Dear Friends & Supporters,
Saving America’s Mustangs (SAM) is encouraged by yesterday’s announcement by Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey that major changes are on the horizon for the Wild Horse and Burro Program.  However, we have many concerns about the timetable to make these changes and actions that the BLM will take in the intervening time while America waits for these changes to go into effect.  It is also hard not to recognize 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 and 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.

Looking at the specifics of Director Abbey’s statement, we would call for Secretary Salazar and Director Abbey to take an in depth look at the following:

1.       The current Appropriate Management Levels (AML) is severely flawed in a number of ways.  The number of aums allocated to horses compared with those given to cattle is skewed badly and must be changed.  The BLM must do an audit of the forage on all public lands allotments and ensure that there is true equity where multiple uses are concerned.

Continue reading Saving America’s Mustangs Responds to BLM’s Thursday Announcement →

On behalf of America’s wild horses, American taxpayers, and my Saving America’s Mustang Foundation, I would like to express my deep disappointment in the BLM’s late Friday (January 21st) evening press release announcing its rejection of my proposal to create an eco-sanctuary for wild horses in Nevada.

Not even one month ago, on January 4, 2011 in Las Vegas, BLM director Bob Abbey stated publicly that my idea “has merit and deserves serious consideration.” Today, he has rejected the project, notifying the media, but providing my foundation with no explanation, despite our three years of hard work on the plan.

My eco-sanctuary proposal offers a cost-effective solution to the problem of the BLM’s roundup and warehousing of as many as 40,000 wild horses in off-the-range holding facilities. It is exactly the kind of public/private partnership solution that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has stated is essential to reform of the wild horse and burro program.

So imagine my astonishment when I read in the news release that my plan didn’t save money.  During our three years of work, BLM officials at every level acknowledged in meetings with me that the eco-sanctuary plan saves the taxpayers money.

Read more> http://www.horsesinthesouth.com/article/article_detail.aspx?id=13031

Dear Friends & Supporters,
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is asking for public comments on its proposal to remove 600 wild horses from the Great Basin Divide Herd Management Area (HMA) in Wyoming’s Red Desert region. The BLM says that this 1,215 square area can only sustain 415 to 600 horses. BLM claims 1,000 mustangs live in the area. Meanwhile, the BLM authorizes thousands of cattle to graze this same area. According to BLM statistics, Wyoming has the second highest wild horse population in the nation, yet the latest available BLM population figures (FY 2009) estimate just 5,000 horses. The state has reduced the areas where wild horses are allowed to roam by nearly half in the last four decades and aims reduce the overall population further to just 3,700 horses. Less than three months ago, BLM captured and removed over 2,000 wild horses from another area of Wyoming’s pristine Red Desert region in the Adobe Town and Salt Wells Creek Herd Management Areas.

Urge the BLM to implement a fertility control program instead of a capture and removal operation, and undertake a process to increase Appropriate Management Levels (AMLs) for wild horses and decrease livestock grazing in this federally-designated wild horse area.  Please personalize the message below.

Click here to TAKE ACTION to voice opposition to BLM Proposal to remove 400-600 mustangs in Wyoming

Also, please TAKE ACTION today to stop the Antelope Complex gather in late January 2011.

Also, please join in on the discussions on our Facebook fan page today. www.facebook.com/mustangmonument and on Twitter: @mpickens.

Visit her website for up to the minute information: www.savingamericasmustangs.org.

Also check out the Mustang Monument Wild Horse Eco Sanctuary Page: www.mustangmonument.com.

Become a supporter of the wild horse issue: Click here.

Saving America’s Mustangs

2683 Via de la Valle

# G313

Del Mar, California 92014