The court rejected the plaintiffs' interpretation of the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 1331 et seq, (WFRHBA) that BLM must determine on a case by case basis those horses deemed "excess" or causing an overpopulation, and then remove them under a tiered approach with the old, sick and lame taken first and then the healthy adoptable horses. The judge said such a process would put the BLM in "an impossible Catch-22" because the agency could not really evaluate the health or age of horses without capturing them first. The judge found the WFRHBA did not prohibit the BLM's current method of rounding up horses, separating them, sterlizing and returning some and placing others in short term holding facilities for adoption or sale.

Judge Friedman did also say the public and BLM's interest in controlling the overpopulation of wild horses could be negatively impacted by a delay. He said "issuance of an injunction at this stage might lead to substantial growth in already overpopulated herds" in the Calico Complex. The judge said that, according to BLM, a spring roundup could result in more injuries for the wild horses.

This ruling does not end the case. With this ruling, judge rejected the motion for a preliminary injunction to keep the status quo pending a final decision. It is a serious warning to BLM that the judge does not think its policy of keeping wild horses in long term holding facilities, is legal. But, unfortunately, unless BLM takes the judge's advice, the Calico roundup will proceed on Dec. 28.

At this point, the best course of action is to call on President Barack Obama and BLM to stop the roundups. Urge Congress to take action, too, and demand a stop to these roundups! Go here to find out how you can join the call for a moratorium on BLM roundups of wild horses and burros.

For more on the plaintiffs' allegations, read Animal Law Coalition's original report.

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