Leading horses to water

[Oak]

I just about fell over when I saw this in the paper this morning. What do you think of the BLM hauling water to the feral horses so that they don't die in the drought? The amazing thing is that the horse huggers oppose it, too, and they are still doing it!

Leading horses to water
By Matthew Berger
Monday, July 2, 2012

Even wild horses will require extraordinary measures to make it through this year’s drought, it appears.

The Bureau of Land Management is taking the exceptional step of trucking tanks of water to a herd of wild horses, an effort the agency says is necessitated by the area’s springs having dried up, though some advocates continue to question their actions.

Last week, these emergency efforts to provide water went a step further as BLM officials doubled the amount of water being delivered to the bands of horses in the West Douglas Herd Area, a hilly region south of Rangely that is not officially managed for wild horses but which has been home to the herd for decades.

Earlier this month, the springs supplying water to two of the bands of horses within that herd dried up, the BLM says. According to horse experts with the agency, bands of horses there are fairly territorial about their water sources and are unlikely to try to compete with other bands for the use of springs that might still be running.

“It becomes ingrained in these horses that they just have their water,” said Jerome Fox, wild horse specialist with the BLM’s Grand Junction office. “They’ll share resources when there’s plenty, but when there gets to be a shortage, it’s survival of the fittest.”

To get these two waterless bands through the dry summer, then, the agency trucked a 500-gallon tank of water above where the bands congregate on the side of Texas Mountain. The tank empties into a trough, from which water is delivered down to the site of the now-dry springs via pipe.

That 500-gallon tank has had to be replaced about every day and has only been enough to provide water to one of the bands lacking it, BLM officials said. That band consists of about 10 to 20 horses.

ADDITIONAL TANK

Last week, several officials dragged up an additional tank, doubling the amount of water flowing to the horses.

The extra water was delivered via a rubber pipe to the other band of about 20 to 30 horses, which are in a lower part of the area from the first band.

“We were hoping that (tank) would get to the upper and lower bands, but the lower ones just aren’t utilizing it,” Fox said. Still, he said, “they’re staying in relatively good shape, so we’re trying to determine whether they’re sneaking up when the other horses aren’t around. I hope they are.”

Fox said that without this supplemental water, it is believed that within two or three days the horses would be too weak to be able to seek water.

Lauren Wachs, associate director of the Cloud Foundation, which advocates on behalf of wild horses, said she had been out to the West Douglas region two weeks ago and saw seeps and springs that were providing adequate water for the horses.

Fox said he had spoken to Wachs by phone last week but that she said the foundation had decided not to share the GPS coordinates of the springs because of an ongoing court case over the West Douglas horses.

Wachs confirmed that, but said the BLM already knew the location of the springs because they had marked them. When pressed for their locations, she mentioned Wild Rose Spring, which is on the other side of Texas Mountain from the two bands in question.

“Horses (that are) not members of the affected band are already using the Wild Rose Spring,” BLM spokesman Chris Joyner said. “Simply moving off to another water point is not an option for the affected horses ... Please remember these are wild animals competing for limited resources.”

“We have and will continue to monitor all water points throughout the herd area,” he added.

In the eyes of the Cloud Foundation, the BLM action is inspired more by a desire to remove the horses than from drought-inspired necessity.

The BLM has been attempting to get permission to round up some of the horses from the West Douglas area, as they see it as lacking adequate summer range and generally unsustainable for supporting horses over the long run.

That action, however, which would involve rounding up some of the horses before putting them up for adoption and moving them to long-term holding pastures, has been held up in court.

“Hauling the water is really a precursor to doing a round-up,” as habituating them to the water source is a step toward that action, Wachs said.

The BLM says it is evaluating the possibility of a roundup but that, for now, it is trying to avoid that through providing the water to get the horses through the drought.
“We will keep bringing water as long as necessary,” Fox said.

He also pointed out the small amount of grass in the area and that, if needed, they would haul hay up to the herd area.


CLOSE MONITORING

Elsewhere, the BLM has turned on an additional well in the Sand Wash Herd Management Area west of Craig and is closely monitoring the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range behind Mount Garfield.

Marty Felix, of Friends of the Mustangs, which works with the BLM to monitor the Little Book Cliffs horses, said there is “always water in the canyons” beyond the Bookcliffs.
“The horses are smart enough to know to get down there,” she said.

The last time water tanks were taken up to the horses there was in 1977, she said, though there are troughs that collect water from springs there for the horses.

Felix said they were “prepared to haul water” but that they were more concerned about the food available to the Book Cliffs horses, though she noted that there is grass available in other places there.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/leading-horses-to-water

 

[Dinkshooter]

So you're saying you are not a Horse Whisper?

 

[Big Fin]

Wow. Not even sure how to respond to that one.

Does BLM have budgets to provide artificial water to non-native species who are impacting the range and water sources for native species?

I guess so.

 

[MThuntr]

I think they should quit watering feral livestock. A person could make a point for culling animals from the herd. Where's Marvel & Co for not yet suing the govt for livestock improvements on public lands?!

 

[skeet20]

wild horses

I don't think you understand the thinking behind this whole wild horse thing.

You see, the 53% of us who pay federal tax have about 70 million of that money spent to use helicopters to locate wild horses which are happy and content in the wild munching grass and creating ponies. Then they herd these horses to areas were we pen them up and feed and water them. Now the horses are confused but not enough to stop making more ponies. In the meantime the people who are doing this are scoring points and getting name recognition with their supervisors and if they are really lucky they can get involved in the politics of it all which is a training ground for them to run for public office. If they are really politically driven and do get elected to office they can now use what they learned herding horses on their new job. Since they were always behind the horses when they were driving them they learned from that end and that is why we have so many horses ass's in congress making these stupid laws. We now have over 40,000 horses penned up for people to adopt but people aren't adopting them because it is easier and cheaper to buy one locally . By last count we also had 535 dumb ass's in washington spending our money on this noble cause.

Does this help explain the problem?

 

[elk_hunter]

Oh my........freaking retarded.....I'm speechless

 

[Battleborn]

Last year the entire wild horse and burro program budget was $77,000,000.00. The amount spent from that budget to keep 47,000 horses in holding facilities was....................$44,000,000.00!!!

Seems to me that money could be better spent given our current economic climate.

 

[TheTone]

Why we are protecting any sort of feral, non native species in this country is beyond me. Wild horses and burro's should hope I never become president.

 

[Big Slick]

Maybe the BLM is trying to get the horses in Colorado to over run the state like the hogs have in Texas.:hump:

 

[noharleyyet]

Maybe the BLM is trying to get the horses in Colorado to over run the state like the hogs have in Texas.:hump:

You won't be laffin at those helicopters then Rocky Boyz.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Maybe because it is the law?

 

[Oak]

Maybe because it is the law?

Wrong.

 

[What Map]

I like to follow the votes, but I don't quite see who is the huge block of voters who see "wild" horses on public land as a core value for voting.

 

[Dinkshooter]

Why we are protecting any sort of feral, non native species in this country is beyond me.

Like pheasants?

 

[Devil Diver Down]

This is a really, um, good idea by the BLM

How 'bout they dump the water on the fires and take up a pee collection for the problem exotics.

I guess I could have just said it was a clown idea, bro. But I liked the pic too much.

 

[NVLongbow]

Scouted this weekend in eastern Nevada. Tons of feral horses were lined up on what few springs had water. Pretty tough for the elk, deer and antelope to get a drink. Gonna be a bad year for the horses and the wildlife. Thank goodness for the big game guzzlers that the horses can't get into. Hope we get some rain to keep the guzzlers active.

 

[1_pointer]

This isn't new. The office I worked for did this the first two summers I was there. IMO, the largest problem is the interpretation of the Wild Horse and Burro Act. Management of these critters is nearly all done due to politics, emotion, and litigation. All which combine to tie a very tight knot around the hands of the field level folks trying to do the management. I am far from a fan of horses, but this is mostly a top down problem and all actions are highly scrutinized and nearly every proposal that might reduce or seem "unfriendly" to the horses by some groups ends up in litigation. Often times by the time the funding/litigaiton is settled the problem is much worse than it needed to be. Sounds like one of the reasons for hauling water to these horses is to set up a water trap for a gather (which IME is more effective than a helicoptor and horses rounding them up), but that is being held up in court.

My guess is that the largest portion of the Horse/Burro budget is spent on long-term holding facilities that are keeping horses that have not been adopted and many which are un-adoptable. Another good portion is spent on appeals and litigation, many which I thought were pretty baseless, but the way the appeals process is set up the appealants will be heard. A review of the "science" and alternatives given by many of these groups is an entertaining read... My guess the funding for these kinds of projects comes straight from DC or is diverted from other programs within the office. Either way I don't think it's a wise expenditure of funds.

 

[1_pointer]

Almost forgot; my biggest concern with the situation in the article is that it sounds like water is being hauled to horses that are not in a recognized Horse Management Area (HMA). HMAs are delineated in land use plans with herd objectives and management plans spelled out. From this article this case appears to be outside that process as I would doubt that an area "not officially managed for wild horses " is within a designated HMA. This just goes to show the influence of politics, emotion, and litigation that drives the management of wild horses. It appears the office has made attempts to mitigate the issue by issuing a decision for a gather, but that is decision is under appeal. Getting a Stay Order issued on a horse gather (effectively stops the gather until litigation is over or a settlement is reached) does not appear to be very difficult as nearly every request for one that I've seen has been issued.

 

[Big Slick]

You won't be laffin at those helicopters then Rocky Boyz.

I remember watching a show quite a few years back where they keeping the wild horses in check by shooting them from a helicopter in Australia. Looked like it was a pretty effective way of managing them. The guy in the copter was a nail driver.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Wrong.

I was addressing the comments on the entire program about managing wild horses and why we spend money on them. Not your water truck outrage.

Wild Horse and Burro Act