Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

Readers of this blog know that I/we have enjoyed a particularly good partnership with our BLM folks for the last nearly decade, in huge part because of rangeland management specialist and Spring Creek Basin herd manager Mike Jensen.

Our PZP program was implemented during the 2011 roundup, before Mike returned to herd manager duties (he was herd manager here first in the early 2000s), but Mike has been an absolutely staunch supporter of the program. It was under Mike’s leadership that we were able to get bait trapping solidified as the capture method of choice (when the time comes), and because of Mike’s dedication to vegetation monitoring, for the 2020 herd management area plan update, we had the data necessary to allow the increase in AML (appropriate management level) from 35 to 65 adult horses to 50 to 80 adult horses. That, combined with the very successful PZP program, has meant an astounding 13 years to date since the last roundup and removal of any Spring Creek Basin mustangs.

Mike is the BLM partner every advocate wishes for and we have been so very fortunate to have.

Under Mike’s leadership, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area is a model that other BLM managers and advocates can aspire to. (That’s not arrogance; that’s pure gratitude.)

As I described in yesterday’s post, last week, Mike and Tres Rios Field Office Manager Derek Padilla came to Spring Creek Basin for the field trip with Colorado Wild Horse Working Group members. I take every opportunity offered to describe Mike’s work ethic, partnership and support of our mustangs to anyone who will listen, but this was the first opportunity for group members and our Colorado advocates to see him in action as he talked about the history of Spring Creek Basin as a herd management area and our accomplishments in both herd management and the projects we’ve completed for the benefit of the mustangs. Naturally, everyone wants a Mike clone for their areas. 🙂

By the time we reached the day’s end goal and turnaround spot – the northwest-valley water catchment we built in 2022 – we were down to our local advocates and a Jeep-full of advocates from the other herds.

And because Mike retires Friday from a long (30 years) career with the Bureau of Land Management, we local advocates wanted to take advantage of the last opportunity we’d likely have Mike in Spring Creek Basin to mark the occasion, wish him well and give him a token of our appreciation.

Left to right: Mike Jensen, Frank Amthor, Tif Rodriguez, Pat Amthor and yours truly.

Thank you, Mike, for being such a champion for wild horse management here in Spring Creek Basin, for being a true partner, for being one of the people I respect most in this world. We wish you well in retirement! Don’t be a stranger. 🙂