Hello and Happy Wednesday!

What a whirlwind of a day this has been! It actually feels like it was AT LEAST 2 days rolled into 1!

The day was filled with meeting with reporters and a 1-1/2 hour meeting with Interim Park Superintendent Nancy Finley and Chief of Resource Management Blake McCann. 

A LOT happened in the 1-1/2 hours that we talked and a lot was said.  I want you to know that I do my very best to listen to your valid concerns and bring them to the table.  As I say all of the time, it is truly an honor to have you trust me to be the face of this organization.  I’ve said it before and I will say it again, when our lawyers helped us incorporate, they said “A nonprofit organization belongs to the community it serves.”  CHWHA does NOT belong to me or me and my husband.  We established the organization – but CHWHA belongs to every single one of you who are Daring Greatly with us as we all “Do what we can, with what we have, from where we are.”

CHWHA will not be tolerating things that the park wants us to accept, but that we know are detrimental to the health and longevity of THIS herd.  We feel that we expressed that point clearly and repeatedly throughout this meeting. 

Since Superintendent Finley invited us to the meeting, we let them talk about why we were called there. 

She reiterated that they were sorry that the embargoed press release negatively impacted our last meeting.  She did not feel that we left on a good note.  We agree. 

She started by saying that she had seen the dialog going on and there seemed to be some misinformation going on.  I let her know, at least a dozen times throughout the 1-1/2 hours that IF I am spreading misinformation, please point it out and explain it to me.  She gave me one instance where the news last night reported that 15 mares AND their offspring would be removed.  While I do believe that was talked about within the context of their press release, I told her that I would contact the reporter and let him know that information was incorrect and that ONLY UPTO 15 horses in total will possibly be removed.  After the meeting, I did exactly as I promised and emailed that reporter who thanked me for correcting him.

THAT was the ONLY “misinformation” that was pointed out to me.  I did leave the door open and let her know if she thought of or seen something else, don’t hesitate to email or call me. 

So why were we called in for another meeting?

They had hoped to have the list of potential mares to remove, but another staff member who has been helping with a bison roundup somewhere else has that info and could not be here. 

She understands that we are not “gelling” on this. 

They wanted to check with us on if we were interested in volunteering to help with the upcoming horse roundup. 

And they have some of the FOIA documents we requested years ago, although the conversation got so heated and went so long, I left without any new documents, again.  I will have to remember to grab them next time. 

Once they stated what they called us in to discuss, I said ok, I have some questions:

First, I pulled out the 1978 Environmental Assessment and asked Blake McCann to show me where it authorizes the use of fertility control on the mares.  Blake said he was not going to go “line by line” with me through the EA.  Great, that’s not what I am asking.  I want to SEE where it tells you that you can use fertility control on the mares. 

Understand, and I said this to them – THEY are choosing to manage the horses under an antiquated 1978 EA.  That means those are the tools that you can manage them with. 

I pointed out and stated many times throughout the day, I am NOT a scientist, nor do I have a science background, so if I am wrong, please correct me. 

I do NOT believe that PZP was authorized for use in wild horses until 2012.  That means that we will not find it in this EA because it didn’t exist to BE authorized for use. 

What WAS authorized for use was vasectomies on stallions and injecting their testes with iodine. 

Superintendent Finley asked if I wanted them to give stallions vasectomies and I said I would actually LOVE to see that press release – because you KNOW what the public response would be. 

We also pointed out this true gem from the 1978 EA:

A word of caution should probably be interjected in relation to fertility control.  The use of vasectomies is a non-reversible process.  Therefore, if vasectomies are successful in reducing foal production and if they are performed on all dominant stallions, the recruitment of young animals into the population could be severely limited.  If this were to go on for many years, entire age classes of animals would be completely missing from the population.  This is totally unacceptable from a biological standpoint and could result in the collapse of the herd after several years. 

We explained THAT was NOT ok by 1978 standards and it is NOT ok now with GonaCon. 

Since I was NOT getting answers to that question – moving on to the next….

The NPS has policies in place that I had with me, that discuss the necessity of working with the community.  So, who within the community of Medora did you discuss your proposed plans with?

She said they CAN do that now.

Nooooooo

This is supposed to happen BEFORE plans are set in motion.  And I let her know that from the response at the Medora City Council meeting last night, the park has not talked to anyone.  I let her know that we discussed at the meeting last night the growing public outcry to boycott the park.  THIS does NOT sit well with local businesses.  That also helped a resolution (that I handed her) pass unanimously.  I also gave her our petition that when I left for the meeting had 2,000 signatures.  (It currently has 2500 – so thank you again!)

Later, she would tell me that things like this petition were NOT helping.  I told her that the petition SHOULD be helpful – THAT lets you know what the public wants and what is important to them.  THAT should matter as we are taxpaying citizens.

She stated that they would reach out to the community and Medora’s interim mayor. 

We also reiterated numerous times that this park has ONLY ever managed this herd’s numbers NOT the herd itself.  We are also asking that THIS HERD – the horses we all know and love – be managed in a way that allows them to have health and longevity so future generations can enjoy them the same as we do today.  It is THIS herd – not outside horses – that we are interested in seeing continue to survive and thrive in the park. 

Superintendent Finley also stated that it upsets her when people say the park ONLY want 35-60 horses.  I asked how can we think any differently when YOU (the park) continually reference the 1978 EA as your only course of allowable action for managing the horses?  That would also mean 35-60 horses.  She reiterated numerous times throughout the meeting that they have not come to a final decision on the number of horses.  That is still something to be determined.

They also let us know that they have also spoken with members of North Dakota Badlands Horse (NDBH) and Wild in North Dakota (WIND).  The same information has been shared with every organization and each has been welcome to offer their input to the park.

Since it was clear, as Superintendent Finley said, that we were NOT “gelling” at all – I asked how do we get there?

How do we get to the place where we start to build a partnership and start to slowly build trust?

I told her and I will state it clearly to all of you, and I do hope you share my sentiments.

We LOVE this park.  We LOVE this park beyond the horses.  I love the sunrises and sunsets over the park.  I love the way it looks now, with the leaves changing. I enjoy seeing the bison, pronghorn, coyotes and even the prairie dogs.  Seeing the elk are always considered a bonus to the day.  When there were wildfires, we did all we could to try to help. 

What does OUR park need? 

Tell me Nancy:  What do you need from us? 

I asked repeatedly for the roundup to be postponed until next spring, after the legislators have their session.  Blake brought up a good point, we do not want helicopters flying at the peak time for mares to be foaling. Agreed.  Then let’s wait for fall.  In all honesty, you have waited this long to try to properly manage the horses – what is 1 more year?

The conversation shifted then and I do believe it is possible that we may be making some progress. 

I told them that we are working with our state legislators to try to find ways for them to do exactly what Governor Burgum said – give the park whatever resources we can to help them manage the park.  It came up and I reiterated that I have spoken with our gubernatorial candidates and all have assured me that they would honor what Governor Burgum said and more than that, they share his sentiments. 

So, what does the park want from the state of North Dakota?  After some round and round on this, I am working to set up a meeting this week with one of our state legislators, us and the park to discuss what IS possible to ask in the next legislative session from the state of North Dakota.

Progress.

Then I asked in all honesty –

Is it possible that you would reconsider this roundup?

THAT is STILL on the table, but to be honest, Superintendent Finley said it was probably unlikely.  They would at a minimum be holding the roundup to pull blood samples and hair to get the data they need to properly manage the herd.

I can accept that.  We discussed not giving ultimatums or making demands – remember, we are trying to compromise to a place that we are not giving up too much of what is important to us and that means they have to move the needle and meet us somewhere if we are going to start building trust.

Is it possible that you do not inject EVERY mare with GonaCon? 

THAT is also still on the table. More likely would be an honest conversation about mares that would NOT receive an injection at all. 

We are OK with this because even though we all love Dolly, her bloodlines are so saturated in this herd that we can understand that genetically she is NOT helping contribute to the health of this herd. 

THAT is what we are fighting for right?  The health and longevity of THIS herd. 

Is it possible that no removals happen?

Mmmmmm…..

She said still on the table.  But I think it is probably hanging there by a thread. 

I let her know that words will not help build trust.  Actions will. 

So now we see. 

How much are they willing to compromise?

Can we REALLY trust them?

That remains to be seen but in my heart of hearts, I truly hope this is a fresh start to a new chapter between CHWHA and Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

She did say as we were leaving, “We are not the evil empire here.”

We will keep you updated on how things develop from here.

For those that wanted to see it, the latest Medora Resolution can be viewed here:

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