Hello and Happy Tuesday to everyone!

We spent the morning at Dickinson State University listening to Governor Burgum deliver the State of the State Address. 

It was also a great opportunity to check in with some of our state legislators! 

We do have meetings next week with state legislators as we continue to be proactive as we prepare for the 2025 North Dakota Legislative Session. 

When the Park announced their plans to eliminate the entire herd of horses in December of 2022, we had to scramble to write legislation, find sponsors and co-sponsors and then get all of the paperwork submitted and approved by the deadline. 

It was a STRESSFUL and nail-biting time for sure!

We always work to be proactive whenever we can, and this is one of those times.  Even though our North Dakota State Legislators won’t be back in session until 2025, there are things we can do right now to be prepared for the deadlines in January of 2025.

Last year, our North Dakota State Legislators came together and UNANIMOUSLY passed North Dakota Senate Concurrent Resolution SCR-4014.  That resolution was a formal request to our ND Federal Delegates and the National Park Service to allow the wild horses to stay IN the Park. 

Later, the MHA Nation and the City of Medora also submitted resolutions requesting that the horses be allowed to stay. 

Despite all that, the Park seems to be choosing to stay the course with their plans to eliminate the herd!

We believe that the State of North Dakota should make a stronger statement to the Park and we are discussing those possibilities with our state legislators. 

We are also continuing to stay in communication with Senator Hoeven’s office and our legal team. 

We will share updates with you when we have them.

Right now, we are waiting for the Park to release their comment letter report.  That will let us know how many people commented, what organizations and individuals commented and some sample comments. 

Superintendent Richman has stated that they expect to have a final decision on the horses at the end of this year.  She also stated that they are working on their Section 106 Review process 😉

While it may seem like there isn’t a lot that we can do but hurry up and wait – nothing could be further from the truth!  Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates continues to do all we can to save this herd. 

We keep saying that this herd will be saved either through state actions, federal public law, litigation or a combination of the three.  CHWHA continues to work on all three of these.  A big part of that includes the pressure coming from the media.  Keeping the horses in the news helps to keep the attention of our state and federal delegates.  I was told several times today by state legislators that we are doing a GREAT job keeping the horses in the news!

Good job to all of you!

We have some new media contacts and will hopefully have more to share soon!

Thank you for your support and have a great day!

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