A friend shared this quote from Theodore Roosevelt with me the other day.  It is one of my favorites and one I have referred back to many times throughout this process we are in. 

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
~ Theodore Roosevelt

We did it!

We successfully made it through the comment period for the Theodore Roosevelt National Park Draft EA!

Hopefully everyone submitted their comments!

What happens now?

The Park will review all of the comments received.  Some of you have asked if they actually read ALL of the comments.  They are responsible for every WORD that each of us sent to the Park.  That is why getting your comment into the administrative record was so important! That is also why Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates chose to have our lawyers write our letter.  EVERY LETTER AND EVERY WORD matters! 

The Park should be back in a few months with a report on how many people comment like they have in the past.  I am eager to see how many comments they received this time!

We added our CHWHA/AWHC comment letter to our website.  You can read it here: https://chwha.org/save-the-trnp-wild-horses/ We will also work on getting comment letters added to the website from this public comment period. If you want us to share your letter, please email it to us at info@chwha.org.

Yesterday I took the CHHWA/AWHC comment letter to the Medora, ND post office where it was sent certified mail.  I also mailed our CHWHA form comment letter with signatures from just under 4,000 of you ~ also certified mail, so that also becomes part of the administrative record for this comment period! 

Someone asked me if I was nervous about the Friday deadline and what it meant. 

I CANNOT stress this enough – Friday was nothing more than a deadline to get comments in.  This is just the start of what we expect will be a very long fight for the freedom of the wild horses that call Theodore Roosevelt National Park home!  We hope that each and every one of you will be with us for the long haul as we continue to Fight for the Spriit of the Badlands!

We definitely “Dared Greatly” these last few months!

With your help and support Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates accomplished A LOT during these last two months!

• CHWHA sent in a formal request to Superintendent Angie Richman requesting an extension to the current comment period.
• CHWHA demanded that TRNP make all documents cited in their Draft EA available to the public.  Those documents were uploaded a week after the Draft EA was released.
• CHWHA had our lawyers at Eubanks and Associates, PLLC create our comment letter for this public comment period.  This expense to CHWHA is $1100 (so far).  American Wild Horse Campaign signed onto our letter and is helping with the additional expense.
• CHWHA held several Horse Talks where a variety of experts talked to us and answered your questions regarding different aspects of the Draft EA.  All of these talks are available for you to view on our YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeyTpwa2Y1yUsTaJ4TU-eNw We will continue to host our Horse Talks!  Watch for updates and also let us know if there is someone you want us to reach out to for a future Horse Talk!
• Our friends at National Geographic created short, impactful videos for us to help raise awareness about the current plight of the TRNP wild horses.  These videos are available to view on our YouTube channel as well: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeyTpwa2Y1yUsTaJ4TU-eNw
• CHWHA spent approximately $4,000 in advertising during the last month to help get the word out for people to comment during this public comment period.  Ads appeared on social media and in print and online ads through The Dickinson Press and Forum Communications
• CHWHA connected with our ND State Legislators and introduced the North Dakota Wild Horse Preservation Act and requested that it be voted on during their special session in October.  It was one of 7 requests that moved forward to the committee.  It did not move forward during this special session, but CHWHA will continue to bring this to the attention of our state law makers as opportunities arise!
• CHWHA has been working with Senator John Hoven’s office.  Senator Hoeven is committed to making sure that a genetically viable herd of horses remains IN Theodore Roosevelt National Park! 
• CHWHA remains in contact with ND Governor Doug Burgum’s office.  His office received a copy of CHWHA/AWHC’s comment letter.  His office has told us that they continue to keep all offers on the table for TRNP to allow for a genetically viable herd of horses to remain in the Park.
• CHWHA has engaged approximately 400,000 people every week through our social media pages!
• CHWHA’s billboard is STILL up on I-94!  This comes at a cost of $975 per month to us!
• CHWHA continued to keep the horses in the news through constant communication with our media contacts.
• CHWHA sent a petition with supporting documentation to the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) with just over 3700 signatures requesting that the SHPO find that the wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park are historically and culturally significant. 
• CHWHA participated in Halloween events in Medora and surrounding communities to help raise awareness about the current plight of the TRNP wild horses.
• CHWHA has created flyers, brochures, stickers, and other print media that can be used by our followers to help spread the word about the TRNP wild horses. Send us an email at info@chwha.org if you would like any of these items!
• CHWHA put out new blogs just about every day to help educate our followers on this process and the TRNP Draft EA.  Our website traffic was up over 500% during the last 2 months! 
• CHWHA participated in a number of podcasts to help raise awareness with different audiences about the current plight of the wild horses in TRNP.
• CHWHA created talking points and a sample comment letter for our followers to use to create impactful and substantive comment letters to the Park.
• CHWHA will be participating in Christmas events in Medora and surrounding communities as we continue to raise awareness and let people know that the Fight for the Spirit of the Badlands is far from over!

We are NOT just SAYING we are doing so much to fight for the wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park – with your help we are actually DOING so much! With your help, Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates has continued to Fight for the Spirit of the Badlands from EVERY ANGLE!  That fight is far from over!  We will continue to fight with the same intensity even now that this public comment period is over! 

Former ND Governor Ed Shafer told us to keep the pressure on and to not let up! We promised him, and all of you, that we would! THAT is a promise we intend to keep!

We have incurred some hefty expenses over the last 2 months as we continued to do everything we could to raise awareness that our beloved TRNP wild horses need EVERYONE’s help!  We hope that you will help us with these costs by making a tax-deductible donation to Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates.  Please remember, aside from American Wild Horse Campaign, NO other organization is helping us with these costs.  If someone is raising money or asking for donations for the TRNP horses, please do not be afraid to ask them how their money is helping the horses!

There are several ways you can make a donation to CHWHA listed on our website: https://chwha.org/support-chwha/

We are also holding a silent auction!  This is open through December 3^rd!  There are A TON of GREAT items that have been donated to us for this auction!  You can view all of the items, and place your bids here:https://chwha.betterworld.org/auctions/chwha-giving-hearts-day-silent-a

It has been a long couple of months for sure!  With your help, we think that CHWHA and our followers stepped into the arena and gave it everything we had to give! 

There is A LOT more work to do to save this historic wild horse herd.  Please take a moment to catch your breath!  We have some NEW Calls to Action brewing!  Stay tuned for details!

We cannot thank you enough for your support!  Have a wonderful weekend!

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