I need to hit the purge valve tonight.
Most of you that follow my blog know that I have recently been to HMA’s and HA’s in 6 states. I have seen horses in other jurisdictions beyond the BLM. I have seen horses held behind bars awaiting whatever decisions man makes toward their further confinement or freedom.
I traveled to Denver to participate in the “workshop” that presents as if it wants to address reform.
Yet my life is wrapped in ever increasing demands to deal with protocols that run full force down the old paths that perpetuate crisis after crisis. In practice their new direction is just “pedal to the floor.”
I am not saying that the workshop did not address a possibility toward change. “Possibility” of change exists… willingness to make it reality is another thing.
What I witnessed was extreme pressure from special interests. There was an undertone to the “positive vibes” of aggressive pressure from those that reap a private profit off public land. BLM’s own documents state that lease holders do not even pay enough to cover the costs of initial assessments prior to leases being issued. Yet statements come from these interests that claim they bring revenue into the community. Is it redundant to state the obvious? After operating a private subsidized business on the back of the American tax payer because they can pay their mortgage it benefits me?
How many Americans are struggling to find jobs, health care and pay their own mortgage? I’m sure each one of them would love a business subsidized by tax dollars so they could become a protected special interest deemed “contributing.”
In creating the “industrialization” of public land the pieces of our America left truly wild decrease rapidly. Those pieces become scraps that anyone interested in protecting wild places has to fight for. A microcosm battle wages for resource for sage grouse, trout, any wildlife that exists. The concept that wild horse advocates are referring to a balanced equid containing ecosystem on 10% of BLM controlled land and that the premise of the core issues could benefit all public land goes unnoticed. Think the gulf here folks.
Now we head into the summer gather schedule.
Wild Utah baby taken just weeks ago
In less than two weeks we begin the Owyhee and Rock Creek. More than 1100 animals on that schedule for July. In Utah we zero out Winter Ridge and Hill Creek in July. Think about this… July, desert, helicopter, babies. We have seen this curve on the same old road so many times. Do we really need to see those images again?
Mare and foal Broken Arrow
In July the adoptions of the Calico horses and dispersal of “inventory” will occur from Broken Arrow to make room for the incoming… before the surveys are completed to even confirm the state of the range gathered last winter.
I am making a plea here… give us something tangible now.
Hold off on dispersal and do the range data in Calico before shipping off these horses into the black hole of tax payer fiscal responsibility. Hold off on the gathers and redistribute funds into creating the database to support a real structure designed at preserving the public land that belongs to the people.
Remember that private interest is not a benefit to the public if it creates a burden that destroys investment. (think gulf here)
Work toward saving more money by approving these “sanctuary” proposals and put that money into fixing the foundation.
Will there be a "New Direction?"
One year… one year… just give us one year without the sound of helicopter blades chasing our horses to make room to exploit our land. One year where the concept of determining what we have and how best to preserve it for the public while allowing only responsible private undertakings on public land is given a chance.
New directions need to happen now. Why not try this one?
