It is hard to believe that it has been 2 years since we started on the journey that would FINALLY give the wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park a proper management plan with public input.
What started in March of 2022 with the park’s “pre-scoping notice” led to the park revealing their plans to the public in December of 2022: TOTAL elimination of the 200+ wild horses that call the Park home.
The park’s plans gave two basic options: Get rid of the horses slowly or quickly. As a “no-action alternative” the park offered to reduce the herd to 35-60 horses, citing their 1978 Environmental Assessment (EA).
Advocates were caught off guard by this announcement. The park stated in their March Civic Engagement meeting that their pre-scoping was: ”an early exploration of what the park might do to solve some of our challenges associated with horse and cattle management. With your input and as we move through each of the stages of this planning process, it is expected that the options that we’re going to share with you tonight will evolve.”
Public outcry has proven that the overwhelming comments have been to keep the horses. This begs the question of how this process evolved into total elimination of the herd when comments have come in from across the globe pleading with the park to keep the horses.
The first acts in the fight to keep the horses came from the North Dakota State Legislators as they were preparing for their 2023 session. Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates (CHWHA) worked with the legislators to draft and find sponsors and co-sponsors for a state resolution that asked Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Congress to allow the wild horses to stay. The resolution passed unanimously in April of 2023.
The actions of the State of North Dakota did not end there. Governor Doug Burgum held a press conference in January of 2023 offering any resources from the state of North Dakota to allow the horses to stay. Around the same time, Senator John Hoven arranged a meeting with National Park Service Director Sams, Superintendent Angie Richman and ND State Legislators asking that the horses be allowed to stay.
Senator John Hoven has held regular meetings with the National Park Service. In August of 2023 he added language to the NPS Appropriations Bill strongly suggesting that the wild horses be allowed to stay. The Bill passed both the US House and Senate in March of 2024.
The park has stated that if the horses are removed, they will be rounded up through weeklong helicopter roundups. They will be offered to local tribes first. The United Tribes of North Dakota stated that they stood with Governor Burgum and our state legislators and asked that the horses be allowed to stay in the park.
That was followed by the MHA Nation drafting and passing their own resolution asking that the horses be allowed to stay. The City of Historic Medora also drafted and passed a resolution in support of the horses.
The park has not only refused to answer any of these actions, but their general response to local and national news reporters has basically been “no comment”. This lack of communication and transparency has only added to damage being done to the park’s relationship with not only state and federal officials, but the tax paying public as well.
The plight of these iconic wild horses has been covered heavily in the media. They made the front page of The Wall Street Journal in December of 2023 and were in an op-ed written by CHWHA President Christine Kman in the Washington Post in January of 2024. The Times in London also picked up on the story. The Associated Press has also written several articles that have circulated around the globe. Patrick Springer from the Fargo Forum has been instrumental in covering different aspects of this process and news as it is released.
As part of the management planning process, The Historic Preservation Act requires a Section 106 Review. This review process is handled by the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO). The ND SHPO sent the Park’s original report back to them requesting additional information on how they came to the conclusion that these horses were not historically and culturally significant. In April of 2024, the SHPO sent a reminder letter to the park reminding them of their Section 106 obligation. Their letter was accompanied by 17 pages of supporting documentation. The letter stated:
“As an advocate for the historical resources for North Dakota and a consultation partner under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the State Historical Society requests that the NPS continue decades of cooperation with North Dakota’s elected officials to honor the commitments made to Governor Link in 1974 and consider the impacts of the horses on the cultural landscapes of TRNP as a biotic cultural resource.”
As of this writing, the park has not responded to the SHPO’s letter or submitted any additional documentation to their office to complete their Section 106 obligation.
The commitments made to Governor Link in 1974 that are mentioned in the SHPO’s letter came from then TRNP Superintendent John Lancaster. In his letter to the park he stated that the horses would now be managed similar to other wildlife. His letter to Governor Link also stated:
“We wish to thank you for your interest in the horses over the years and hope these animals continue to serve as an attraction and as an incentive for people to visit the North Dakota badlands.”
Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates has given their followers detailed Calls to Action, held rallies, travelled to Washington, DC to lobby Congress, held “Horse Talks” to help educate the public and in 2023 alone spent just under $20,000 advertising to raise awareness about the plight of these historic wild horses. They continue to work with North Dakota’s state and federal legislators to get their help to protect this iconic wild horse herd.
The ultimate goal is to get federal protection for these amazing wild horses so that we never have to go through this process again. That process will take years to complete.
The park stated in March of 2024 that their final EA would be released in April. Since the Section 106 Review process is not complete, AND since there remains significant controversy over the historic and cultural significance of this iconic wild horse herd, it is unlikely that we will see the final document in the near future.
Meanwhile, two years and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars later, the wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park are no closer to having a proper management plan than they were in March of 2022. The only decisions the park has allowed the public to weigh in on are if they should get rid of the horses fast or slow.
In spite of their constant reference to the 1978 EA, park management apparently missed the part of the plan that warned against these actions:
“In 1964-65, plans were made to remove feral horses from the park. It was thought that they were not appropriate to the park scene. However, due to the strong local pressure and unfavorable publicity against the proposal, the decision was made to maintain a maximum of 40 horse head.”
They say history repeats itself. Strong local pressure – CHECK! – Unfavorable publicity against the proposal – CHECK! Let’s hope that allowing the horses to stay also gets a CHECK!
4/26/2024 UPDATE: On April 25, 2024, Theodore Roosevelt National Park announced that they would be immediately terminating their Livestock Management Process/Environmental Assessment. You can read more about that in our blog: https://chwha.org/2024/04/26/we-saved-them-now-what/
Christine Kman is the President and co-founder of Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates (CHWHA). Their organization has been leading the fight to save this herd. You can learn more on their website at www.chwha.org.
Please help support our critical advocacy work! You can help by bidding on some of the over 90 items donated to our current online silent auction. Items can be shipped anywhere! You can check out all of the items on our website: https://chwha.betterworld.org/auctions/chwha-spring-2024-silent-auction