Our mustangs aren’t the only ones taking advantage of the basin’s water catchments. This handsome fellow waited on the hill for Comanche’s band to drink at the corral catchment (built just two years ago). The horses were VERY interested in him.
Prongs on the hill
11 09 2018Comments : 4 Comments »
Categories : Disappointment Valley, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Water catchment, Wildlife, Work projects
Promise
2 09 2018
A little of those (dark clouds) led to a little bit of the wet stuff yesterday afternoon.
We love wet stuff. 🙂
Comments : 3 Comments »
Categories : Disappointment Valley, McKenna Peak, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Temple Butte
Lovely little walk
26 08 2018
Isn’t Spirit a gorgeous little girl? She IS little, and she’s just as sweet as she looks.
In good news, Disappointment Valley got a good dose of wet stuff yesterday evening. It wasn’t in the forecast, but it sure was a fabulous surprise!
Comments : 3 Comments »
Categories : Disappointment Valley, Rain, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Reminder
20 08 2018
One week from today, on Aug. 27, the deadline closes on your opportunity to affirm to Tres Rios BLM that yes, we want bait trapping to be the method of choice when it comes to gathering and removing our mustangs – IN the future, WHEN needed (which is not now).
Follow this link to information for DOI-BLM-CO-S010-2015-0001-EA (Spring Creek Basin HMA Bait Trap Gathers).
Refer also to this blog post – ‘Do NOT freak out!’ (because we are NOT removing horses) – for more information about what this EA is about and why it’s a good thing.
The deadline for comments is Aug. 27, 2018. Please do comment favorably about bait trapping in Spring Creek Basin (in the future, when needed): Alternative A – proposed action: “The proposed action would utilize bait/water trapping as the primary gather method to remove excess wild horses from the HMA. No wild horses would be removed as long as population was or remained within AML.”
The population of Spring Creek Basin’s mustang herd IS within current AML (which is 35 to 65 adult horses, and yes, we know that’s fairly low, and yes, we are working to get that raised in the hopefully-soon-to-be-updated herd management area plan). NO removals of any mustangs from Spring Creek Basin are planned or “on the horizon,” as our herd manager, Mike Jensen, has told us.
Thank you to all who have sent in their comment letters! We appreciate it more than you can imagine. Please also let Tres Rios BLM staff know that you appreciate their commitment to Spring Creek Basin’s mustangs, as well as to the volunteer advocates who support them and partner with Tres Rios BLM for the horses’ continued good management. 🙂
Comments : 4 Comments »
Categories : Advocacy, Disappointment Valley, Disappointment Wild Bunch Partners, Education, Fertility control, Four Corners Back Country Horsemen, Mesa Verde Back Country Horsemen, Mustangs, National Mustang Association/CO, Partnership, PZP, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Wild horses in the news
After the smoke, gold
18 08 2018
We got a drizzle of rain Thursday, and it dampened the smoke. An update from the Forest Service about the Plateau Fire noted that because of the rain, the amount of smoke might now be less: “Fire managers believe that Thursday was the last day of significant smoke that will come off the Plateau Fire.” We can hope!
To get the full view of the horses (Puzzle and Spirit) with the rainbow dropping its gold onto Filly Peak, from a vantage up-slope, I had to use the cell phone.
It was a peaceful, beautiful evening in Spring Creek Basin. 🙂
Comments : 5 Comments »
Categories : Disappointment Valley, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Wildfire
Smoke ‘n spots
17 08 2018
Always the prettiest things out there. 🙂
Comments : 5 Comments »
Categories : Disappointment Valley, McKenna Peak, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte, Wildfire
‘I think I saw a cloud …’
15 08 2018
I think I saw a cloud yesterday
It hung around a minute, then it just blew away
It’s another identical, dusty day
Only thing not telling a lie is the wind
I don’t believe it’s ever gonna rain again.
All signs fail in a dry spell
Don’t look to the sky
It’s got nothing to tell
But there are cracks in the ground
that run straight to hell
Maybe we’re paying for our sins
I don’t believe it’s ever gonna rain again.
Bone dry rocks where the water used to flow
Remember how fast it ran and how high it rose
Now that creek bed is empty as a dead man’s coat
Waitin’ for the wake to begin.
Old gambler crow sittin’ on a fence line
Lookin’ at me like he can read my mind
He says this country’s gonna pick you clean every time
Leave you twistin’ in the wind
I don’t believe it’s ever gonna rain again.
Bone dry rocks where the water used to flow
Remember how fast it ran and how high it rose
Now that creek bed is empty as a dead man’s coat
Waitin’ for the wake to begin.
I think I saw a cloud yesterday
It hung around a minute, then it just blew away
It’s another identical dusty day
Only thing not tellin’ a lie is the wind
I don’t believe it’s ever gonna rain again.
We’re all twistin’ in the wind
I don’t believe it’s ever gonna rain again.
~ Dave Stamey, “Never Gonna Rain Again,” Twelve Mile Road
It’s hard to see any clouds for the smoke … and we MUST believe it’s gonna rain again. 🙂
Comments : 3 Comments »
Categories : Disappointment Valley, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Wildfire
‘Be cautious with fire’
12 08 2018
Not much to say. … Terribly smoky. Many more people dealt with the smoke from the 416 and Burro fires – nearer to denser populated areas. Now smoke from other fires is blowing and settling in other places.
And there’s California …
None of it is good.
For a moment, a chance of rain appeared in our forecast for Friday. … Now there’s no trace of that chance.
Still, we hope.
(The blog post title came from a highway sign I saw yesterday that read: “Be cautious with fire and cigarettes.” Uh. … Really?!?!?! I have a much less polite way of thinking that people ought to be “cautious” with fires (!?) OR cigarettes (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)!)
Comments : 6 Comments »
Categories : Disappointment Valley, McKenna Peak, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte, Wildfire
Grey in the morning, red in the evening
11 08 2018
Temple Butte and McKenna Peak seen through the haze of dense smoke on Friday morning. This view is looking east, around 10:30 a.m.
Skywalker grazes against a smoky sunset a little after 8 p.m. Thursday.
Comments : 1 Comment »
Categories : Disappointment Valley, McKenna Peak, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte, Wildfire
Red at night
10 08 2018
Thursday may have been the most smoky day yet in Disappointment Valley. The air smelled like the entire region was having a community barbecue.
West Guard Fire (south of Spring Creek Basin): 1,424 acres, 90 percent contained.
Plateau Fire (southeast of West Guard Fire; north of Dolores): 10,673 acres, 36 percent contained.
Bull Draw Fire (northwest of Nucla): 8,700 acres, 35 percent contained.
Moccasin Mesa Fire (Mesa Verde National Park): 185 acres, 100 percent contained.
Buttermilk Fire (north of Montrose): 748 acres, 70 percent contained.
We continue to send prayers to those affected … as well as gratitude to the firefighters working all these fires … and all those around Colorado and the West. We’re stuck firm and fast in the exceptional drought category.
We’re so thankful our mustangs are in good shape. They have water and forage and each other. While the humans worry, life goes on in Spring Creek Basin.
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Categories : Disappointment Valley, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Wildfire
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 