The News as We See it by R.T. Fitch ~ President Wild Horse Freedom Federation
Special Interest Group Fakes Interest in Native Wild Equines
Banner from America’s Wild Horse Advocates (AWHA) with Melissa Ohlsson, Vice President of AWHA as artist
Well, it’s that wonderful time of year, again, where hand picked hunting, cattle and grazing interests sit around and listen to BLM representatives spout erroneous numbers, rumor and innuendo while concerned American tax payers get kicked in the teeth when they attempt to articulate the facts on wild horse and burro issues. Ain’t it sweet? Nothing like being called a lier while you watch and listen to the real government paid liers smearing the truth and painting any picture that they deem fit to paint, usually the planned extinction of the last of our wild equines on public lands.
But right now, that wonderful and giddy celebration of stupidity is taking place in D.C., the 13th-14th, and you can tune in and become “bored” yourself with the BLM’s live feed at http://www.blm.gov/live/…be sure to tune in, over the next two days, and watch your favorite BLM croonies make their plans to destroy the last of our federally protected herds in ten western U.S. states, it is pretty heady stuff.
You can view the Agenda by clicking (HERE) with particular note of the public comment period occuring this afternoon at 3PM Eastern time. That will be the only opportunity where you will be able to hear any truth and/or accurate facts so be sure to tune in and support the advocates who had the stomach to show up to this charade.
Related articles
- Nominations Allegedly Open for BLM Special Interest Board (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- New BLM Wild Horse and Burro Honcho Sends Advocates Into Twilight Zone (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- AAEP Released Diluted Report on BLM Wild Horse Mismanagment (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
link to agenda isn’t working…. Thanks RT for all you do!
Click to access 16_Agenda_10_13-14_2011.pdf
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Thanks Julie…it’s fixed, there were just a few too many http://s in there.
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Sounds like a good day to just stay home and clean the barn….catch the reruns later. Like a soap opera, you won’t miss much by not watching.
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EXCEPT the public comments part
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Notice only 1 hour is being allowed for public comments. What a farce this meeting always is.
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Dean Bolstad just commented during is bogus report that he drew a Mind Blank on three points of his report. That speaks volumes about the BLM’s actions!!!
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His bogus report—-. Sorry about that.
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He probably couldn’t remember which lies he was supposed to spin.
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Yep,SWH ask any policeperson doing an interrogation-you can always remember the truth even repeat it backward, its the lies you can’t remember or keep straight.
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Listening for just 15 minutes I can tell they will be suggesting selling horses in mass amounts to KB’s or mass killings. Good ole’ Dean is more or less saying they are out of ideas. According to him their are too many horses but again they really don’t know how many there are. Just makes me sick! Can’t listen anymore. Jerks!
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Yep!…and the constructive reach out to true wild equine advocates and orgs is where to solve the problem? Kinda of like the TX Big Bend AS**ATS! What did you do TX, before you resorted to the final solution of those burros? How did you get exempt from the 1971 Act and HMA establishment?
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Denise, we suggest follow the money. What we are discovering through FOIA and in depth research is that it is the Texas Bighorn Society that is calling the shots at BBRSP. They are under contract to exterminate “feral exotic” (yes, they used both words together) burros. They don’t stop with them either. They are killing elk from chopper, and hogs etc. (We cannot prove they are shooting the burros from choppers but draw your own conclusions)
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Just for the few minutes I listened, I heard many errors and repeat of their errors like 20% reproduction rate and how removing the cattle would no stop the overpopulation. they learned nothing fro sitting in on our conference. Just the same old same old. And we already know the end result. I hope they are ready for a fight!
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Isn’t that the truth…the killers, like many politicians and orchestrated media/internet think is they just keep repeating the lies, myths, ignore the opposition…you will eventually win.
Good God (I’m talking mine and respect others that don’t recognize mine)!…..help US/us!
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Lay down the gauntlet, LynnIL! We are prepared to be human shields for our burros if we cannot get our TRO before the big donkey holiday of Christmas.
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Let me know the plan.
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I think the comments are very alarming about increasing population control using SpayVac, gelding and unbalanced sex ratios and about selling the so-called excess. Things are worse then ever IMO.
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I missed the public comments. Does anyone know who spoke? I thought I’d heard that Ginger was going to be there.
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I submitted a written request to Dean Bolstad to provide wild horse advocates with the following information about BLM wild horse & burro specialists at the meeting.
My request, made on September 25, 2011, was:
“Could you please tell me the qualifications a BLM employee needs to have in order to be considered for the position of Wild Horse and Burro Specialist? Could you also please tell me about any training the BLM gives to Wild Horse and Burro Specialists?
I am also requesting that you make this information available to the public at the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting next month.”
I hope those of you in attendance at this meeting will follow up with Dean for answers to this request.
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Debbie submit a FOIA.
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Ginger, Valerie Stanley, Suzanne Roy all spoke FOR the wh’s and burros , However some Public Lands Foundation folks spoke against them. I now have a splitting headache and can’t stand to listen to the rest of the BLM BS. As my husband just said the wild horses will always be excess to the BLM and some others. One is even one too many. And they won’t admit it costs nothing to just leave them alone. According to Carla Bowers and Cindy MacDonald there are only about 17,700 left now. These native species will be extinct in several more years as Karen Sussman predicted a few years ago in the Vanity Fair article. Things have only gotten worse since then .
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We must make some headway with BLM at this meeting(s). We need to have more talks and face to face discussion about what they do and what we want to change and what it could all become if BLM would walk.
The ultimate failure of BLM and the Wild Horse and Burro Program will come when they want to euthanize healthy horses they removed from the wild but they cannot afford to feed. Or the feed is not available. We cannot allow this to happen. How do we get guarantees from an agency who lies everyday to the world about what they are doing?
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Euthanizing the horses is the unitmate goal of the BLM. But just like the excuses they use to remove them they will do the same to kill them. Watch for a terrible illnes to take over the holding pens just like last year. They will use that as the excuse. Remember what the government did to the Native American’s who had already given up? They gave them deadly blankets. Watch for that to happen with the wild ones too. We must save them before that happens.
And it seems they are making people like Picken’s jump through hoops because they don’t know what they are doing. That one guy in charge of the eco-sants didn’t know his a$$ from a hole in the ground. No wonder Pickens isn’t making any head way with those idiots.
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People like Pickens are trying to play by the rules (not questioning, but MR P may get some added value)…problem is that the rule makers don’t play by rules, laws, etc or give others that want to play by the rules, a venue, opportunity, access OR VOICE (whether procedure or litigation)….certainly would explain “Occupy Wall Street”..
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We are fighting the back end of the problem….always playing catch up. The solution is at the front end….WH&B BORED doesn’t reduce the HMAs, falsify NEPAs, EPAs, etc.
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Amen Denise. Adopt a herd! If everyone who has the joy of access within a few hundred miles of a herd could adopt THAT herd, and get locals involved through public radio and newspaper ads. They could start grassroots efforts to save each herd INDIVIDUALLY. Folks who are not so fortunate to be close could work virtually for a herd. The field crew could photograph, document, and protect each herd member. If they spent one day a month that would be huge. Virtual advocates could keep track of scoping and comment periods affecting each herd. People like RT and our Wild Horse Freedom Federation could watch the individual herd advocates backs with publicity and legal funds. Of course, it would be helpful if we could get some donations rolling for those funds. It is doable because energy is being placed for persons on one group of mustangs. The communities around the HMA could be educated about how the herds could benefit them economically. It could be a win, win, win. WE CAN SAVE OUR WILD HEARTS. We MUST.
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My problem is that I’m in the Midwest and its hard to be where the action is out there. All of you in the area have to pick it up for us but we are in support. You just need to let us know your plan. Of course not on a public forum. You know how to get help if you need it. Just set the plan and get it out there.
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It’s hard for those in the East and South to get out there too or in my case impossible now. Here’s my Email and I’ll do what I can from KY.
bkwarner@windstream.net
The BLM has my info anyway from years of commenting against the roundups.
I am still outraged at the LIES at the Advisory Board meeting about there being an excess of wild horses and that more birth control needs to be done
when there are only approx. 17,700 left still free.
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I suppose they must have a “public comment” section on record. It’s part of their outreach to the taxpayer/advocate/activist. Now it’s all on tape/video–and will be totally ignored. I did miss part of it– heard the words “great amount of controversy”. I did appreciate that one board person suggested that a “policy maker” be involved in these sessions. Can’t say I’m feeling relief or at ease about the direction it’s all going. They can speak softly–but I’m carrying a big stick ! An evil agency………
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Wyoming/Washington Alert:
While our attention darts around a presidential candidate who thinks its OK to shoot burros, the American Quarter Horse Association promoting horse slaughter, and the BLM’s forward march to exterminate America’s wild horses, the wild horse haters/pro-slaughter forces in Congress have been working behind the scenes.
Representative Cynthia Lummis is sponsoring HB 1996 Government Litagation Savings Act which, if passed, will severely limit citizen’s rights to sue the government. A hearing on the bill was held Wednesday in the subcommittee of the Judiciary on Courts. This bill addresses the part of the House Interior Appropriations Bill that would have made it more difficult for citizens to sue the government for over-reaching its power and would amend the Equal Action to Justice Act (EAJA) through setting different standards than now exist for a citizen to have standing.
This bill also limits the amount of money that an attorney who is doing pro bono work for a non-profit or an injurred party can receive to three cases in a year, so if an attorney is working with a client on a complicated case, and needs to be in six hearings (I am taking this example from the last witnesses testimony), he can only be compensated for three in the cases fall in the same calendar year.
Some of the witnesses said that the environmentalists and endangered species people are keeping the DOI from being able to do their work—(don’t think these roundups have gotten off schedule too much) because they have to spend to much time on these cases.
What I fear and I have feared since I first saw this is that it is a back door way to assure that our wild horses and burros can be sold for slaughter, and this would make it much harder for us to sue under the law to stop this. At first I thought my sometimes overly active imagination was at play, but then I saw this a few minutes ago:
http://www.tsin.com/article/2011623/TSLN04/110619947
I found it by searching on Safari for HB1996
This article is from the Tri-State Livestock News written by Jan Woods. One interesting detail I found when I went to the comments section, is that this particular article is causing the publication to revisit its procedures for making comments. HA.
Jan Woods tells the readers to call their Senators and Representatives and ask them to oppose SB 1176, the American Horse Slaughter Protection Act and to support HB 1996 so that they won’t have to pay the lawyers who bring all those “phony” suits. It also references the GAO report which, according to the article, supports horse slaughter and addresses that really rational argument that if we don’t support horse slaughter, then we soon won’t be able to slaughter cattle, sheep, hogs….
This bill makes it more difficult for people to sue to get SS disability or for veterans to get benefits if they are denied—so talk about the slippery slope, this is one. Of course, if a few of these slaughter happy cow folks get kicked in the head by a horse who refuses to occupy his go to Mexico truck, maybe he will wish it was easier for him to find a lawyer.
This is one place where we can see how the GAO report is being used as propaganda for this group. No surprise. But now we have a link that ties to slaughter and limiting the rights of citizen groups and non-profits to sue.
It is important that this bill not get out of committee. Representative Lummis is a Republican, and this bill is dressed up as a way to save the government money. I do not know how well she is respected by her colleagues, but if she is, this bill could be supported on party lines even if the full house does not quite understand what it could mean. It sounds good to support Government Savings until you read the bill and understand what it could mean to you—and for those of us who are on to Lummis and her friends in Luneyville—for the horses.
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Christie, it said the page could not be found. Sounds like something we need to address.
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You can go to POPVOX.com to vote to oppose this bill. One way to get it noticed.
Thanks for this Christie. Its good to know that many of us are watching other things going on that might just be missed. I will have to call my Rep.
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Here’s a little more fuel to help heat up the tar…suppose this has anything do with EVERYTHING?
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/china-wants-to-construct-a-50-square-mile-self-sustaining-city-south-of-boise-idaho
China Wants To Construct A 50 Square Mile Self-Sustaining City South Of Boise, Idaho
Thanks to the trillions of dollars that the Chinese have made flooding our shores with cheap products, China is now in a position of tremendous economic power. So what is China going to do with all of that money? One thing that they have decided to do is to buy up pieces of the United States and set up “special economic zones” inside our country from which they can continue to extend their economic domination. One of these “special economic zones” would be just south of Boise, Idaho and the Idaho government is eager to give it to them. China National Machinery Industry Corporation (Sinomach for short) plans to construct a “technology zone” south of Boise Airport which would ultimately be up to 50 square miles in size. The Chinese Communist Party is the majority owner of Sinomach, so the 10,000 to 30,000 acre “self-sustaining city” that is being planned would essentially belong to the Chinese government. The planned “self-sustaining city” in Idaho would include manufacturing facilities, warehouses, retail centers and large numbers of homes for Chinese workers. Basically it would be a slice of communist China dropped right into the middle of the United States.
According to the Idaho Statesman, the idea would be to build a self-contained city with all services included. It would be modeled after the “special economic zones” that currently exist in China.
Perhaps the most famous of these “special economic zones” is Shenzhen. Back in the 1970s, Shenzhen was just a very small fishing village. Today it is a sprawling metropolis of over 14 million people.
If the Chinese have their way, we will soon be seeing these “special economic zones” pop up all over the United States.
So exactly who is “Sinomach”?
The following description of the company comes directly from the website of Sinomach….
With approval of the State Council, China National Machinery Industry Corporation (SINOMACH) was established in January 1997. SINO-MACH is a large scale, state-owned enterprise group under the supervision of the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
As you can see, Sinomach is basically an arm of the Chinese government.
The borrower is always the servant of the lender, and now China is buying up America.
The reality is that Sinomach is not looking only at Idaho. Sinomach is in discussions to develop “special economic zones” all over the United States.
Sinomach has recently dispatched delegations to Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania to explore the possibility of establishing “special economic zones” in those states.
Will such “self-contained communities” soon start appearing from coast to coast?
According to Dr. Jerome Corsi, the U.S. government has already set up 257 “foreign trade zones” across America. These “foreign trade zones” will apparently be given “special U.S. customs treatment” and will be used to promote global free trade….
“The FTZs tend to be located near airports, with easy access into the continental NAFTA and WTO multi-modal transportation systems being created to move free-trade goods cheaply, quickly and efficiently throughout the continent of North America.”
So what do our politicians think about all of this?
Most of them are greatly in favor of it.
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Hmmm the United States of China? Had heard of these doings before, must remember to keep an eye on this and other possible sites.
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Thank you for this information, Louie. I had not heard of this and will share it with others who may not have either. “As the World Turns–Upside Down “
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Again its all about the money! The selling out of America. Just glad I’m so old that maybe just maybe I won’t see this. So sad what these politicians are doing to our once FREE country.
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Thanks Louie for this dynomite information. Most of the politians are brain dead or seem like they have had lobotomies. This information needs to be circulated to everyone you know. I often said that we don’t have to go to batttle because they are taking over internally. Its silent and deadly. Again, its all about the money. I plan on sharing this with my friends and family members and will surely contact my Legislators to object to this activity. And of course there are NO taxes to paid or any fees paid. Unreal…Of course you know what this will mean for all our animals in the US. Good grief, communist China right in our own backyard! We are letting them buy our country right out from underneath us…
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Gail, there is a lot more on this at PPJ Gazette…FREE TRADE ZONES, they are called….only they AREN’T free.
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Then they can put “MADE IN AMERICA” on the label.
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Remember this in Idaho?
Urge Release of the Saylor Creek Wild Horses Back to Their Range
By: Newsroom Associate
Last Modified: 11/19/2010 9:32:31 AM
In August, the BLM rounded up the entire herd of 198 wild horses living in the Saylor Creek Herd Management Area in southern Idaho, after a wildfire burned a portion of their home range. Now the agency is taking public comments on a release plan. They propose returning fewer than 40 percent of the horses to the range. Meanwhile, grazing of privately-held animals will be allowed to continue at current levels, with 16 times more forage allocated to farmed animals than wild horses.
Newsroom Associate
Staff Writer
support@horsesinthesouth.com
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This was what BLM did:
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org/news/2011/09/30/saylor-creek%e2%80%99s-wild-horses-return-home-a-year-after-the-long-butte-fire/
September 30, 2011
AWHPC Note: In the summer of 2010, the BLM rounded up all the wild horses (196) from the Saylor Creek Herd Management Area in Idaho after a wildfire. Despite receiving over 3,500 public comments urging the return of all horses after it had regenerated, the BLM decided to release just 30 horses to the range. The rest of the horses are being put up for adoption, but due to the low adoption demand, the majority of horses will likely spend the rest of their lives in long-term holding facilities, never to see their families or experience freedom again.
The 30 horses returned to this 57,000-acre range will leave this HMA below the already-low allowable management level of 50 that BLM has established for this area. As in other areas, the BLM allocates the majority of forage in this federally-designated wild horse habitat area to private livestock, with 19 times more Animal Unit Months (AUMs) designated for private livestock than for wild horses.
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Most of you are very knowledgable and may be giving info that is also useful for horse enemies… R.T. is always careful to give accurate news, but not give too much info to the opposition. Sometimes we forget this is a very popular and open blog, which is a good thing, but also a risky thing.
a giant thank you to Suzanne, Ginger and Valerie for being the die hard warriors that they are, and being there!
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While watching the advisory board meeting yesterday I wanted to share one thing I heard and just had to yell “LIAR.” Dean said talking about freeze brands “IT IDENTIFIES THE ANIMALS BIRTH AND A SERIAL NUMBER. EVERY HORSE HAS ITS OWN UNIQUE MARK. WE CAN TRACK IT, IF WE NEED TO. WE KNOW EXACTLY WHERE IT CAME FROM AND TO ADOPTED IT. ” Really??? is all that I could say. They didn’t know that 47 horses were on their way to slaughter. So how can they be believed? EVER!
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Things are moving so very fast, that there is a danger that it will be too late if information isn’t shared. Most of us have come into this because of a love of Horses, but as this battle unfolds, you start to connect the dots. Most information is already public, but like the assault on our Wild Horses and Burros, not covered in the mainstream news.
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This is my analogy:
You see Horse thieves heading for your neighbor’s barn when they’re asleep. What do you do? By alerting your neighbors, you take the chance of also alerting the Horse thieves. It’s too late to quietly alert your neighbors….so you just have to take a chance and yell HORSE THIEVES, and pray that you have made the right decision….before it’s too late.
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Will the banner be available for holiday cards this year?
Wow so much amazing info here. Awesome.
There are a few things indicated in the comments that makes my skin crawl.
We are living in a very creepy time.
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http://www.tsln.com/article/20110623/TSLN04/110619947
I hope this link works. I checked a couple of things and found that Vickie Tobin had already brought HB 1996 Government Savings Litigation Act as early as June 22. However, it was the 4th piece of legislation on her list of bills to watch.
We have learned by now that there are different ways to affect what is law including creating a bill to be voted on by both houses of Congress and signed into law, amending an existing law, appropriations, or through policy directives.
While I might now want to give away certain elements of a strategy, I think it is important that our law makers and government bureaucrats know that we are watching. We have been too easily dismissed, and if HB 1996 passes, even more easily dismissed. I like to think that if law makers take the time to study this bill or their staffers do, they will see through some of the language, and realize what passage of this bill will mean. However, things are moving very quickly right now, so we can’t count on this. This bill prevents people who do not have a financial stake or can prove that they will be harmed directly from suing the federal government. It would make it impossible to sue the government for their inhumane treatment of our wild horses, which is the point.
Hopefully, Western Watersheds Project’s suit will nullify the Bush grazing policies that have caused the courts to have to show deference to the government. But we need more clarification on this.
We need to call, write, fax and phone our representatives and senators to let them know we oppose the passage of HB 1996. This is not about “phony law suits”, about citizens and non-profits being able to sue the government when the government does not follow its own laws, over-reaches its power, or the person or persons in charge abuse their power.
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Louie,
I followed the link to the article, read it, and then googled. I found another article based on the link as well as a link to the Idaho Department of Commerce. I think it is a bit alarming, but we need more information. On the bright side, some Chinese companies are returning to the US to manufacture (which sounds like what could be happening here—don’t know). As the Chinese standard of living has risen, fewer people are willing to work for the wages they used to. I think there are at least two Chinese owned companies manufacturing in South Carolina now, but they are employing South Carolinians to work in the factories, so there is are no cities or even the suggestion of one.
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Magorie has some good suggestions about local groups adopting herds. The best insurance these horses have at the moment is for local communities to take an interest in them and see them as the bridge to what could be a wonderful bridge to ecotourism, or at the very least a source of enrichment to the local community. It would be kind of cool if we could figure out how to do virtual adoptions to herds not near a community. This might be possible if our herds could become a cooperative partnership with our local cooperative extensive service. These would mean that we would work with the state department’s of agriculture. I suggest this only because it is an alternative to BLM, and would make use of an already existing federal, state, and local structure. Extension Services exist to serve the needs, primarily agriculture, in their communities. Our extension service offices classes for horse owners once a year, so one of their purposes is to educate the people in their areas about maintaining healthy land and producing healthy animals and crops.
The Wild Horses of Corolla are a tourist attraction and important to the local economy. Tour buses take visitors to the area where the horse’s are, and I believe one of the local kayak companies was trying to get a permit for kayak tours to view the wild horses. These horses are managed by a local private non-profit, but the USFWS is involved because as the Outer Banks became more developed, the horses have been forced onto more of the land owned by the a wildlife refuge.
So I think it is good to discuss alternatives to the current structure that could work. We many not all agree, and it may be that in order to take care of all these wild horses, we will need multiple plans that do not necessarily look alike.
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Christie, I’m glad that you checked it out. I think it’s important that we all stay informed. Better to know than NOT know.
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TELL GOVERNOR RICK PERRY & OTHER TEXAS OFFICIALS TO STOP KILLING BURROS
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6931/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8419
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Ecotourism: Viewing wild horses and burros in their natural state
Ecotourism: By State
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.org/solutions/ecotourism.html
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My! It is very quiet here.
While reading the morning papers, I found this:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-9th-circuit-vacancies-20111012,0,4457622.story
Why is this important? Well, this is the court that hears some of the wild equine and First Amendment lawsuits/appeals and the Republicans in the Senate are influencing our courts by dragging their feet and/or flat out rejecting President Obama’s appointees. IOW, they are hampering judicial review and in some cases, stacking the courts with judges that are anticonsumers, antienvironment, pro corporation, etc….not good.
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Thanks, Denise.
BTW the Public Lands Foundation members are mostly retired BLM agents so no wonder those at the BORED meeting were using BLM lies about the excess and wanting more birth control. Those want to sell them may have been “SS” agents.
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Yes, Louie, I agree about the knowing. I’m going to see if I can find someone in Boise who may have heard about this. Don’t have a lot of connections, but the ones I have might know something.
Right now I have to direct my attention toward a couple of tasks that I hope will pay off for us and our horses. Got to give them my best shot and see if it lands anywhere.
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Christie, it would be interesting to know whether this is supposed to be on private or Public land.
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