Hello and Happy Friday!
I am no statistician, but it doesn’t take rocket science to prove that the wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park are loved and followed by many!
During the last comment period, we reached out to North Dakota’s tourism director to see if there was a way to prove how many people come to North Dakota for the TRNP wild horses. Her office was looking deep into that very topic during the last public comment period. With all of the resources their office has at their disposal, they were unable to find anything quantitative.
Sara Otte Coleman, Director of Tourism and Marketing for the ND Department of Commerce, DID testify at the ND Senate hearing for SCR 4014 and her department did send in comments to the park during the last public comment period. She shared the following information, which is part of the public testimony for the horses:
“Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a top location for leisure travelers visiting North Dakota. The park has seen an average of 700,000 visitors over the last 5 years. Our research has shown that visiting a national or state park is the top motivator of marketable trips to North Dakota. We love to tout the uncrowded adventure visitors can enjoy in all three units of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Based on the outpouring of comments our office has received, we believe park visitors highly value seeing the horses as part of their park experience.
The iconic wild horses found in Theodore Roosevelt National Park make this experience unique. No other national park in our region can offer this experience. Watchable wildlife motivates travel and the opportunity to see horses, bison, elk, mule deer, pronghorn and prairie dogs cohabitating within a preserved natural landscape is one of the joys of visiting Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The horses really set us apart from other national parks in the region.
These horses capture the attention of the media and influencers. In 2022, the Wild Horses in Theodore Roosevelt National Park have been featured in 194 articles reaching 501 million. These stories have an advertising equivalency of $4.6 million.”
She ended her testimony with:
“Tourism is key to growing North Dakota’s economy. Visitors to Billings County spent $16 million in 2021. The opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library will create new visitors to the area and the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.”
There is no way to know how much of that $16 million was a direct result of the wild horses. The ND Department of Tourism tried to quantify that and were unsuccessful.
Thank you to those of you who reached out to us and let us know that other pages are touting incredibly high numbers, like: TOTAL NUMBER OF ‘UNIQUE’ FOLLOWERS: 1,025,341 TOTAL REACH IN 28 DAYS: 2,650,567. WOW! This suggests that they have magical and quantitative ways to measure things that the tourism department was unable to.
We have been asked: “Are those numbers real?” I am sure they are through the means they are using them. I would question how many of those “unique” followers were duplicated among the pages, but again, I never claimed to be a statistician and we were not part of the “research” team that complied the information.
I am a wild horse advocate, and we have all learned that what matters are FACTS. We all have our own opinions, but opinions are NOT facts!
What matters from the numbers being shared is how many of those 1 or 2 million people took a moment to comment in the last comment period?
The answer: 19,012 people commented.
Of those 19,012, ONLY 5,138 correspondence letters were unique!
That’s a HUGE gap between people liking a post and people doing an action that can actually help save this herd!
Our answer to those of you who have reached out to us about those numbers:
Actions ALWAYS speak louder than words.
It is easy to hit the like button on a pretty picture. It takes a little more effort to write a UNIQUE comment to the park to try to save this herd.
That is what we at Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates encouraged our followers to do in the last comment period, and it is what we will encourage you to do in the next very critical comment period.
We only get one chance to save these horses! The lives of just under 200 horses are at stake! Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates has been leading the fight to save this iconic herd of wild horses from day 1! We have no intention of stopping now! We do need your help to continue our advocacy work! Please consider making a donation to help support our critical work as we continue our fight to save this herd! https://secure.everyaction.com/FbY2_tNxQU6Ehc9K2RsjZw2
Thank you to everyone who reached out to us with questions! As always, feel free to email your questions to us at inf@chwha.org or send us a private message on social media.
Thank you for your support and have a GREAT holiday weekend!
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.
PLEASE save the wild horses, I have been coming to see the horses since I was 5 or 6 years old! I am now 67, and still come to see them, they have become North Dakotas number one LOVE!!! They are free and beautiful !!! Continue to fight for their right to stay for many more generations to see and fall in love with!
Trish