Hello and Happy Sunday!
We are going to share another disturbing part of what has been revealed through the FOIA documents obtained from AWHC. This is another big one…
We have put together the emails between Paul Griffin, Dan Baker, Blake McCann & Jenny Powers that discuss the need for additional funding for the GonaCon experiment in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in 2020, how that funding COULD be obtained (outside of the $159,708 grant the BLM gave to CSU for the 2015-2020 part of the experiment), and the steps that were taken to make sure that CSU was able to get the results they were so desperately in need of.
You can view the file here:
The first emails show Dan Baker asking for additional money and Paul Griffin telling him that was not possible. Enter Jenny Powers. She has come up with a way to get the money they need to continue experimenting on our horses! What about an Inter-Agency Agreement (IAA)! Since the BLM & the NPS are both under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior, this is apparently an easy way to move our tax dollars between the two federal agencies so that the BLM can help CSU finish the 2020 experimentation on the horses in TRNP.
You can see how carefully crafted these emails were from Dan telling Paul in one of the handwritten notes to put this IAA in Blakes name and to keep Jenny’s name off of it. Then there are all of the HOW do we do this? WHO can help? WHAT should we say the money is being used for? And also the WHEN of the sense of urgency to get this done as quickly as possible – as noted in an email from Blake to Paul. And then there is the email of relief and thankfulness from Paul to Blake, letting him know how wonderful it is that they can continue to experiment on our horses.
To be clear, ALL of the money sent to either CSU or TRNP by the BLM to experiment on the wild horses in Theodore Roosevelt National Park was funded by our tax dollars!!
Also note the repeated information that “local residents” or “local volunteers” were THANKFULLY willing to help CSU and the park continue with their experiment. As vague as that description is, there really are NOT many people who fit that description.
While we cannot tell you WHO those people are, We CAN tell you WHO did NOT help CSU & the park with this experiment: Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates. As noted in yesterday’s blog (https://chwha.org/2023/04/15/3754/), the NPS, BLM and CSU all seemed to be pretty concerned about the questions CHWHA was asking. REMEMBER: look at who they thank in their presentations (https://youtu.be/ynPF5cvfK1o) and research papers (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0200795)
The last page that we included in this file is an email from Paul to Dan letting him know about a NEW BLM grant opportunity for experimenting on wild horses.
In light of the IAA, the email letting Dan know about NEW grant opportunities, the continued use of GonaCon on ALL of our mares aged 8 months old and up, and the park’s “No Comment” response to all of this, should we REALLY believe TRNP when they tell us that the experimentation on our mares is over?
Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates is committed to advocating for a wild horse management plan and protection for these unique wild horses that call Theodore Roosevelt National Park home! We are fighting for a management plan that is guided by science especially when it comes to decisions regarding the removal of horses and the administration of birth control. Many other wild horse management plans have proven to be successful with their science-based plans. We are asking for the same for this amazing group of wild horses that call Theodore Roosevelt National Park home.
Have there been any foals born since this experiment?