Madeleine Pickens Responds To Obama’s BLM Slap In the Face

Horse News

By R.T. Fitch on January 22, 2011 • ( 47 Comments )

From Madeleine Pickens Saving America’s Mustangs

Pickens Calls Bob Abbey out for what he is – a LIAR

On behalf of America’s wild horses, American taxpayers, and my Saving America’s Mustang Foundation, I would like to express my deep disappointment in the BLM’s late Friday (January 21st) evening press release announcing its rejection of my proposal to create a eco-sanctuary for wild horses in Nevada.

Not even one month ago, on January 4, 2011 in Las Vegas, BLM director Bob Abbey stated publicly that my idea “has merit and deserves serious consideration.” Today, he has rejected the project, notifying the media, but providing my foundation with no explanation, despite our three years of hard work on the plan.

My eco-sanctuary proposal offers a cost-effective solution to the problem of the BLM’s roundup and warehousing of as many as 40,000 wild horses in off-the-range holding facilities. It is exactly the kind of public/private partnership solution that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has stated is essential to reform of the wild horse and burro program.

So imagine my astonishment when I read in the news release that my plan didn’t save money.  During our three years of work, BLM officials at every level acknowledged in meetings with me that the eco-sanctuary plan saves the taxpayers money.

Mr. Abbey’s suggestion that the area lacks enough water or forage to support wild horses is also perplexing. I’m puzzled by his statement to the media that my proposal seeks to place 10,000 horses on the Spruce Ranch, site of the future eco-sanctuary. In fact, our most recent proposal to the BLM was for approximately 1,000 horses on the approximately over half a million acres encompassed by the Spruce. This was made clear in numerous meetings with the BLM, and is explained on our website as well. (See Sanctuary Q & A #19, November 2010.)

The target number of 1,000 horses is consistent with the number of cattle the BLM has consistently authorized on the public lands portions of the ranches I purchased. It seems that the BLM believes there is enough forage and water for cows, but not enough for horses on those same lands, from which the cows have been removed.  In addition, in every meeting we’ve attended with the BLM, we’ve been consistent in agreeing that the BLM would ultimately determine the number of horses allowed on the land.

We have presented a plan to take care of the 30,000-40,000 wild horses that are currently being warehoused by the BLM. The additional horses would, of course, be housed on land purchased in the future. The Spruce is a pilot program, undertaken with the intent of showing the BLM how this proposal will be possible. It was never intended to put 30,000 -40,000 horses,  or even 10,000 horses,  on the Spruce.

-Madeleine Pickens

 

 

 

Jan. 21, 2011 8:09 PM ET
APNewsBreak: BLM rejects Pickens horse rescue plan

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A proposal from the wife of Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens to create a sanctuary in Nevada for wild horses removed from public rangeland around the West has been rejected, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said Friday.

Madeleine Pickens’ plan wouldn’t save taxpayers’ money and doesn’t include enough water and forage for the mustangs, agency Director Bob Abbey told The Associated Press.

He said the BLM spent considerable time with Pickens on her proposal, and is committed to pursuing public-private partnerships to improve its management of the symbols of the West.

“However, despite numerous requests from the BLM, (her) foundation has not provided a formal and detailed proposal so that the BLM can properly analyze and determine its feasibility,” Abbey said.

Pickens said the BLM failed to clarify what details it wanted, but she was not giving up. She bought two ranches in northeastern Nevada last year to serve as a sanctuary for mustangs captured from the range, instead of in government-funded holding facilities.

“I’m going to keep working with the BLM,” she told the AP. “It’s like your children. You just have to keep working with them until they get it right. To me, it’s sad we don’t have the leadership to fix the issue of these poor American mustangs.”

Pickens first proposed establishing the sanctuary in 2008 after the BLM said it was considering euthanasia as a way to stem escalating costs of keeping animals gathered from the open range.

The BLM rejected her initial proposal, saying it involved the use of public land where wild horses did not exist when the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was enacted in 1971.

While Pickens’ latest proposal addresses that issue, Abbey said it would require an environmental analysis to transfer title of wild horses to her and change the class of livestock authorized on several Nevada grazing allotments from cattle to horses.

Among other reasons, existing law also would need to be changed to give the BLM the authority to reimburse a private party for grazing wild horses, he said.

Under Pickens’ latest proposal, a nonprofit foundation would care for the animals with a government stipend of $500 a head, per year. Abbey said that exceeds the BLM’s existing long-term holding cost of $475 a head, per year, in Midwest pastures.

“Her prospectus, as presented, does not demonstrate an obvious cost savings to the American taxpayer,” he said.

But Pickens said her proposal would result in “huge savings” because it would involve the government initially turning over 1,000 wild horses in short-term holding facilities where costs run $2,500 a head, per year.

Eventually, Pickens wants to return all horses in government-funded holding facilities to natural habitat elsewhere after purchasing more property.

“I don’t think the BLM quite grasps that our country is in a financial emergency,” she said. “You can’t keep spending the money they do to put horses in holding. They have a program that doesn’t work, and they’re trying to save face.”

Last year, Pickens purchased the 14,000-acre Spruce Ranch and the adjoining 4,000-acre Warm Creek Ranch to serve as a horse sanctuary. The Elko County ranches, which she renamed the Mustang Monument preserve, come with grazing rights on roughly 564,000 acres of public land.

Abbey also criticized Pickens’ media campaign supporting the sanctuary, saying some of the information requires clarification and context, and that other information is “just plain false.” Pickens defended her statements.

The BLM rounds up wild horses to limit their numbers, saying it is done to protect the herds, rangelands and wildlife. Activists maintain they are being conducted to appease ranchers and make room for cows.

About 33,700 wild horses roam freely in 10 Western states, about half in Nevada. The BLM set a target level of 26,600 horses and burros in the wild, and removed 10,637 of the animals from the range in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.

Of the $63.9 million designated for the BLM’s wild horse and burro program in the last fiscal year, holding costs totaled about $37 million.

More than 40,000 horses are in government-funded holding facilities, BLM spokesman Tom Gorey said.

Related Articles

• APNewsBreak: BLM rejects Pickens horse rescue plan (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Pickens Responds to BLM Director’s Pro-Slaughter Stance (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
• Madeline Pickens Buys 14,000-Acre Ranch To Serve As Horse Sanctuary (ecorazzi.com)
• Major Humane Organizations Plead with BLM to Postpone Deadly Wild Horse Stampede (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
• Humane Society Names Madeleine Pickens “Humane Horsewoman of the Year” (yubanet.com)
• DOI/BLM Dupe Public and Congress in Covert Wild Horse Land Grab Scheme (ppjg.wordpress.com)

Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs

Tagged as: BLM, Bureau of Land Management, Equine, government corruption, Horse, Ken Salazar, Madeleine Pickens, Mustang, Nevada, Obama Administration, T. Boone Pickens, United States, wild burro, Wild Horse, Wild Mustang