“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” —Stephen King
Hello and Happy Friday to everyone!
This week has been INSANE! I managed to breathe my way through it though! There is still so much to get done to be ready to leave for Washington DC next week – but little by little I am chipping away at the last bits of the list!
I have had a list of MUST DO things before we leave. I have added to it all week and today I am happy to announce that I ONLY have 1 thing left to do on THAT list! I do still have a bunch of balls in the air – calls to make – meetings to set up – meetings to have today with at least 3 people. But progress!
I wanted to take a moment to share some updates and information with all of you, as well as ways you can help!
- Our lawyers set the following FOIA request to the National Park Service/Theodore Roosevelt National Park TODAY. This letter was also sent to Superintendent Nancy Finley, Deputy Superintendent Maureen McGee Ballinger, Chief of Resource Management Blake McCann and Regional Director, Bert Frost. As always, we will share any response we get from this request. The letter can be downloaded here:
- We have a meeting set up for Thursday, November 14th with the National Park Service. I learned today that we will be meeting with Frank Lands, the Deputy Director of Operations, and Malcolm McGeary, the Senior Advisor to the Director. Holly and I will be going over points to talk about and we will be getting our information together for this meeting.
- Heather from Save Our Wild Horses has been working hard on a small packet that we can hand out to key members of Congress we are working on getting meetings with and also that we can leave with as many members of Congress as possible. Heather did an outstanding job! You can download the packet here:
- Remember those reports that TRNP gave us after the round up? The ones that no one can read because of the numbering system? We have asked the park, and asked again in our FOIA request today for those numbers. It would be GREAT if we could get some TRANSPARENCY from the park on this – but that request seems to be falling on deaf ears. HOWEVER, one of the long time groups that documents these horses DOES have that numbering system. While they are not sharing that info with the public, CHWHA as always believes that nonprofits belong to the community they serve and that every single one of you have the right to this information! I have updated our Horses of TRNP page with ALL of the numbers, to the best of our knowledge – so that EVERYONE can read the reports. We would still LOVE if the park confirmed that these numbers are correct, so we all know we are reading their report the way they intended us to. You can get the reports on the parks website here: https://www.nps.gov/thro/learn/nature/feral-horses.htm You can view our numbers/horses here: https://chwha.org/the-horses-of-theodore-roosevelt-national-park/
How you can help:
- Please consider making a donation to help us offset our legal costs for this FOIA letter from our lawyers and printing the amazing packet that Heather put together for our meetings in DC. You can make your tax deductible donation here: https://secure.everyaction.com/cBmDbRA6cUuzERpShcQOCg2
- Please print out Heather’s packet above and send it to your own members of Congress to speak up for wild horses and burros!
- PLEASE do the Calls to Action we asked you to complete. It’s important that you take a moment to take action. EVERY signature on our petitions helps to elevate our voice and get our messages heard! Emailing your members of Congress NOW helps to reiterate the messages in the packet Heather put together for our in-person meetings with them next week! We condensed them for you in yesterday’s blog: https://chwha.org/2024/11/07/be-the-magic/ We will also add them to the end of today’s blog below.
We will also have more on the reports from TRNP over the weekend, so be sure to check back!
Thank you for your continued support and active advocacy! We appreciate each one of you!
Our Current Calls to Action:
First – if you have NOT already signed our petition asking that the collars be removed from the wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park – PLEASE SIGN IT NOW!! If you have already signed it, THANK YOU! Now, please ask your friends and family members to sign this as well. You can sign the petition here: https://secure.everyaction.com/x-5WrjPo20Cb4LGbj5PD-A2
This is ONE of MANY topics we will be discussing with Senator Hoeven. We are also trying to get an appointment with the National Park Service when we are in DC. It goes without saying that we really need strength in numbers here to get these collars of these horses! We have just under 3,000 signatures so far!
Second – We will also be speaking with members of Congress about the Devil’s Garden herd when we are in Washington DC this month. Please take a moment to send an email to your members of Congress to speak up for the Devil’s Garden herd: https://secure.everyaction.com/TUGd9WmX4EqyNwsH08Wn
Third – One of the biggest things we asked during our postcard campaign was that Congress STOP giving the BLM money for the permanent sterilization of our wild horses. Almost 900 of you sent postcards asking this!
We want to follow-up on this and are asking that you do 3 things to help:
- Sign our petition asking them to stop funding the permanent sterilization of our wild horses! We will hand deliver this petition to Congress this month. You can sign the petition here: https://secure.everyaction.com/TDodlCKidU68M1sjsNQWJA2
- Write a Letter to the Editor to YOUR own local newspaper. We have a sample message you can customize below.
- We have taken the sample letter in our LTE action above and also added it to a one-click email that you can send to your members of Congress. You can send the email here: https://secure.everyaction.com/KpGnE7odVkG2_LuFlzncPg2
We are asking that you customize this letter and send it to your local newspaper. Please make sure that you call out your members of Congress – feel free to list multiple names! IF you have a member of Congress that is on the Interior Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee – please call them out in a single Letter to the Editor. You can check the committee members here: US House Appropriations Committee: https://appropriations.house.gov/subcommittees/interior-environment-and-related-agencies-118th-congress US Senate Appropriations Committee: https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/subcommittees/interior-environment-and-related-agencies
(Member of Congress) I am asking that you do your part to protect our wild horses! The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has once again requested money in their budget for the permanent sterilization of America’s wild horses and burros. This is in direct conflict with The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the law that was enacted to protect our wild horses and burros on our public lands. If the BLM continues to receive funding from Congress – WITH OUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS – to permanently sterilize our wild horses and burros, this will mean the end of these majestic animals.
The continual funding being granted to the BLM for the permanent sterilization of our wild horses and burros is a total waste of taxpayer dollars and I am asking for your help to stop this act of destruction against these amazing animals.
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