Letter to Senator Mike Lee, R-UT, chair of Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands – Regarding hearing on wild horses and burros on disastrous BLM proposal called A Way Forward
Honorable Senator Lee:
I just spoke with your staff member Alex and gave a message urging you and other members of the Subcommittee on Public Lands, etc., to reject the plan that will be presented tomorrow before your subcommittee concerning the wild horses and burros and their legal BLM & USFS administered lands. I urge you to reject this plan, called “A Way Forward ,..” as it is in fact a way backward and would be a gross betrayal of America’s last remaining free and naturally living horses and burros. This plan would subvert the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act’s true intent buy further reducing populations that are already marginal as far as genetic viability and that are thwarted in their ability to adapt harmoniously to the ecosystems they inhabit. Do you realize that on average the land managers in BLM and USFS allocated 80 to 90% of the forage to livestock WITHIN the legal areas of the wild horses and burros and in spite of Section 2 C of the Act that mandates that the wild horse and burros receive the principal resources within their legal areas, while still accommodating multiple uses. It is wrong to be always over magnifying the impacts of the wild horses and spinning them in a negative way, when in fact they contribute so much of a positive nature, like balancing all the ruminant herbivores that are so majorly promoted on the public lands, like catastrophic wildfire mitigation and even prevention, like soil building because equids’ droppings are less degraded than ruminants’, like more intact seed dispersal capable of germination and of a greater variety of plants when compared with ruminants. I have done recent reports on a true “way forward” that would benefit everyone. All that is required is a willingness to share and an open mind to the greater truth and justice concerning these highly evolved animals who have done so much for us humans. Now is’nt it high time we do something truly good for them … like allowing them to be themselves, to realize their true place in the natural world, where they originated and evolved for many millions of years and have a great healing and restorative role to play. If we could cut back on livestock and other conflictive monopolizers of the public lands and allow viable thriving populations, they we humans would for sure be taking a “giant step forward” for everyone concerned: horses, people, and all the great Rest of Life that together supports us all.
Please indicate an email address where I can send some recent reports I have done giving the greater picture concerning the value and plight of America’s last naturally living equids and their legitimate habitats. I have indicated my number and email above and am willing to testify before Congress on this issue, with which I have been involved all my life.
Sincerely,
Craig C. Downer,
Wildlife Ecologist