Stop the US Forest Service from Capturing and Removing over 100 Wild Horses
from Northern New Mexico's Jicarilla Wild Horse Territory in the Spring of 2004
Summary
WHOA maintains that the wild horses are not an environmental issue and are
not what is wrong with the cattle industry. Rather, the overgrazing of
cattle are at issue with the environment. The drought, importation
of beef from South America, as well as many other factors are much of what is
wrong with the cattle industry. Even McDonalds lost money last year and it
was not due to the 148 wild horses allowed on the Forest Service lands in New
Mexico.
WHOA Goal
The Wild Horse Observers Association opposes this action by the US Forest
Service and its contractors. WHOA advocates that the Wild Horses either
remain on the Jicarilla Wild Horse Territory unmolested by the US Forest
Service, or be transferred to one of the other 8 Wild Horse Territories in New
Mexico, most of which do not have any Wild Horses on them.
In-Depth Analysis
The USDA Forest Service of New Mexico has 9 Wildhorse Territories
and 3 Wild Burro Territories, all of which are Congressionally mandated.
However, we have wild horses on only 3 of these territories. Additionally,
these 3 territories are being "managed" at numbers too low to remain genetically
viable. The Forest Service appears to be using every legal remedy it
can find, to wipe out these horses in favor of cattle. (See
graph
Wild Horses vs Cattle on Wild Horse/Burro Territories and document
Wild Horse
Territories List).
In addition, the courts have told the Forest Service that they are
overgrazing both New Mexico and Arizona with cattle (See
Forest Guardians vs US Forest
Service) including other parts of the Carson National Forest, but to no
avail so far.
For instance, in the planned Jicarilla round-up, over 100 horses (of a total
of only 341) are to be removed, even though there are grazing permits for over
1200 head of cattle on the same land. The Forest Service attempts to
portray these round-ups a humanitarian; as a means to manage the horse herd to
prevent starvation. In reality, the wild horse round-ups and the resulting
reduction in herd size are merely a means to avoid and/or delay the reduction of
cattle grazing during the current drought conditions.
The timing of this round-up, in the spring, is wrong as it will be during mid-foaling season.
In the spring on 2003, the Forest Services round-up in El Rito, New Mexico
resulted in the deaths of one adult and two foals. The
Forest Service was warned of this likelihood ahead of time. Their comment
to this after the death of the colt was "we knew there were risks".
Lately, the Forest Service has been claiming that one of the mares which died
would have died anyways due to starvation (WHOA has requested the veterinary
report about the mare, but the Forest Service has yet to provide it), but even
if true it is still a result of Forest Service mismanagement, where the wild
horses are given the lowest priority grazing on their own territory.
HELP!! The Forest Service has plans to roundup another 100 or so
horses in the Jicarilla Wild Horse Territory, another area of Carson
National Forest. Please contact WHOA or the Forest Service so that you can
be involved in the comments on their Environmental Assessment prior to the 30
day deadline.
It's important to understand that these horses in these areas are protected
by the 1971 Free-Roaming Wild Horses and Burros Act, regardless of breed or
blood type.
Key Information
 | Public Input-The public had 30 days to give inputs to the Forest
Service on the Proposed Action. The Proposed Action was a 15 page document
outlining a few alternatives and gave little to no data or useful information
such as is usually found in a 100 page or so Environmental Assessment. This is
due to the new regulations which also allow for NO public comment on the next
step which is the Environmental Assessment. However, WHOA ensured the Forest
Service received at least 30 public comments on the Proposed Action which must
be included and hopefully addressed in the Environmental Assessment to be out
around the end of November, 2003. |
| Deadly Roundup Protest
Rally- On
October 16, 2003, WHOA organized a protest rally outside the Regional Albuquerque Forest
Service Building to protest the Helicopter Roundups of Wild Horses within National Wild
Horse Territories. The protest garnered significant press coverage (all
three major network affiliates, KUNM, as well as CNN) and helped get the word out
about the existence of the National Wild Horse Territories and the plight of
the few remaining Wild Horses. (Listen
to the KUNM coverage, requires Real Player)
 | Due to the demonstration and the public input generated, the
Forest
Service has declared that the El Rito Ranger District (as well as the
Jicarilla District) will no longer do their roundups in the Spring and will
not be using helicopters. |
|
| Jicarilla Trip Report- WHOA has received a trip report from a
someone who visited the Jicarilla Wild Horse Territory, and the information
contained in it is very troubling. The Forest Service claimed that there
are over 200 horses roaming the territory, but that they may be difficult to
find as they may hide amongst the trees. The visit revealed that there
were hardly any live trees for the horses to hide amongst, that no
horses were to be found (only a few droppings and nothing to indicate more
than a handful of horses), and that the landscape was covered with oil/gas
drilling rigs. Apparently water had already been pumped out of the
ground as part of the oil/gas recovery process and the plant life was
suffering from it. (National
Geographic and others have written about this type of process being used in
Wyoming and Montana) |
| Ask for a Copy of the Environmental Assessment - While the Forest
Service is still writing the EA, it is important to call Mark Catron or Stan
Dykes at (505) 632-2956 and ask for a copy of the completed EA when it is
ready. Let them know you know it is being written right now, that you care,
and you will be watching to see that the
points made by WHOA to the Forest Service are
being addressed, such as no helicopters, stop harassing the horses just because
they have un-proactively allowed the cattle to overgraze for years and now
again, the horses have to pay for their long-term mismanagement. Due to this
mismanagement, they want to remove half the horses so that they can bring
cattle back sooner. Let them know that you are tired of cattle dominating our
multiple use Forests, that you know they are supposed to have independant
experts give inputs on the horse issues and look at birth control versus
round-up per the 1971 Act.
|
| Educate other folks
here and around the country and get them to call the Forest Service
and ask them to:
- ● Stop using helicopters in their round-ups,
because too many horses are hurt and/or killed from their use.
- ● Stop spring round-ups, as this is foaling
season.
- ● Give the Wild Horses first priority on their
own Wild Horse Territories. Ask the Forest Service to maintain a
sufficient sized Wild Horse herd (greater than 200) on each territory to
preserve their genetic viability, as well as ensure their survival through
any natural disaster.
- ● When herd reduction is necessary, relocate
the Wild Horses to other Wild Horse Territories.
- ● Use birth control to manage herd size,
rather than round-up and removal. Too many horses are hurt in the
round-up, and too many of the adopted horses eventually are sent to
slaughter houses.
|
| Write your representatives, both federal and state, and tell them
the same thing you told the Forest Service. |
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