Tag Archives: Roundups

*Featured/Spotlights

Wild Horse Fire Brigade Updates

Photo: Michelle Gough

Maybe you can imagine the frustration of having a vaccine that is proven to cure cancer, but not having the money to produce and distribute the cure.  Even as people are dying.

That is the kind of frustration that we are dealing with in regard to saving wild horses!  We have the cure for the wild horse management debacle. Now we just need the money to get the cure effected.

Unfortunately, an industry-wide slowdown in funding, partially caused by more nonprofits than ever entering into the wild horse nonprofit marketplace, is diluting donations and slowing progress on our projects critical to implementing a permanent, humane, and natural solution to keep American wild horses wild and free.

People are being fooled into funding the widespread sterilization (a.k.a.: Fertility Control) of wild horses to augment the genetic damage being inflicted by reducing populations via BLM roundups. This slowdown in funding is coming at a time when some people are asking and pleading with us, “Is there any way we can get the Wild Horse Fire Brigade plan accomplished faster?”  Of course there is, but it takes proper funding… we can only go as fast as our budget allows us.

Stanford produced a white paper that addresses the serious issues that arise from under funding a worthy nonprofit:

The Nonprofit Starvation Cycle

“Funders must take the lead in breaking a vicious cycle that is leaving nonprofits so hungry for decent infrastructure that they can barely function as organizations — let alone serve their beneficiaries.”

(Note: In the case of Wild Horse Fire Brigade, the ‘beneficiaries’ are the wild horses being abused, tortured, and on the brink of extinction.)

“Our research reveals that a vicious cycle fuels the persistent underfunding of overhead. The first step in the cycle is funders’ unrealistic expectations about how much it costs to run a nonprofit. At the second step, nonprofits feel pressure to conform to funders’ unrealistic expectations. At the third step, nonprofits respond to this pressure in two ways: they spend too little on overhead, and they underreport their expenditures on tax forms and in fundraising materials. This underspending and underreporting in turn perpetuate funders’ unrealistic expectations. Over time, funders expect grantees to do more and more with less and less — a cycle that slowly starves nonprofits.”

Sure, we’ve gotten some great national media exposure, and we’re very grateful for it. But people incorrectly assume that will be the ticket and we should now have financial wings when it’s not the case.  Honestly, national media articles help build brand recognition, reputation, and equity, but are less effective at bringing in donations these days than in prior years.

Until we can secure a major grant or large-scale donor, or a solid following of monthly donors, which as a newer nonprofit, we don’t have yet, our progress is restricted by budget.

We are far from having the kind of financial support we need to fully and speedily execute our novel, multifaceted approach to change the ongoing disastrous wild horse management and 30 years of failed advocacy.

Doing more of the same isn’t going to save wild horses in a manner that provides sustainable, humane, natural conservation that keeps them ‘wild & free’.

Too many people keep ignoring the evident facts that wild horse roundups have been greatly accelerated in coordination with horrific sterilization programs, both of which are carefully and scientifically designed to decimate wild horse populations.

This is the Bureau of Land Management’s end game.  And the biggest nonprofits are cashing in on the BLM’s plan, to the great detriment of wild horses.

Our end game is to use the combined experience of our team, along with the unparalleled extensive knowledge and experience, gained by managing our herd of 150 free roaming wild horses in a wilderness for the past 9 years, including during a catastrophic wildfire, to re-wild and relocate tens of thousands of wild horses into appropriate remote wilderness areas on parts of both public and privately owned remote wilderness.

There is approximately 353 million acres of privately owned for forests in America. About 50 million acres of that is very remote and unsuited for livestock, but ideal habitat for wild horses, that can make these areas more wildfire resilient.

Of the 115 million acres of publicly owned ‘designated wilderness’ (unsuited for livestock), all of which is at grave risk of incineration by wildfire, at least 30 million acres of that is very remote ideal habitat for wild horses. We only need to utilize a total of 20 million acres in order to re-wild/relocate 100,000 horses at the rate of 1 horse per 200 acres.

Here’s what we have in progress that can change everything for American wild horses:

(1) Our pilot herd of wild horses helped CALFIRE to stop a deadly 38,000 acre, wind driven catastrophic wildfire from incinerating the national treasure called the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument. THIS IS A CASE STUDY. And we need to continue our ongoing research with this case study herd. We are needing to acquire some electronics for an advanced tracking system for our lead mares. This will open the door to much more important scientific information. The telemetry package (electronics, etc.) we need costs $20k. We currently don’t have that in our budget.

By way of the wildfire fuels management year after year, when the fire struck in 2018, the fuels had been managed by the wild horses and were minimal, and that made CALFIRE’s wildfire suppression efforts more effective.

Our herd of wild horses had created and maintained a fire resilient landscape year-round, and they can do the same job elsewhere.

Saving what we can right now – working with our extended family of volunteer advocates, we have rescued 60 mustangs that would have ended up in a Mexican slaughter plant.  Here is a video showing one of the groups that has their freedom restored: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntqV QeeVMs.

We must continue to offer the lesson from our wild horse management experience to legislators, forest managers, firefighters, ecologists, and wild horse advocates. Our empirical experience transcends textbooks, academic hypotheses, and certainly BLM mythology.

We can teach and inform others.  Education is one of our key strategies, and will help our future re-wilding partners to understand how and why our plan works, and how to successfully scale our plan onto very large landscapes of 100,000 acres and larger.

(2) Articles & publications:

Anyone who has been college educated can recall the huge time requirement and effort to write a term paper, right?

Now imagine having to crank out a term paper every week, for years in a row! That’s what we’ve been doing, and we have NO STAFF.  Of course, that’s on top of dealing with hundreds of emails per week, phone calls, etc.

In addition to doing daily field work in the wilderness with wild horses and all the chores it takes to live off grid in the wilderness, Wild Horse Fire Brigade’s founder William Simpson and co-researcher Michelle Gough have been producing articles and papers weekly that average 2,500 words each (in Simpson’s case, for the past 9 years).

We must continue authoring and publishing articles and white papers that inform decision makers and educators about the genuine value of maintaining natural herds of wild horses on the appropriate landscapes. This is a very time-consuming endeavor (writing researched articles and getting them published).

Wild Horse Fire Brigade’s founder, William E. Simpson, is a professional writer and published author (Ulysses Press), and recognized by Simon and Schuster: https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/William E Simpson/169118167.

A few of our published articles and informational stories are platformed on our website (www.WHFB.us), providing the public with quick single point access to important, accurate information about wild horses.

Many other articles are published elsewhere, such as these example outlets:

*Pagosa Daily Post (Colorado): https://pagosadailypost.com/author/william simpson/

*HorseTalk (New Zealand):  https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/author/billsimpson/

* Sierra Nevada Ally: https://sierranevadaally.org/author/william e simpson ii/

(3) Utilizing our wilderness research station/ranch:

Our free roaming wild herd in the wilderness coupled with our onsite research station can serve as a center for the college field studies of wild horse ecology and ethology. This could turn out a new army of resource managers into the real world who know the truth of wild horses.

Our research station/ranch is set in the wilderness among a herd of free roaming wild horses. This provides our team with the opportunity to have visiting university students and scientists to learn about wild horses using what we call the ‘Goodall Method’.  Through an alliance with an accredited University, we hope to soon be offering a certificate or fellowship program in Wild Horse Ecology Ethology.

(4) Video and photographic education:

Producing documentaries and edutainment videos that can help inform the public at large. We have already produced over 230 such videos. Some of these videos have thousands of views, and provide a library of video information to the public.  We need to get the word out about this body of work.

(5) TV, radio, and internet interviews:

Bringing out the truth about wild horses and their importance on the American landscape is vital to our mission, and yet another important way to inform the general public. Wild Horse Fire Brigade’s founder spends dozens of hours every month preparing for and giving interviews, on site at the ranch, on the radio, on TV, and via the internet and webinars.

Recently, Wild Horse Fire Brigade’s Vice President, Kelsey Stangebye, authored an outstanding paper that was published at Midwest Reining Horse Association’s magazine, and can be read here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mZWo2FJd1D1RtK2AWCq8yQK2sYBVcauM/view?usp=sharing

Thank you for reading this, and please do share it.

Please donate here.

Visit www.wildhorsefirebrigade.org for more information.

*Featured/Spotlights

Urge BLM to Preserve ALL Wild Horses in Clan Alpine HMA

The Bureau of Land Management rounded up a record number of wild horses and burros in 2022 — more than 20,000 precious animals. This is happening thanks to Congress giving record-breaking increased funding for roundups and fertility control methods that destroy who these horses really are and their natural behaviors. Sadly, the agency is hellbent on removing another 20,000 this year too.

We KNOW how frustrating and heartbreaking this is. It’s infuriating our government caters to a small special interest group – public land ranchers – for the management of OUR public lands. It’s shameful that our government refuses to use science to manage our country’s resources and instead continues the good ol’ boy status quo.

But giving up is not an option. We CAN change things — but only if we persist in our efforts. Most social change comes far too slowly; those brave souls who continue the fight and refuse to accept defeat are the ones who prevail in the end.

Your voice makes a difference.  Please submit your comments directly to the BLM.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

*Featured/Spotlights, Wild Horse Fire Brigade

Wild Horse Fire Brigade Lawsuit Halts BLM Wild Horse Roundup in Oregon

A herd of wild horses seen in an alpine riparian area of a wilderness area. Documented evidence proves wild horses have been using this riparian area and spring for centuries without any ill effects. Photo: William E. Simpson II.

YREKA, CA, US, December 31, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — On Wednesday, October 5th, 2022, Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court in Washington D.C. (Case 1:22-cv-03006) against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, on behalf of its client Wild Horse Fire Brigade (WHFB), a California-based all-volunteer 501-c-3 nonprofit organization.

That lawsuit brought a temporary halt to the roundup of wild horses from private property within and adjacent to the Pokegama Herd Management Area in southern Oregon while the Department of Justice evaluated the lawsuit, which alleged that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to follow the law and its own guidance before initiating the roundup.

The intention of the lawsuit was also to prevent the loss of wild horses and to compel BLM to conduct legally required studies regarding the horses.

“The BLM has a history of cutting corners and ignoring their legal obligations in a rush to get rid of wild horses in the west,” Professor Michael Harris, director of the Environmental Advocacy Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School said. “Horses are native to the west and are an important aspect of the ecosystem. We need to work to increase their numbers to ensure healthy, stable herds.”

The recent doctoral dissertation by Yvette ‘Running Horse’ Collin provides evidence that strongly suggests wild horses have been living in the region of Southwestern Oregon since at least the year 1580, when Sir Francis Drake documented observations of wild horses living among the local indigenous peoples of Southwestern Oregon during his voyage and exploration of the west coast of America in 1580.

Dr. Collin’s dissertation , titled ‘The relationship between the indigenous peoples of the Americas and the horse: deconstructing a Eurocentric myth,’ can be read in its entirety at the following URL:

https://scholarworks.alaska.edu/handle/11122/7592

In early December, Wild Horse Fire Brigade and its legal team at Vermont Law learned that a wild mare was ‘acutely injured’ during a renewed roundup activity by the BLM during the time the DOJ agreed to halt the roundup while considering the legal action by Vermont Law. Tragically and needlessly, that wild mare died.

On December 7th, 2022, Wild Horse Fire Brigade issued a Press Release condemning the BLM’s actions and the death of a protected American wild horse, as a result of the continuation of the alleged illegal roundup.

“That wild mare died tragically and needlessly as a result of an illegal and ill-conceived roundup authorized by Mr. Todd Forbes at the BLM’s Lakeview Oregon office,” said Deb Ferns, President, Wild Horse Fire Brigade, who went on to say that “wild horse advocates should contact Mr. Forbes directly and offer their own concerns as well.”

(Todd Forbes – Oregon BLM Lakeview District Manager. Ph. 541-947-6100 / email: tforbes@blm.gov)

The removal of wild horses from the area around Pokegama is reckless and disregards the health, safety and welfare of people living in the region, given the excessive grass and brush wildfire fuels that were formerly managed by hundreds of wild horses that have lived in this area on the Oregon-California border for the past 440 years.

Now it seems that the BLM was desperate to somehow defend and explain the questionable and needless death of the wild mare to the Federal Court in Washington D.C. that is handling the pending lawsuit.

On December 20, 2022, the BLM filed a Declaration in the Washington D.C. Federal Court (Case No. 1 :22-cv-3006) by the BLM agent involved in the death of the wild mare, a Mr. Blair J. Street, who claims the title of ‘District Wild Horse and Burro Specialist for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Lakeview District in southcentral Oregon.’

Among the statements made in the Declaration by Mr. Street, he also stated the following:

“We spent hours attempting to load the remaining mare and stud into the truck. Eventually, I unhooked the horse trailer from my truck, and we left the horses overnight to see if they would go into the trailer themselves. I have used this tactic on other gathers to coax the horses into the trailer with a small bucket of water.

It is not uncommon for studs and mares to be mixed together while trying to load horses from the trap to the holding facility.

We headed back out to the trap the following morning, on November 22, 2022. When we arrived, the mare was lying down and the stud was kicking at her. She could not stand. At that point, I released the stud.

When the mare tried to stand, she was very uneasy and stumbled a lot to try to keep her balance. Her head was tilted to the side, she could not straighten her neck, and her eyes were very wide open. When I went to her left side, I noticed a huge bulge where her spinal column would be. She had hoof marks from the stud on her neck. I suspected the stud had fractured some of her vertebrae.

After about ten minutes of observation, I decided that the mare was not going to be able to load in the trailer or survive long outside of the trap. She was slow and clearly in a great deal of pain. The mare was obviously suffering and was not going to have quality of life.

In my opinion, if the mare were released, she would have gone through a lot of pain before passing a slow and horrible death. Her foal outside the trap was old enough to be weaned. Given all of these considerations, I decided to euthanize the mare as an act of mercy.”

Clearly, by his own admission, Mr. Blair was having great difficulty attempting to force two wild horses from a wilderness area (the mare and her stallion) into a trailer.

It’s my belief that the truth of the matter is that during the ‘hours spent’ trying force two wild horses into a trailer, the mare seriously injured her neck, resulting in her death. Of course, there was no necropsy performed, which might disprove Mr. Street’s statement.

“Unlike Mr. Blair, I am a field researcher and wild horse ethologist that has studied free roaming wild horses in the wilderness and around Pokegama for the past 8 years continuously, and I have logged over 15,000 hours of close observational study of wild horse behavior and ecology. In that time, I have never witnessed any band stallion or bachelor stallion kicking any mare lying on the ground. The highly questionable and unbelievable statement by Mr. Blair seems to assign blame for a human-caused injury, likely caused by attempting to force wild horses into a trailer, to the loving companion of the mare,” said William E. Simpson II, Founder & Executive Director of Wild Horse Fire Brigade.

“It would be highly unusual for a wild stallion to aggressively attack one of his mares as his principal role is to act as guardian and protector of his band. Stallions have an immense responsibility under pressure to manage their herd and protect the mares and foals. They are on watch at all times. If the mare were already injured, he would likely stand over her, nudge her, and continue to protect her. Aggression on the part of the stallion towards other horses is primarily associated with sexual competition, dominance, or territory (protecting the group and resources),” said Professor Julie Murphree, PhD, Equine Science Advisor at Wild Horse Fire Brigade.

A great deal of new research and understanding of wild horse ethology has come to light over the past eight years (2014-2022) as a result of the intensive and continuous study and published research of wild horses living naturally in the wilderness by William E. Simpson II.

One of many examples of the unexpected behaviors of wild horses is how they respect and honor dying members of the herd, as was documented in this published article, ‘How wild horses deal with death and grief – A rare insight’, which can be read here: https://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2018/07/04/wild-horses-death-grief-insight/.

It’s most unfortunate that many of the personnel at the BLM are actually willfully ignorant of the many scientific facts related to wild horse behavioral ecology and ethology. These facts offer important insights as to how America can better manage its iconic wild horses.

Some of the research and peer-reviewed published studies that support the rewilding/relocating initiative integral to the wild horse management plan known as the ‘Natural Wildfire Abatement and Forest Protection Plan’ (aka: Wild Horse Fire Brigade) are found at: https://www.wildhorsefirebrigade.org/resources.

Under the direction of Professor-Litigator Michael Harris, Vermont Law will be filing a response to Mr. Blair Street’s Declaration, as well as a ‘permanent injunction’ in January 2023, to prevent any future roundups in and around the Pokegama wild horse Herd Management Area, one of the few remaining wild horse Herd Management Areas in Oregon.

Please visit www.wildhorsefirebrigade.org for more information.

*Featured/Spotlights

BLM Proposes Livestock Grazing Where Wild Horse Roundup Is Planned

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Photo credit ©TheCloudFoundation.

BLM wants to create new livestock grazing permits in the same area where they propose a massive wild horse roundup in the Stone Cabin Complex. Coincidentally, Tonopah NV BLM also proposes to re-start livestock grazing in two allotments (Monitor and Ralston), which are adjacent to the Stone Cabin Complex.

Ranchers have illegally grazed livestock in these two allotments for 23 YEARS! These allotments have not had any livestock grazing permits for the past 6 years and there is no permittee.

We’re calling on BLM to use Adaptive Management to convert the allotments and permits for wild horse usage. By doing this, the BLM could cancel its proposal to round up nearly 75% of the wild horse population (that’s 689 of the estimated 931 horses) in the Stone Cabin Complex… leaving behind just 242 horses on more than 484,888 acres (that’s 758 square miles).

Your Voice Matters! PLEASE click here and here to take action. You will have the opportunity to personalize our suggested comments before submitting.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

*Featured/Spotlights

‘Just Doing My Job’ – A Bureau of Land Management Excuse for Mismanaging Wild Horses

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Photo from NBC News video shows BLM contractor abusing a burro during BLM managed roundup.

History is replete with examples of people and agencies causing great harm or that have been caught in the act of some form of wrongdoing, only to offer the excuse, “I was just doing my job…”

On 16 March 1968, First Lieutenant William L. “Rusty” Calley, Jr., and his platoon murdered at least 300 Vietnamese civilians (and perhaps as many as 500) at a small South Vietnamese sub-hamlet called My Lai.

The excuse offered to the military court in regard to that massacre was “I was only following orders.”

Is it ever acceptable for Government agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management (‘BLM’) and the U.S. Forest Service (‘USFS’) or their employees, to engage in wrongdoing as a function of ‘just doing their job’?

Are employees of Government agencies required to follow directives from their superiors even when such directives are highly questionable or fly in the face of common sense, logic, and established policies and law?

Is it reasonable for the BLM and USFS to willfully ignore the best available science that would lead to a more honest, humane, and ecologically appropriate wild horse management model?

Is it fair to American taxpayers for the BLM to knowingly waste over $100 million annually in taxpayer funds mismanaging wild horses when there exists a far more cost-effective and humane method for managing native species wild horses in America?

History teaches many lessons for those who ask the right questions.

Read full article HERE.

Uncategorized

The Cloud Foundation Calls for Independent Investigation and Moratorium on Roundups

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The Cloud Foundation (TCF) is urging Federal legislators and Colorado State officials to convene an independent investigation into how an illness has now killed almost 150 captured wild horses at BLM’s Canyon City holding facility.

We are calling for a moratorium on ALL wild horse and burro roundups until the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) can ensure the animals’ health and safety off the range.

BLM officials claim the horse deaths are attributable to equine influenza virus H3N8. We are demanding answers as to how the virus entered the facility and ravaged one specific herd – the West Douglas horses – with such devastating effect.

“These are the American public’s wild horses; they don’t belong to the BLM,” stated Ginger Kathrens, Founder and Board President of The Cloud Foundation. “Secrecy breeds suspicion and doubt. Due to a long history of not being transparent, how can we trust the BLM to be unbiased while investigating itself?”

Read more here.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

*Featured/Spotlights

Tell BLM to Put Cameras on Roundup Helicopters

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Sick and old wild horses and burros and foals are terrorized, injured, and killed in helicopter roundups.

They are chased in extreme heat in the summer and below freezing temperatures in winter. They are driven countless miles — no one knows for sure how many, because no one monitors the helicopters.

Heavily pregnant mares are sometimes pursued so long and hard that they miscarry their foals, sometimes on the run, due to the physical stress caused by the chase.

We know how the Bureau of Land Management uses helicopters is inhumane — and The Cloud Foundation is dedicated to changing BLM policy, to get cameras on the roundup helicopters, trap sites, and roundup holding facilities.

Just like law enforcement cameras, this would help to ensure transparency, accountability, and added protection for our wild horses and burros.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW!

Submit your personalized comments by clicking here and demanding BLM incorporate cameras on each stage of the roundup activity — on helicopters, on the trap, and on holding sites.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

Uncategorized

Encouraging News for Wild Horses and Burros

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This week Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) sent a masterful letter to Secretary Haaland and Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning, calling on them to STOP the roundups and change the course of the Bureau’s failed roundup-and-stockpile system.

Congressman Cohen is a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources (which can hold the Bureau accountable) and a member of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus.

The Caucus formerly supported the ASPCA/HSUS/Livestock Lobby’s Path Forward — so this letter is a big step in the right direction.

Please — read Congressman Cohen’s phenomenal letter here, share it on social media and tag him! Show your support for this courageous legislator who is calling for change. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #HoldAWildHorseHearing – Congressman Cohen’s Committee Members are the ones who can get it done!

Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-NV) is also leading a charge to stop the roundups.

A longtime ally for our cause, Congresswoman Titus was deeply affected by recent graphic video captured by Wild Horse Education which showed a wild foal being driven in a roundup until its leg literally broke under the stress.

The Congresswoman is introducing a bill to END helicopter roundups as a method of “managing” wild horses/burros.

We believe her bill should be supported, not just because of the obvious animal cruelty, but because there is ample science to demonstrate that roundups DON’T work, not to mention the massive fiscal waste of the current paradigm.

We MUST support those who support our wild horses. Share, post, tag, and let them know we applaud their efforts on behalf of America’s wild horses and burros!

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

Uncategorized

The Fight to Save the Onaqui Is ON

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Photo: Jen Rogers, Wild Horse Photo Safaris.

In a few weeks, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will resume their failed program of massive wild horse and burro roundups throughout the West — starting with the famed Onaqui wild horses outside Salt Lake City, UT.

Roundups Are Wrong – and they must stop.

The Cloud Foundation is proud to stand with actress Katherine Heigl and coalition partners at the Wild Horse and Burro Freedom Rally in Salt Lake City on July 2nd.

Please join us at the rally. Together let’s send the message to Congress and the Administration that Americans are against wild horse and burro roundups.

With this rally, we’re calling on House Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Schumer, and President Biden to listen to the vast majority of Americans who oppose roundups and want a fair and humane wild horse and burro program – one that keeps these American icons on our public lands where they belong, not in government holding facilities or, worse, sent to slaughter.

Please join us! Let’s show the government there is a better way.

Also, send a message to Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Schumer, and President Biden.

Tell them to STOP THE ROUNDUPS and require the majority of the 2022 Budget be dedicated to humane on-range management that keeps wild horse families together, wild, and free, on our public lands.

The Cloud Foundation
www.thecloudfoundation.org

Uncategorized

BLM’s Massive Roundups Underway

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One of the largest roundups of the past ten years concluded last month. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) reported that 1,825 wild horses and burros were removed from the Shawave Mountains Herd Management Area (HMA) northeast of Reno, NV.

Eleven horses and one burro were killed during the roundup. Five of these were senior horses, and three of those were killed for “missing an eye.”

Next week, BLM will start another major roundup to remove over 1,100 horses in the Diamond Complex just north of Eureka, NV. If the BLM 2020 Roundup Plan is fully implemented, 2020 will rank as the year with the highest number of wild horses and burros captured in the last 19 years.

Read the Shawave report here.

Sept. Wild Horse & Burro Advisory Board Meeting

The BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board is holding their next meeting on September 23-24, 2020 via Zoom. Register by September 17 (first come, first served) to give public comments.

While this Board is stacked with anti-wild horse folks who support massive roundups and voted to send horses to slaughter, it’s important they hear from the American people they are supposed to represent.

You can also send an email to whbadvisoryboard@blm.gov calling on the Advisory Board to protect natural wild horse behaviors and to give our wild horses and burros their fair share of AUMs (forage) on the range. For more information, or to register for public comments, click here.

Congressional Update

The Senate Appropriations Committee has not yet acted on FY2021 funding for the federal government. Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) is threatening to not allow Committee markup of the funding bills. Markup is the process by which committees debate, amend, and rewrite proposed legislation.

It’s looking more unlikely that the FY2021 budget will be passed by Congress before the Fiscal Year (FY) ends on September 30th. This means Congress will likely pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) which will carry over the same funding from the last budget.

We will continue to keep you informed on the status of the Wild Horse and Burro Program funding. In the meantime, please continue to make your voice heard!

The Cloud Foundation
107 South 7th St
Colorado Springs, CO 80905
www.thecloudfoundation.org