A Gift
January 9, 2023
A Tribute to Washakie, Wild Stallion of McCullough Peaks
February 9, 2023
The Bureau of Land Management announced a Scoping Document on January 9, 2023 on the McCullough Peaks wild horse herd, which is one of the most beloved, iconic herds in the west. The public may submit comments to the Scoping until February 7. I am writing today to encourage everyone to comment and share to others and ask them to comment as well. In this blog I will outline suggestions of points to cover, but the most effective way to comment is to use your own words.
Here is the link to the Scoping Document: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570
Once the comment period is over, the BLM will analyze the comments and some time later in the year they will publish their Environmental Assessment where they publish their proposed action, and there will be another 30 day comment period after that, then the Record of Decision will be published. They say that bait trapping could proceed any time after November 1, 2023.
I have been visiting, observing, documenting and photographing the wild horses in this herd since 2004. I visit 1 – 3 times per year, every year. These horses are unique and precious, and they deserve to continue as a whole, healthy herd. This herd is beloved by people locally, all over the country, and all over the world. People want to see these wild horses, and because the herd is relatively accessible, they draw tourists and tourism to the area.
The Appropriate Management Level is a number that the BLM assigns to each wild horse herd, and the AML is 70-140 wild horses in the McCullough Peaks Herd Management Area, or HMA. Currently there are 179 wild horses, by direct count. This is an extremely small number over AML and this should not be considered constituting an urgent need for removal of horses.
In this Scoping letter, the BLM says that their plan is to remove down to low AML, which is 70. That means they are planning to remove almost 2/3 of the herd, which is 109 horses, and the Scoping document does not specify if that number will include this years’ (2023) foals. According to the leading geneticist on wild horses, Dr. Gus Cothran, who says that in order to insure genetic viability for a herd there needs to be at least 150 breeding aged adults. Taking the herd down to 70 horses is a threat to the herd’s very survival.
This herd has been being managed with PZP birth control since 2011. There is no reason to now decide to remove so many horses when the population has been being kept in check. The range can easily support at least 250 horses, so the best possible solution would be to raise the AML to 150 – 250. Generally AMLs are set during revisions to the Resource Management Plan which only occurs every 20-30 years, so this needs to be changed another way.
The other issue is this herd has an aging population, because of birth control being used and the low average number of foals. There are 23 older horses, some of whom may not make it through the winter. Before deciding how many horses are “over AML” it makes sense to see how many are left in the spring. Also lone older stallions who have trouble getting around will not be breeding mares. They should not be counted as a factor in increasing the population.
The other issue that was brought up in the scoping was “non-responding” mares. These are mares who do not respond to PZP and continue to have foals. Two of them are 17 years old, one of whom may not make it through the winter. The other mare is 14. Removing these older mares would be an act of incredible cruelty. And even if two of them continue to have foals for 1 or 2 years, that will not add a significant number of foals to the population. They cite the current growth rate of the population at 2% which is very low. Alternative methods of birth control should not be used on these three mares or on any of the mares in the herd. GonaCon has been proved to sterilize mares. Spaying mares is incredibly cruel, inhumane, and dangerous. IUDs are dangerous and inhumane and should never be used on wild mares.
The other issue that the BLM is certain to bring up is range degradation. Somehow they never study the damage the cattle have done and are currently doing to the range. The small number of horses on 120,000 acres get scapegoated for all of it. I have observed the damage the cattle have doe to the range, and given that wild horses are supposed to be managed as the principle species where they are found, retiring the grazing leases would be the best solution for the health of the range.
There is currently no room in holding for these horses. Nor should any of them be sent to crowded, disease-ridden facilities where no one from the public can see them when they are safe and perfectly suited to stay in their home with their families.
Another point is that this is a 10 year plan, meaning all the actions they are planning to take over the next 10 years this is the only opportunity they are giving for the public to comment on their plan. This is a violation of NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act. They need to give the public an opportunity to comment each time they are taking action against this herd.
Here are my suggestions for comments to submit on this Scoping Document:
- Do not remove wild horses down to low Appropriate Management Level of 70 horses. This will destroy the genetic viability of the herd.
- Keep all of the wild horses that are on the range on the range.
- If bait trapping is used, do it “in house” by BLM staff, not using an outside contractor.
- Do not use GonaCon or any other “alternative birth control.” PZP is already being used to control the population. Do not fix what is not broken. This herd has been held up as a model for managing herd populations by the BLM.
- Leave the older horses on the range so they might live out their lives in their home, with dignity and respect. Do not remove them and then put those that have issues down.
- Change the AML at the first available opportunity to 150-250 horses.
- Retire the livestock grazing leases in the Herd Management Area.
- Set up a plan for managing the horses, but do not try to do a 10 year plan. This would be a violation of NEPA. One comment period per action is required.
Comments are due by end of day February 7, 2023.
Please use your own words for comments. Do not rely on a “sign on” letter – the BLM counts those as 1 comment. It is important that you take the time and submit your own comments.
You may comment online through the BLM’s eplanning site here: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570 Click on the green Participate Now button.
You can also submit written comments here:
Refer to: DOI-BLM-WY-R020-2023-0003-EA
BLM Cody Field Office
Attn: Abel Guevara, Wildlife Biologist
1002 Blackburn Street
Cody, Wyoming 82414
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for caring about the McCullough Peaks wild horses.
55 Comments
This herd is being responsibly managed. There is no purpose to lower the AML to 70. It will destroy the herd. It should be raised to 150 and the live stock lease retied.
Please do not remove the TRNP horses to a 70 or below number as this will destroy the genetic viability and diversity. Please consider keeping the gerd at 120 to 250 horses. Please continue to keep the herd on their range. If there must be horses removed, please do with BML personnel and not by contractors. Please consider using PZP for the herd control. It has been proven effective. The older horses should be allowed to remain. As they pass the herd numbers will continue to go down. Please retire the livestock grazing leases in the HMA. When in you set up a control management plan, please do not even do the 20 year plan. This is a NEPA violation. Thank you very much, Pamela Libby
Hi Pamela, these are the McCullough Peaks horses not TRNP. And please send your comments to the BLM, the link is in the post.
Leave our wild mustangs alone. They’re not hurting anyone. Stop the horrible roundups. Stop all the insanity that eventually follows.
Please send your comments to the BLM using the link in the post.
Leave them alone! Why ruin such beauty. They deserve to live in peace!
Please send your comments to the BLM using this link: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570
These horses should remain wild and free to live as GOD created them and not have human interference nature will take its course when there time comes there is plenty of land for them to live in . Why can’t they be adopted if they do need to be thinned out at times. Man is always trying to control nature and GODS creation. Please protect these Beautiful animals they deserve to be free and to exist the way God created them too. They are such a rare site for people to be able to come and see their beauty and how they’ve learned to live and exist in the wild.
These horses are being managed well. They are a fabulous tourist attraction. They have fans all over the world.
Please let the wild horses stay wild. The cost of round ups and after care far exceeds the cost of leaving them where they are.
Thank you
Please send your comments to the BLM link in the post.
I am from Ontario, Canada. Can I participate/comment in this very important matter? I visited the Pilot Butte in August 2022 and saw my first Mustang herd. I also visited the Wind River Sanctuary. These horses are so beautiful and it angers me that the BLM keeps removing them from different areas. I’m more than happy to help if I can!
You cannot send comments but you can spread the word with your American friends!
I am also Canadian (snowbird) and the wild horses bring me to the state’s , if our revenue benefits the states then Please Please save these iconic group of horses , I will do my best to spread the word to my American friends Good Luck 🙏🏼
I believe you can x
Please do not remove any of these horses. They are already controlling the herd population.
Please STOP this madness!
You would be removing/destroying America’s heritage!!
Please send your comments to the BLM using this link: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570
Please stop rounding up our American icons
the wild horses. It’s heart breaking to see what
happens to our wild Mustangs.
Stop rounding up these magnificent horses
for ranchers to have more land for cows.
Please send your comments to the BLM using the link in the post.
Please send your comments to the BLM using this link: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570
“The Greatness of a Nation andi it’s Moral progress can be Judged by the way its Animals are treated” Ghandi
Please halt the helicopters and traps.
Save them before it’s to late 💔
Link doesn’t work on website for me sorry
It was not working for a while yesterday but now does
Please leave these beautiful horses alone they should be loved and protected they have as much right to be as anyone else
Please send your comments to the BLM using this link: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570
Please leave our beautiful wild mustangs alone. They are part of our history. They need to stay wild and free. We owe them. They are the spirit of America. Honor them by letting them be !
Please let the herd remain. Maybe there’s a better way to manage the numbers if thats the concern ?
Leave Mother Nature alone she will take care of hers and they are the beauty of the area
Please send your comments to the BLM using this link: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570
Please leave these American icons aloe. They do not harm anyone. They are so beautiful and bring joy and hope to everyone who has the opportunity to see them. They represent freedom and encouragement for survival to all.
Please send your comments to the BLM, using the link in the blog post.
Please leave these wild horses alone! Please!
God put them here for a reason and without them our world would not be what it is today.!
Will we never learn? Please stop this!
Please send your comments to the BLM using this link: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570
Please stop these awful round ups. let the wild horses be free and wild. Please stop messing with nature let them be free and live in harmony with their family’s in nature not in small holding pens.
Please send your comments to the BLM using this link: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570
These iconic herds need to be left alone. 80% of All the American people Want the wild horses and burros. It’s been proven they keep the land healthy. Since you work and are paid by the people, you should listen to us!
Leave the Wild Ones alone!
Please send your comments to the BLM using this link: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570
Please leave them alone… These horses have every right to live their lives out where the know as home. Removing any of them will destroy the band, would you like it if someone came in and removed part of your family ? Leave them alone!!!
Please send your comments to the BLM using this link: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570
Please, I urge you to cease this holocaust type of extermination of the wild horses, anywhere on US Lands. These are families! Stop the darting of mares as well, because by reducing the pregnancies of the herd you ultimately will slowly kill off the herd over time. Let nature take its course. Stop the transfer to the “holding pens”, which traumatize the horses, while waiting for a horrible demise. If the horses survive they are oftentimes injured to the point they must be euthanized. Stop placing financial gain and greed on the backs of wildlife
Please find your compassion and humanity to save these beautiful animals and icons of America and the world.
Please send your comments to the BLM using this link: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570
Please stop this cruel removal of horses, etc that deserve to live there in freedom. It’s the cows and domestic animals that should be removed.
Ifyou down size the herd to 70 that would put the herd in danger of dying out. We are destroying our heritage. These horses deserve to be wild and free in there home. They have survived a long time in their natural habitat. Cattle do more harm than horses do. Horses only eat a certain kind of grass while cows eat all grass sincerely Lind acole
Please send your comments to the BLM using this link: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022012/570
Done!
Thank you!
Carol, I submitted my comments on their site. Here they are:
“I suggest the following:
Please stop removing the wild horses down to any ‘low’ management level whatsoever. I want to see a better plan in my own lifetime. We must preserve the genetic integrity of the herd.
Remove present personnel overseeing and managing this effort now. Please replace your workers with personnel that are preservation minded. All efforts must be made to protect and preserve the life of wild horses that are on the range presently.
Efforts to corral or contain the horses for treatment must be made by preservation and safety minded individuals only.
Population ‘control’ must by managed by the same like-minded preservation and safety oriented staff. Forget your ideas of overly invasive and dangerous methods of control. Safe PZP use or something comparable or better must be maintained when it is the only option. Adopt a mindset of protection, not control.
Treat all horses regardless of age with the same mindset and allow them to live out their natural lives with the herd.
Adopt a ‘preserve and protect’ mindset and increase the ‘allowable’ horse count instead of limiting it. Change the focus of the BLM to do this. Change your outlook.
In this area, retire or limit all livestock grazing leases. Permit yourself to oversee this horse herd as keepers and protectors, not those that ‘weed out’ or ‘manage.’
Please do set up a plan for the growth and nurturing of this population that is both short and long term.” Karen Powell
Thank you!
There must be a better way. They are too quick to just remove them, instead of actually studying them to come up with a comprehensive solution. Where are the rich celebrities who are always beating on their drums for this type of cause.
The herd is just fine let’s leave the horses out there and let them live
Please treat these animals with the respect they deserve. In these days and times animal cruelty isn’t an option, we know better. Please do better.
The wild horses are American Icons that deserve our admiration and respect. The BLM should leave them alone to run wild and free on their homelands. The roundups, the holding facilities, the adoption programs are not the answer, they are inhumane. We need to do better for nature, please do better.
The way the Planet is today why imprison its natural inhabitants? They’ve already paid enough by our hands. Stop this & let these beautiful animals have what they deserve…Freedom to live their lives!!
I urge you as a taxoayer as a proud citizen of our Country. We owe this to our forefathers to save and uphold these beautiful horses . Rounding them up and removing them from the only place they know is not the right path. They have been on this land for decades. We owe them so much more. Please leave them and no roundups.
Please Do not remove wild horses down to low Appropriate Management Level of 70 horses. We need all the wild horses we that God grants to us. This will destroy the genetic viability of the herd if we reduce.
Keep all of the wild horses that are on the range. If you want to relocate a foal I have a 5 acre ranch with a six stall barn, arena, round pin, optical etc.
If bait trapping is used, have BLM do it. Do not use an outside contractor. Do not use helicopters to round them up, it’s very dangerous to our wild horses.
Do not use GonaCon or any other “alternative birth control.” PZP is already being used to control the population. Do not fix what is not broken. This herd has been held up as a model for managing herd populations by the BLM. We need our mares to reproduce.
Leave the older horses on the range so they might live out their lives in their home, with dignity and respect only if its humane. Do not remove them and then put those that have issues down unless absolutely necessary to be humane.
Change the AML at the first available opportunity to 150-250 horses. We need to raise their numbers asap.
Stop the livestock grazing leases in the Herd Management Area. Cattle should only be grazing on their owners lands not BLM land.
Set up a plan for managing the horses, but do not try to do a 10 year plan. This would be a violation of NEPA. This should be a long term plan more like decades 20 – 30 yr plan.