PZP | Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

More scoping information

22 04 2011

To keep our current scoping process in front of people and continue to ask for your help to help us help the horses (!), I’m reposting links to the scoping request out now from the Dolores Public Lands Office ahead of our fall roundup. Also, a sample letter that might help you in crafting your own comment letter to send Tom Rice, Associate Field Manager, Dolores Public Lands Office, 29211 Highway 184, Dolores, CO 81323. Comments, due May 12, may also be sent via email to: trice@blm.gov

A reminder: A public hearing about the helicopter portion of the roundup will be held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 25, at the Dolores Public Lands Center, near the junction of Colorado highways 184 and 145 just west of Dolores. If you’re local and can attend, please do so to make your comments about our Spring Creek Basin mustangs known to BLM!

This is the link to my post about points to make in your comments:

https://springcreekwild.wordpress.com/2011/04/10/scoping-comments-points-to-make/

This is the link to the scoping letter itself:

https://springcreekwild.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/scoping-is-out/

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This is a cover (explanatory) letter and sample comment letter NMA/CO sent to NMA/CO members by longtime board member Pati Temple that I thought would be helpful to share here:

TO: Members of National Mustang Association and those who care about wild horses

DATE: April 21, 2011

RE: Bureau of Land Management scoping process for the September 2011 wild horse roundup

Hi Everyone –

National Mustang Association needs your help by sending a letter to BLM introducing important issues related to the upcoming gather (roundup) of the wild horses in Disappointment Valley – our Spring Creek Basin herd. Currently, BLM is soliciting information during their “scoping” process. After that, BLM will develop “alternatives” contained in a document called an “environmental assessment” (EA) that will be presented to the public for review. Last, BLM will review the comments and select one of the “alternatives” that will guide the process of the gather. Now is the time to submit issues and concerns that you may have.

As you know, NMA has been working for the benefit of this herd for more than 10 years and trying to persuade BLM to include immunocontraception (birth control) as a regular tool to address reproduction rates. The preferred fertility control agent is native porcine zona pellucida (PZP), which has been used extensively with great results. A successful birth control program will result in fewer round-ups, fewer horses going to long term government pens, tremendous monetary savings, significantly less stress for the horses as family bands remain together, on the range and wild, and improved land health.

About PZP: PZP does not inhibit a mares’ cycles at all, so yes, she will continue to come into heat. PZP does not harm either the mare or the fetus she may be carrying at the time of application (of either primer or booster). PZP is a protein derived from pig eggs. It simply blocks fertilization of the mare’s egg by the stallion’s sperm. It does not cause a mare to develop masculine features. Mares in herds where PZP has been in long use are living longer, healthier lives – the result of not having babies year after year after year. PZP is administered by remote dart when biologically appropriate. The mares aren’t rounded up, they aren’t tranquilized, they aren’t touched except by the dart. PZP has at least a 90 percent efficacy (success) rate. We don’t want to stop reproduction; we want to slow it. No Spring Creek Basin adult horses died last year, which means it’s not very realistic to think that we’ll equal birth and death rates.

Be assured, NMA has researched this issue extensively and concluded it is safe, humane and cost-effective, with a long history of use. Our chapter president, TJ Holmes, has become certified to dart, and NMA has purchased the appropriate darting rifle.

We also have concerns about the gather process as listed below. Please join us in providing comment to BLM during this scoping process. Comments should be in by May 12.

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Please send your letters or emails to: (sample below)

Bureau of Land Management, Attn: Tom Rice, Associate District Ranger/Field Office Manager, 29211 Highway 184, Dolores, Colorado 81323 and/or email: trice@blm.gov

Dear Mr. Rice:

Thank you for the opportunity to comment regarding the upcoming wild horse roundup of the Spring Creek Basin herd. Below are my comments and concerns:

A roundup is necessary this year while the horses remain in good condition and to preserve the health of the range.

The use of native porcine zona pellucida (PZP) should be introduced at this roundup. Further, native PZP should become an integrated tool to address reproductive rates and part of the Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area Management Plan.

Native PZP is cost-effective.

An effective birth control program will result in fewer roundups and fewer horses being removed from the range and ending up in expensive and unnatural government holding pens. It would amount to significantly less social disruption to the herd and fewer injuries to horses during the gather process. Roundups and removals completely remove genetics of horses that have never contributed to the gene pool. Reducing the frequency of roundups will allow more horses to contribute their genetics over a longer period of time – even though fewer horses are reproducing at any given time.

Roundups are extremely stressful and socially devastating as family bands often become permanently separated. The social structure in the equine world is the single most important thing in their lives. To greatly reduce this practice and to progress toward selective and infrequent removal of horses is far more acceptable management.

Use the expertise and ability of TJ Holmes in the administration of native PZP. TJ is familiar with each and every herd member, is properly certified to dart and the Colorado chapter of the National Mustang Association (NMA/CO) has ownership of the appropriate darting rifle.

It is unnecessary to brand treated mare because NMA maintains extensive documentation of 100% of the horses in Spring Creek Basin.

We do not support excessive gender skewing where more stallions versus mares remain in the herd. This is socially incorrect.

It will not be necessary to reduce the herd down to the lower end of the “appropriate management level” of 35 because of the documented efficacy of native PZP and potential slowed growth of the Spring Creek Basin herd.

In the future, please institute mineral bait trapping and horse removal (with continued PZP treatment of wild mares) as a more humane alternative to helicopter-driven gathers.

Regarding the use of helicopters during the gather process, please instruct the contractor and helicopter operator to bring the horses in band by band and corral them that way to avoid the injuries suffered by forcing unfamiliar horses together. Please do not drive them too fast, particularly those that are with foals, very old or somehow incapacitated.

At the trap site, it is imperative that BLM instruct the contractors and other handlers to be careful NOT TO OVERSTIMULATE the horses with their flagging, which often causes the horses to become very frightened, unduly stressed and often injured by jumping into panels. This is not contemporary or humane handling. Once the animal is going in the desired direction, stop stimulation. It will go a long way toward reducing injuries.

Please be certain the contractors provide salt and water at the trap site and only good-quality grass hay (not alfalfa).

Our wild horses are important to us. They touch our hearts in many ways. The remote Disappointment Valley’s Spring Creek Basin herd is truly wild, incredibly beautiful and significant. They provide an important nonconsumptive use of wildlife, an opportunity to view spirit, wildness and beauty all at the same time. They represent so much to so many for a variety of reasons.

BLM is the keeper of this resource. Please do the best job you can, hand-in-hand with willing volunteers.

Sincerely,

Comments : 3 Comments »

Categories : Advocacy, Fertility control, PZP, Roundup

Scoping comments – points to make

10 04 2011

The scoping process starts the chain of events of BLM looking for public input about the upcoming roundup in Spring Creek Basin. We also understand that it is a time when public comments advise BLM of “alternatives” the public would like to see – these then come out in the EA, which provides another opportunity to comment.

A roundup and removal of some horses needs to happen, and it needs to happen while the horses are in good condition – not when they’re in poor condition. An annual PZP darting program is necessary and appropriate to integrate into the management plan of Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area.

When you make your comments in support of annual PZP darting by trained volunteer darters in Spring Creek Basin (and please do support us in exactly this, not more use of PZP-22), focus on these areas:

* Cost – This is perhaps the biggest in getting BLM’s attention. A complete dose of PZP (PZP + adjuvant + dart) costs less than $30 per mare. That’s no typo, and I’m not missing a zero. PZP-22 is about $200, and it currently requires the additional expense of a roundup to capture the mares and deliver. Native PZP does not require a roundup, does not require handling the mare in any way, so it’s also less stressful to the horses. And with fewer foals born, less potential for those grown-up horses to end up in holding, which is another massive expense for the Wild Horse & Burro Program. Labor provided by the Science and Conservation Center-certified volunteer darter(s) who knows and has complete documentation of the horses – FREE. Paperwork/record-keeping done by volunteer darter(s) – FREE. Cost to BLM to implement the annual PZP darting program – FREE. The Colorado chapter of the National Mustang Association has offered to pay for the first period (to be laid out in the EA as a five-year period, we hope) of PZP. This will be in our formal comments; we made the oral offer to BLM at our recent Disappointment Wild Bunch Partners meeting.

* Genetics – Roundups and removals completely remove genetics of horses that have never contributed – the youngsters. Reducing the frequency of roundups by use of PZP will allow more horses to contribute their genetics over a longer period of time – even though fewer horses are reproducing at any given time. Because of the small size of the Spring Creek Basin herd (AML = 35-65 adult horses), we foresee that periodic introductions of mustangs from similar herds will continue to be necessary.

* Social – PZP is far less disruptive to the horses than roundups and subsequent removals. PZP does not inhibit a mare’s cycles at all, so yes, she will continue to come into heat. The “disruption” of bands in the Spring Creek Basin herd has been minimal and, as far as I can tell, not related to the PZP-22 several of the mares have received. It worked on Alpha – she has been with the same band/stallion since she was released after the 2007 roundup. It worked on Mona – she was with the same stallion until she foaled in 2010; when she went off alone to have her foal, she was picked up by a different stallion. It worked on Raven – she came to us pregnant, and when she went off to have Corona, she ended up with a different stallion; after about six months, she ended up back with the original stallion; she did not foal last year; she looks on track for a spring foal. It worked on Kootenai – she has been with the same stallion with one brief exception (which seemed to be to go get Raven) since her arrival. She ought to have a foal this year, but so far, she does not look pregnant. The other surviving SCB mares have been with the same band since their release – with the exchange of a single band stallion for a dominant band stallion and three bachelors, one of which may be the mature son of one of the mares.

* Safe for the mares – PZP does not harm either the mare or the fetus she may be carrying at the time of application (of either primer or booster). PZP is a protein derived from pig eggs. It simply blocks fertilization of the mare’s egg by the stallion’s sperm. It does not cause a mare to develop masculine features – it is a protein. Mares in herds where PZP has been in long use (example: Assateague Island) are living longer, healthier lives – the result of not having babies year after year after year.

* Low stress/no handling – PZP is administered by remote dart when biologically appropriate. The mares aren’t rounded up, they aren’t tranquilized, they aren’t touched except by the dart. I won’t say there’s no stress to being darted, but compared with a roundup and separated from family members?? No comparison. Very low.

*Effective/successful at preventing pregnancy – PZP has at least a 90 percent efficacy (success) rate. On Assateague Island, as of last year, it’s 95 percent successful. We don’t want to stop reproduction; we want to slow it. No adult horses died last year, which means it’s not very realistic to think that we’ll equal birth and death rates.

* Branding of treated mares – Unnecessary because of extensive documentation of 100 percent of horses in the Spring Creek Basin herd.

*Excessive gender skewing – Unnecessary because of documented efficacy of native PZP.

* Removing horses to the low end of the AML – Unnecessary because of the documented efficacy of native PZP and potential slowed growth of the Spring Creek Basin herd.

* Ask also that bait trapping be used as a more humane alternative to driving horses with a helicopter. This requires more time and patience (when is that ever a bad thing with horses and/or wild animals?) and a temporary holding facility onsite or very near – which I have a lead on. We have pushed for this since 2007 … keep it on BLM’s radar! Dan Elkins, who does bait trapping, is just south of us in New Mexico, and he uses bait trapping very effectively on the Carson National Forest and Jicarilla Wild Horse Territory – also the first Forest Service-managed herd to use PZP.

Other comments to make about the roundup itself:

* During the heliocopter gather, bring the horses in band by band and corral them that way to avoid the injuries suffered by forcing unfamiliar horses together.

* Instruct the contractors and other handlers to be careful NOT TO OVERSTIMULATE the horses with their flagging, which often causes the horses to become very frightened, unduly stressed and often injured by jumping into panels. This is not contemporary or humane handling.

* Be certain to use grass hay – not alfalfa.

* Provide water and salt immediately as many of the horses have been driven from the southern end of the herd management area. (The trapsite is at the upper western edge of the basin.)

Spring Creek Basin and its mustangs meet all the criteria: Check out again this FAQ card I created.

Talk about the horses. Call them “wild horses” or “mustangs” – beings that have touched your heart, that you admire, that you love. Make frequent use of their homeland’s name: “Spring Creek Basin.” This is not a random herd. This is not an unknown place. Yes, it’s remote. Yes, it’s small and out of the way. The horses are no less beloved for those facts. In fact, they ARE beloved – the “stats” on this blog tell me that – almost 70,000 hits in three years. YOU love these horses. Tell BLM – and back it up with these facts about why it should implement an annual PZP darting program in Spring Creek Basin using trained volunteer darters.

Do use these facts to make your case in your comments for the use of an annual PZP darting program here with trained volunteers. The way this works is that BLM needs you, the public, to make this information known – for this herd – ahead of this roundup. What can you do for our mustangs? … I hope I’ve just given you a way. On behalf of the mustangs of Spring Creek Basin – for their well-being and healthy future, I THANK YOU for helping us help them!

Comments : 4 Comments »

Categories : Advocacy, Disappointment Valley, Fertility control, PZP, Wild horses in the news

Little Book Cliffs – shining example

9 04 2011

Press release about fertility control out of the Grand Junction BLM office:

March 31, 2011

Contact: Tom Alvarez, Public Affairs Specialist, (970) 244-3097

Fertility Drug Contributes to Wild Horse Population Control

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Grand Junction Field Office’s (GJFO) use of the fertility control vaccine porcine zona pellucida (PZP), used for managing wild horse herd populations, is significantly contributing to successful population control of wild horses in the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range (LBCWHR). The fertility program’s success is due to the support and assistance from the Friends of the Mustangs (FOM), a local volunteer group in the Grand Junction community.

The fertility control program has reduced the annual population growth to an extent that a gather for 2011 will be unnecessary because 2004 foal counts in the LBC herd have declined, with just 11 born in 2010.

“We are not trying to stop population growth,” said Jim Dollerschell, rangeland management specialist for the GJFO. “We just want to slow it down to reduce the frequency of gathers, which leads to less disruption of the wild horse herd.”

The GJFO last gathered the LBC herd in 2007 and typically plans a gather every two or three years. The next anticipated gather would now be in 2012.

“It’s a wise decision. We don’t have enough horses to justify a gather,” said Marty Felix, founding member and long-time volunteer of the FOM. “Our horses are very resourceful, and they know where to find food. Almost all of them look fantastic. We’re here to help the BLM and help the horses.”

A fertility control research program was first introduced in 2002 in coordination with the Biological Research Division of the United States Geological Survey. Fertility control continues to be a principal component of management of the LBCWHR, using a one-year vaccine by means of field darting as the primary method used. GJFO staff and volunteers from the FOM participate in the darting process, as well as keeping required observations and records.

“What we are doing here in the LBCWHR will not work for all herd management areas across the West,” added Dollerschell, “but our efforts do show that PZP is an effective tool to be used in controlling wild horse population growth rates. Our relationship with the FOM also provides an example of how partnerships are effective and needed within the wild horse program. When we are working together, positive results will occur.”

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This is exactly what we’re working toward here, with a partnership between BLM and NMA/CO and, collectively, Disappointment Wild Bunch Partners. We ARE here to help the horses and BLM, and this is what a successful partnership will look like: Slowing population growth and reducing the frequency of roundups in Spring Creek Basin. And we have set things up so it can work excellently here. All the pieces are in place – I’ve documented all the horses in the herd, I’ve been certified to handle and dart PZP, I’ve spent the time with the horses – we’re ready to start. And it has to start somewhere, like everything does.

Comments : 3 Comments »

Categories : Advocacy, Fertility control, PZP, Wild horses in the news

Scoping is out

8 04 2011

Here it is. We need comments about using fertility control – specifically the annual/native/one-year PZP by trained volunteer darters.

Use this FAQ card I created to help with your comments: https://springcreekbasinmustangs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/pzp-faqcard-forblog1.pdf

I’ll also write something in the next few days to highlight the components we want to address.

Remember, annual PZP darting on the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range was instrumental in canceling the scheduled roundup there this fall. Please do not oppose this roundup – rather, ask that PZP be used in conjunction with bait trapping, as an alternative to helicopter-driven roundups. PZP will push roundups back to few and far between (the goal is no more than one per decade), and bait trapping will ensure humane, slow, careful treatment of the horses. But it has to happen. Spring Creek Basin simply cannot support a great number of horses. I was looking at pix from the 2007 roundup (which I hate) for an article, and at ~110 horses in the total population, they were so very lean. We don’t want to put the horses in that kind of situation again.

Please let BLM know we want to sustainably manage these mustangs using fertility control – make sure you specify “one-year PZP.” That’s the tool that will do the most to prevent roundups.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 8, 2011
BLM to hold public hearing and scoping meeting on proposed Spring Creek Basin wild horse gather

DOLORES – The public is invited to a Bureau of Land Management public hearing and scoping meeting on Monday, April 25, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Dolores Public Lands Office, 29211 Highway 184, Dolores, on a proposed wild horse gather this fall in the Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area.

The public hearing portion of the meeting will take place from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. and will cover only the use of motorized vehicles and helicopters to gather wild horses from the Spring Creek herd. Helicopters are an effective tool in gathering wild horses and are commonly used in BLM gather operations. Trucks and trailers would be used to transport the gathered wild horses to adoption or a holding facility. The hearing will begin with a brief introduction, and then public comments will be taken on the use of helicopters and motorized vehicles for gather operations. Oral comments will be recorded and should be kept to five minutes in length. Written and oral comments will be submitted into the official public record, and summaries will be available upon request.

Immediately following the hearing, the public is invited to an open house to learn about issues to be addressed in the preparation of an Environmental Assessment for the proposed wild horse gather. The open house will include a brief overview of proposed activities and an opportunity for the public to help the BLM identify issues regarding the gather. Public input can be made either verbally to staff or via a comment card at the open house.

Written comments will also be accepted until close of business Thursday, May 12, 2011. Written input should be mailed or delivered to Tom Rice, Associate Field Manager, Dolores Public Lands Office, 29211 Highway 184, Dolores, CO 81323. Comments may also be sent via e-mail to: trice@blm.gov.

The wild horse gather is proposed for September 2011, at the Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, which encompasses 21,064 acres of BLM lands in Disappointment Valley. The removal of some wild horses is proposed to achieve a population of wild horses consistent with the land’s capacity to support the herd in balance with other public rangeland uses and resources. A local adoption of the gathered wild horses will take place after the gather.

For more information, contact Tom Rice, 970-882-6843.

Comments : 8 Comments »

Categories : Advocacy, Fertility control, PZP, Roundup, Wild horses in the news

Voices of reason

3 04 2011

Thanks to Karen Herman, I just became aware of this editorial published March 20 in the Santa Fe New Mexican, written by her and Dr. Jay Kirkpatrick. Karen runs Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary and is the business partner of Dan Elkins (owner of Mt. Taylor Mustangs who does no-chase gathers, also known as bait trapping), and Dr. Kirkpatrick, of course, is the director of the Science and Conservation Center in Billings. This was in response to a New Mexican editorial that espoused shooting mustangs as a “management” tool.

http://m.santafenewmexican.com/LocalColumnsViewpoints/Their-View–Karen-Herman-and-Jay-F–Kirkpatrick-Science-improvi

We were so privileged to meet Karen and Dan two summers ago when NMA/CO invited them to Spring Creek Basin to see the area and meet our mustangs. This was part of our ongoing work to move away from helicopters here to bait trapping … but it hasn’t come to fruition yet.

We want to have “gathers” as few and far between as possible – which will happen, I firmly believe, with PZP – but bait trapping is a much more humane option than chasing mustangs (and burros) with flying machines.

Comments : 2 Comments »

Categories : Advocacy, Fertility control, PZP, Wild horses in the news

Get on the list

23 03 2011

Howdy, readers.

Just a quick update to let you all know that the scoping letter ahead of the EA for the Spring Creek Basin roundup (and, hopefully, fertility control program) will be coming out shortly. If you want to get on the mailing list to have a letter sent directly to you, please call the Dolores Public Lands Office in Dolores, Colo., at (970) 882-6800 by Monday, March 28.

I’ve been told the scoping letter and EA will be here when it comes out if you don’t want to call (you’ll have to provide contact information with your comment):

www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/sjplc.html

By the time of the roundup, we’ll likely have 90-95 horses. If a roundup is not held this year, we’ll have ~128 next year. The appropriate management level is 35 to 65. When 110-120 horses lived in the basin at the time of the 2007 roundup, the horses were very lean; after the roundup, with less pressure on scarce resources, the condition of the 43 remaining horses improved rapidly.

We are proposing that the fertility control program – using native/annual PZP and trained volunteer darters – be implemented in conjunction with the roundup this fall. It’s my understanding that this scoping letter is precisely our opportunity to let BLM know what we want to happen with management of our Spring Creek Basin mustangs going forward. Fertility control – limiting the birth rate of the horses – will limit the population growth – will reduce the need for roundups, which is the goal we’re all after. Continuing to allow the horses to breed unchecked is status quo – which is what we’re all trying to change.

When it does come out, I’ll post the direct link as well as specific information about where to send comments and by what deadline. We’re going to resubmit the fertility control proposal I wrote last year, but I hope to put together some points to make when crafting your own comments and have them available here on the blog.

This marks a potentially huge step in the “best science” and most hands-off (reduction in roundups) management of our Spring Creek Basin mustangs, and you all have the chance to be part of it – just like you have with the recent Pryor Mountain and McCullough Peaks EAs. Little Book Cliffs has been darting annually uninterrupted for almost nine years (this year). Pryor Mountain has done it, has been stopped, is doing it again. McCullough Peaks most recently approved an annual PZP darting program.

Please help Spring Creek Basin join that list. I know the horses, I’m trained, I’m ready to go. The program just needs the green light from BLM – and to get that, apparently, we need YOU to tell BLM this is what we, the people, want of our government, for our mustangs.

Comments : 5 Comments »

Categories : Advocacy, Fertility control, PZP, Roundup

Telluride

18 03 2011

Many thanks to Scott and Lisa at the Wilkinson Public Library in Telluride for hosting the educational program about PZP and Spring Creek Basin mustangs last night.

Particular thanks to Chris, reader of this blog and Telluride resident, for your help locating a venue and working on dates and posting fliers around town! I hope we’ll have the opportunity soon to have a joint visit with the horses in the basin.

I appreciate all the people who came out on a busy and drizzly St. Patrick’s Day evening in Telluride and listened to me ramble and asked great questions about the horses and PZP. Information about the BLM scoping notice mentioned during the presentation will be available on this blog when it comes out.

Thanks also to Scott Ransom, who provided a showing of an ABC program about wild horses and the inmate training program at Canon City as well as programs that connect troubled kids and horses. (The longer version of this film is called “Wild Horse Redemption.”)

“Thanks” doesn’t begin to convey my gratitude to JT, who gave a check to NMA/CO that will effectively fund the first round of PZP for our mares. THANK YOU!

The next educational presentation about the Spring Creek Basin mustangs and the upcoming roundup and fertility control program will be held April 13 at the La Plata County Fairgrounds in Durango (time to be announced).

Comments : 3 Comments »

Categories : Advocacy, Education, Fertility control, PZP

Peaceful grey(s)

13 03 2011

Grey/Traveler and Houdini. I wish his eye was visible, but this is a common view – Grey grazing nearby and Houdini farther away.

This also is common: Daddy with his girls … or … the girls with their daddy!

Isn’t he gorgeous? Doesn’t he glow? (Really, he does – I have evidence coming later.)

With the broad band of clouds covering the rising sun, the color of the day was fairly dull at this point … but I think you can still see a bit of light illuminating the horses’ coats – and here also, the far background of hills … But it was starting to edge away, that big cloud … revealing brief moments like this:

A teaser of light to come …

So many more photos, so little time!

Here’s a shameless plug (which I need to learn to do more of, I’m afraid): I’m speaking at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Wilkinson Public Library in Telluride – scroll down on the right – about the horses, the upcoming roundup and adoption and, very particularly and specifically, about fertility control and the annual program we hope to implement in the basin this fall. The little blurb is, unfortunately, misleading, and that’s not my photo and those are not Spring Creek Basin mustangs. I am in that film, “Mustangs and Renegades” (formerly “Disappointment Valley”), but I have not seen it, and I will not be talking about the film. It was shown there last month, which is the library’s connection.

If any of you are local and can make it, please come and please introduce yourself/ves and let me know about your experiences with the horses!

I mention that, too, because I’m going to try to get more pix up in the next couple of days, but then I’ll be in the basin Wednesday and part of Thursday leading up to my talk in Telluride … visiting with the horses again and collecting more photos and observations. We’re about a month away from the start of our foaling season, and most of the mares are showing definite signs of things to come. Most of our foals should be born in April and May, but our season will go through the summer and into September with at least a few mares.

If you’re praying for a suggestion of what to do, the upcoming scoping letter here will be another chance to do something positive for better management of our mustangs – this scoping letter in particular, for our Spring Creek Basin mustangs. I’ll provide a link to it as soon as I know it’s out (I assume it will be linkable). Public comment helped McCullough Peaks and Pryor Mountain fertility control programs become a reality (and Little Book Cliff’s at the outset – and continuing!); we’ll need them from you here, too.

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Categories : Advocacy, Fertility control, Gemma, Grey, Houdini, PZP, Terra, Wild horses in the news

BLM budget process

24 02 2011

There has been a lot of talk lately about the upcoming BLM budget process, initiated (I think?) by Rep. Dan Burton’s address in the U.S. House a few weeks ago.

I got this alert this morning (as I’m sure many did) from the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign: http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6931/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5664

It’s a complicated issue, and it’s going to be more complicated when I tell you what it means to Spring Creek Basin. If BLM doesn’t get funding, our roundup this fall won’t happen. Now I don’t quite understand the government budget/funding cycle, and when our roundup was scheduled last year – last budget cycle? – I don’t understand why it’s not funded in this current budget cycle. But our district ranger, acting as herd area manager until one replaces our retired manager, just told me that if Congress does not pass a budget for 2011 and passes only a continuing resolution for the remainder of the year, we would not have the funding for a roundup.

So here it is: Denial of this budget will have a local impact: It will cancel our roundup. Devastating? Maybe not (?). A huge setback? Absolutely.

Why am I so excited about LBC’s roundup this year being canceled and so adamant that ours go on as planned? Because LBC’s was canceled BECAUSE PZP has limited the population growth there. Ours is growing – still growing – and we don’t have a PZP program in place to begin to approach LBC’s success! We’ll end up with about 90-95 horses this year … which would mean ~128 horses next year (based on my knowledge of the horses).

To start, forget the genetic “number.” Whatever it is, it’s moot. Spring Creek Basin is a fenced >22,000 acres. (Most? All? HMAs are fenced or cut off by natural boundaries? We have both.) It’s a finite area with extremely limited resources. The population of 110-120 horses at the 2007 roundup was lean. Some horses/bands were driven outside the boundaries of the herd area to find water and forage – over/through fences. How desperate is that? What would be the condition of 128 horses??? I DON’T WANT TO KNOW – because I can guess. Emotionally, I HATE the mere thought of the roundup this fall. Realistically, I would rather the horses be in good to great condition to withstand the helicopter than in poor to starving condition …

Spring Creek Basin is a drop in the Wild Horse & Burro Program. But consider this: In the proposal I wrote last year asking BLM to implement an annual PZP darting program in Spring Creek Basin, I calculated that horses from Spring Creek Basin NOT sent to long-term holding would save the government (taxpayers) at least $2.25 million over their lifetimes in holding (at $20,000 per horse’s lifetime, according to Tom Gorey; it’s $2,500 per horse per year according to Rep. Burton’s address). We can achieve that with PZP to limit Spring Creek Basin’s herd population growth, to limit roundups to one per decade rather than three per decade.

Yes, we’re a drop in the program – and that’s lifetime, not per year. But what if this was the tale in multiple herd management areas and wild horse ranges … Little Book Cliffs, Pryor Mountain, McCullough Peaks, Spring Creek Basin and more? How many $millions ($billions over the long term?) would BLM – the government – taxpayers save? How many horses would we save? How many not-born mustangs would NOT go to long-term holding … how many mustangs would live wild on their home ranges?

So how do I/we comment on the budget process? What comment makes the most (realistic) impact? What comment funds our necessary roundup (see the numbers and reasoning above) and implements an annual fertility program in Spring Creek Basin – to start us on the road to the success seen by Little Book Cliffs?

Stopping traumatic roundups is a good goal, but SOMETHING has to be in place to then limit reproduction … leading to what BLM deems “excess.” Wait … what BLM deems? The monsters, right? Re-read what I wrote above: Spring Creek Basin is FENCED. Its resources are LIMITED. In addition to mustangs, it supports – in limited, seasonal quantities – mule deer, elk, pronghorn antelope and cattle (yes, a limited number of cattle, for three months of the year when water – as snow – is (usually) plentiful), as well as coyotes, black bears, mountain lions (rare, I have seen a track), ravens, eagles (golden and bald), owls, kestrels, bluebirds – others – badgers (caught by my wildlife cam!) … What does that have to do with BLM? Monstrosity? No. That’s simply the law of reality … of nature (as fenced by man, which simply ain’t gonna change).

“Let nature take its course …” Who has seen nature in her course? Fortunately (!!), Bones and her half-born foal are the only end-of-nature bodies I’ve seen (equine, that is). Since I’ve been documenting the horses, I don’t know the causes of the foal mortalities (other than Bones’ foal), and the mares other than Bones and one mare that likely died of a catastrophic injury have been elderly girls. Fortunately, I haven’t witnessed Spring Creek Basin horses at the brink of (or past) starvation – but I’ve heard firsthand accounts from people who have. I can’t stand by and watch nature take its course on a fenced range with otherwise healthy horses, and BLM is legally obligated to disallow starvation. Is (lack of) funding going to stop that process?

LBC’s roundup was canceled because growth stopped. Spring Creek Basin’s population is still growing.

On how many other ranges is this the story? I don’t know, I know it only here.

Now what?

I want the bulk of BLM’s Wild Horse & Burro Program budget to go to managing mustangs in the wild. That’s a better goal than “stop the roundups.” In our case, PZP will cost a few hundred dollars a year because of our small population and small number of mares. How much better would it be if the bulk of the budget BLM gets for managing wild horses went to fertility control and a smaller amount – because of fewer necessary? – went to roundups and removals? Will we eliminate mustangs in long-term holding? I don’t know … but as at least a short-term goal, wouldn’t it be better to have more horses wild than in any kind of holding at all – as opposed to the other way around?

To save the majority – here – some horses must be removed. That’s the end result of current management. If we can then start better management, hoorah!

I wish there was a neat way to wrap up this package, this issue, this post. I’ve been trying to get there the last several paragraphs. But it reflects the realities of wild horse management. There’s not a neat way to wrap it up. PZP isn’t perfect. Is it better than the roundup/remove option? Obviously, that’s my stand.

(Not) the end.

Comments : 5 Comments »

Categories : Advocacy, Fertility control, PZP, Wild horses in the news

The best kind of argument for PZP

23 02 2011

So our roundup is scheduled for Sept. 17-21 this fall. Little Book Cliffs, which had its last roundup less than a month after ours in 2007, was scheduled for a roundup Sept. 17-21 this fall.

Read carefully: The Little Book Cliffs roundup this fall has been canceled.

Canceled.

Now ask “why?” – and why am I doing a victory dance – not to mention the folks associated with the Little Book Cliffs herd?!

Can you guess?

How can you not?

Diamond Rio, Beauty, Chaca - 2008

Fertility control.

This will be the ninth (I’m pretty sure?) year Little Book Cliffs has administered native PZP to its mares, limiting births. There’s been no herd population growth since last year because of limited births and natural mortality. No change (particularly negative) in range condition.

Bandit - 2008

This is on-the-ground success toward a future that saves our mustangs. This is what saves BLM tight funds. This is how the proposed cut to BLM’s budget might affect future management: Stop spending massive amounts of money to round up and remove mustangs from the wild and warehousing them in corrals and Midwest pastures, and put a relatively low dollar amount toward fertility control to keep more horses in their wild Western homes.

Skylark - 2008

Little Book Cliffs doesn’t get the massive press of some other ranges. Why? Mutually respectful BLM-volunteer partnership? Lack of controversy? Public education? However quietly on the public scale, Little Book Cliff’s fertility control program has progressed from being a plan, a hope, an expectation and has become a success.

Roundup canceled (because of lack of population growth). Isn’t that what we’re working toward?

That’s what we’re working toward.

Congratulations, Little Book Cliffs! Keep doing what you’re doing!

Ruger -2008

(I think I updated my notes about horses’ names; Billie, please correct me if necessary!)

Comments : 12 Comments »

Categories : Advocacy, Fertility control, Little Book Cliffs, PZP

Spring Creek Basin Mustangs