So much for talking…

While we were in Denver listening to BLM’s hired gun Michael Harty act as if his meeting actually meant something … the stallions at Fallon have been castrated. I wonder how many of those smiling faces at that  meeting knew what was happening?

http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_programs/wild_horses_and_burros/calico_mountains_complex/gather_activity_updates.html

Gelding of the five years and older stallions took place this week.  During gelding, one stallion was noted with two cryptorchid testicles and was euthanized, one stallion suffered a spinal injury while in the chute and died on his own and one gelding was found dead in the pen.

The letters I have written (we all have written) go unanswered. Instead Gene Seidlitz of the Winnemucca district replied to Craig Downers letter and cc’d us all.

That is not a reply to MY letter.

He addressed Craig’s fly over… never my questions directly… NOT EVEN CLOSE.

He never responded to my last letter. He has never sent me the schedule for data collection that he invited me to participate in… that started today. He is side stepping and squirming instead of simply answering. Does someone behave that way when they have legs to stand on? Or when they are acting like someone with something to be ashamed of?

A proposal sits unanswered that would have taken in all of these horses at a savings to the tax=payer that would not have required gelding!!!!!!

Does our president care that his BLM… yes Obama’s BLM… behaves in such a manner? A manner that only deserves the label “sociopathic.”

How can anyone go to work in the morning for the BLM and look their children in the eye at night?

Before I left for Denver I said to watch them… best face, big hit.

Watch them now while they close air space and deny me access to observe data collection…. what are they really doing?

I am in the desert and rather beside myself at the moment…. we will NEVER even be permitted to see these older stallions that the BLM has castrated… who died? Does the BLM even care?

I will write more later… I need to walk or something.

How can anyone go to work in the morning for the BLM and look their children in the eye at night?

SaveWildHorses posted this in comments. I think this is a great idea…. start cc ing the White House, Senators on your emails to the BLM.

Yes! And on every correspondence with any BLM official please make sure they see your cc: to the following

Your Senators
Barbara Boxer
all the chain of command in the WH&B and BLM (Don Glenn, Bob Abbey, Ken Salazar)
and the President

Soon, I think we may need to start contacting the Justice Department

BLM 101

This post is simply to address the number of emails I am receiving in reference to the scheduled flight over the new “megaplex.”

AML: (reference BLM website)

Q – How does BLM determine the appropriate management level of wild horses and burros (WH&B)?
A – BLM determines the appropriate management level of WH&B based on an ongoing program of monitoring over several years involving studies of grazing utilization, trend in range condition, actual use, precipitation (climate) and other factors. In Nevada, appropriate management levels of WH&B are generally determined through the multiple-use decision process. This process begins with an evaluation of range conditions; the evaluation assesses whether or not management and stocking levels for livestock, wild horses and/or burros, and wildlife are achieving rangeland objectives. If rangeland health objectives are not being met, changes in management or stocking levels are proposed. Proposed changes are analyzed in an environmental assessment and a proposed multiple-use decision (PMUD) is issued. Proposed decisions are subject to review and protect by parties affected by the proposal. BLM considers all protests filed and then issues a final multiple-use decision (FMUD). BLM’s final decisions are subject to administrative review (appeal).

OK.. so Algebra class begins here… sorry.

How many variables are noted above?

They list 4 and then say “others.” Without listing each one lets say 8 total. (for the sake of brevity and illustration).

Illustrative breakdown (not actual equation) looks something like this: a- (b +c+d-e-f-g)  (+ or – ) h = i (AML)

If  ”e ” represents number of horses counted, the proposed fly over represents one variable.

In order to find the value “i” we need the rest.

If lease holders are known, that takes the place of another variable…. etc. down the line.

All variables filled in you have a valid equation.

Here’s the problem:

A valid equation does not represent truth.

Any student of mathematics can tell you that math is simply language. Any student that has had courses in basic principles of logic (actually a math class) and statistics can tell you that neither of these disciplines is about “truth.”

If you are interested here is a “Logic 101″ website

When BLM tells you they are mandated under “multiple use” it is a “truth.” When they apply it to the above equation they have all kinds of ways to manipulate that “truth.”

Each one of the variables of this equation are open to debate as the numbers used are based on protocol already deemed faulty within BLM’s own documents.

Even if (and I most certainly mean IF) the fly over gives an accurate count of horses… that does NOT establish an AML. The number will be used to support an assumption that it is relevant to something already shown to be inaccurate.

Why would the BLM continue to perpetuate an assumption of AML?

We already know that answer and it lies within the multiple use mandate.

I know Conrad Burns pissed us all off with “sale authority” in 2004. But one of the blows to the “death” of  Intent of the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro act came in 1976.

http://www.blm.gov/flpma/FLPMA.pdf

(c) The term “multiple use” means the manage­

ment of the public lands and their various resource

values so that they are utilized in the combination

that will best meet the present and future needs of

the American people; making the most judicious

use of the land for some or all of these resources

or related services over areas large enough to pro-

vide sufficient latitude for periodic adjustments in

use to conform to changing needs and conditions;

the use of some land for less than all of the

resources; a combination of balanced and diverse

resource uses that takes into account the long-term

needs of future generations for renewable and non-

renewable resources, including, but not limited to,

recreation, range, timber, minerals, watershed,

wildlife and fish, and natural scenic, scientific and

historical values; and harmonious and coordinated

management of the various resources without per­

manent impairment of the productivity of the land

and the quality of the environment with considera­

tion being given to the relative values of the

resources and not necessarily to the combination

of uses that will give the greatest economic return

or the greatest unit output.

Sounds good?

Sec. 202. [43 U.S.C. 1712] (a) The Secretary shall, with

public involvement and consistent with the terms

and conditions of this Act, develop, maintain, and,

when appropriate, revise land use plans which pro-

vide by tracts or areas for the use of the public

lands. Land use plans shall be developed for the

public lands regardless of whether such lands pre­

viously have been classified, withdrawn, set aside,

or otherwise designated for one or more uses.

Ahhhh…. the slimy door opens….

This is where special interests justify their exploitation of this intent.

(and the suspicion that legislators and their aides never read passed a first page)

But this second piece does NOT trump the first.

“Multiple use” is by design intended to benefit the interests of the American public.

It is a concept that has been twisted to trump anything that does not represent private profit.

Ecological, historical, etc. fall by the wayside when BLM answers you “we must manage by multiple use.” Even though it again does not represent an entire “truth.”

Read that whole document to understand the complexity.

So that brings us back to AML

AML is said to represent the numbers of animals the land can sustain. But if your land is being parceled off to livestock, energy, whatever, that is run by a private interest that gains private profit…  that someone besides you (like your president) determines is in your best interest…. AML is a number based not on how many horses the land can sustain, but how many leases are held in that area.

So who determines what I as an American feel has value?

In 1971 my Congress passed an act overwhelmingly demonstrating the importance of Wild equine herds… didn’t it?

Shouldn’t the value to the public be determined by responsible stewardship?

If a lease fee is less than the cost to evaluate the impact of the lease, then isn’t that a burden to the public not a benefit?

If the mission statement of a new complex is to manage horses integrated into “wild across the landscape,” than shouldn’t AML be determined to reflect that? And NOT to reflect a natural gas pipeline and increase in livestock permits? And NOT based on data the BLm admits is faulted in their own documents.

Congress needs to hear from us… again.

LOUDLY.

Need to get back in the pick up.

Herd Watch is on the road. We are becoming operational as we are being born. Thank you all for your support and confidence. Many volunteers have stepped up and those of you not currently on Teams will be contacted very soon. Continue to spread the word… we exist solely by the generosity of the public.

Love you all… and yes, I am being very careful.