Wild Horse and Burro Coalition Letter to Secretary of the Interior Haaland

American Wild Horse and Burro Coalition Calls on President Biden’s Interior Dept. to Eliminate Livestock Grazing and Prioritize Wild Horse Protection and Preservation
More than 70 organizations and 60 Individuals Join Effort in Letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland

Washington, D.C. – This week a coalition of more than seventy equine protection, animal welfare, and environmental groups, as well as numerous wild-horse and ecotourism businesses called on newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, to halt livestock grazing and revoke grazing permits on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Herd Management Area (HMA) lands in an open letter to the Secretary.

In 2018, Haaland was elected as one of the two first female Native Americans in Congress, and recently served as the Vice-Chair of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, and Chair of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands where she frequently sided with wild horse protection advocates over Big Ag, Big Oil, and Big Animal groups who’ve sought to round-up and eradicate wild horse and burro populations on federal lands with a maniacal scheme known as the “Path Forward.” Haaland’s confirmation to lead the Interior Department was considered a tremendous victory for wild horse, animal protection, wildlife, and environmental advocates, and Indigenous leaders who campaigned to elevate one of their own to the powerful federal seat that oversees natural resources, public lands, Indian affairs, and the BLM.

The coalition letter dated April 9, 2021 went further to advocate for:

• Management of horses on all BLM HMAs to retain horse population sizes that will maintain TNEB [(Thriving Natural Ecological Balance )(where TNEB already exists)] or promote rapid progress toward TNEB (where TNEB does not currently exist). Management should prioritize keeping horses on designated HMA lands, within ecological parameters that maintain or promote continued progress toward TNEB.

• Immediate commencement of a NEPA-conforming BLM Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment processes for all BLM Districts that have contained (both historically and currently) legally-demarcated horse-related BLM HMAs (pursuant to the 1971 Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act) to bring about the TNEB-associated outcomes articulated above.

• Preparation of a robust, broad-based scientific assessment of the baseline ecological conditions that have been adversely impacted by livestock grazing (and associated infrastructure) to serve as the basis for determination of sustainable wild horse numbers and use, and for determining HMA restoration/recovery/sustainability actions.

The full letter to Haaland can be found here signed by the following organizations:

Western Watersheds Project, Wildlands Defense, WildEarth Guardians, The Cloud Foundation,Wasteful Unreasonable Use, Coloradans Against Horse Slaughter, The Daily Pitchfork, Living Images by Carol Walker, Friends of Animals, Wild Horse Education,  In Defense of Animals, Kimerlee Curyl Fine Art, Animal Wellness Action, Animal Wellness Foundation, American Horse Protection Society, Center for a Humane Economy, Sequoia ForestKeeper, High Noon Horse Farm, Central Oregon Wild Horse Coalition, Fleet of Angels, Wyoming Untrapped, Mary Hone Fine Art, Yellowstone to Uintas Connection, Horses for Life Foundation, League of Humane Voters, Equine Rescue and Adoption Foundation, Western Wildlife Conservancy, Safe Haven Equine Warriors, Sand Wash Advocate Team, Equine Collaborative International, Running Horses Studio, Colorado Wolf Alliance, Rob Lee Photography, Stop Wild Horse Roundups Coalition, Water for Western Wildlife ENI, World Park Educational Institute, Western Montana Equine Rescue, Wyoming Mustang Institute, Sandy Sharkey Photography, Al Hone Fine Art, Skydog Sanctuary, WindDancer Foundation, Predator Defense, Citizens for a Humane Los Angeles, Grazing Reform Project, The Two Suite Ltd., Love Wild Horses, American Equine Awareness, Friends of Animals, Native American Church of the Ghostdancers, Wild Equid League of Colorado, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Conservation Congress, Lynne Pomeranz Photographer, Wild Horse Tourist, Wild Horse Photography Collective, Chief’s Old Friend Inc., Wager Counseling, Habitat for Horses, Horses Happily Ever After, Equine Advocates, John Muir Project, Animals’Angels, Carter Reservoir Mustangs, Northern Colorado Wild Horse & Burro Partners, Devils Garden Wild Horse Emergency Rescue, Larimer Co. Horsemens’Assoc./BCHA, Wild Mustang Community, Serengeti Foundation, Adobe Mtn. Equine, Friends of the Bitterroot, and the Gila Herd Foundation of Arizona.