Hello and Happy Tuesday to everyone!
I thought we would start with some GOOD NEWS today!
Yesterday, American Wild Horse Conservation announced that a federal court just ruled in favor of their lawsuit, and overturned the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Adoption Incentive Program (AIP)!
This is something that AWHC worked hard on for years along with other organizations. It is a HUGE win for wild horses and burros and we are grateful for their hard work and dedication.
Our friends at Western Watersheds Project also celebrated a win yesterday. A judge issued a temporary restraining order against the firing of probationary federal employees. The current order applies to the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Veterans’ Administration, Department of Defense, Small Business Administration, and National Science Foundation. They are looking to expand the list of agencies.
There is a real battle going on for our public lands. It is quite possible that our wild horses and burros will get caught in the middle of these battles! We suggest that you follow Western Watersheds Project, PEER and Wild Narrative Project to stay up to date on their critical work as well as ways you can help.
As we mentioned last week, there is A LOT happening in the world right now. While we cannot be at the forefront of every battle, we do need to do whatever we can to help support these organizations that are doing the hard work.
The biggest thing that you can do is to keep contacting your members of Congress. Their job is to listen to the voices of the American people and take action accordingly.
You can find out who your members of Congress are here: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates also continues to create “one-click” Calls to Action that allow you to send a message to your own members of Congress very easily. Feel free to take the messages on the following active Calls to Action and send them in one long email to your own members of Congress!
WHEN your members of Congress respond to your emails, DON’T BE AFRAID TO REPLY TO THEIR EMAIL!
Emails can be sent as many times as you like!
Current Calls to Action:
NEW – tell your members of Congress to support the SAFE Act! Send an email today: https://secure.everyaction.com/2SOfZuMR7E23itGpvfa0sA2
Last month, the largest federal to state land exchange in Utah happened! This leaves some BIG QUESTION MARKS on where things stand for Utah’s wild horses! Send an email to Congress letting them know that our wild horses and burros MUST be protected: https://secure.everyaction.com/BU1SxBcD0E2PdnBu4G9xuw2
Secretary Burgum is getting settled into his role. We have NOT heard from him on where he stands with regards to our wild horses and burros – BUT it doesn’t hurt to welcome him to his position and let him know what we expect from his office: https://secure.everyaction.com/GuOzbPXiQ0iBQRW4lI7Nww2
We continue to tell you that we are working on A LOT at the moment. I feel like a professional juggler most days!
One thing EVERYONE can work on right now is making sure you have your testimony ready to submit for SCR 4006. Our North Dakota legislators are making their way back to Bismarck from their short recess. We should have information soon on when the North Dakota House will be hearing testimony on our resolution. That doesn’t mean you can’t get yours written NOW. If you already submitted testimony when the resolution was on the ND Senate side, you are all set, unless you have something to add! Remember, if you plan to testify either in person or virtually, please email us at info@chwha.org. We are working to streamline the testimony for our legislators. CHWHA will be testifying in person again. We will let you know when a hearing date for the ND House is set.
REMEMBER: If we do not get SCR 4006 passed now, we will have to wait until 2027 to try again!
Something else we do not talk about often is that we are in regular communication with Theodore Roosevelt National Park – both through Superintendent Daniels and Regional Director Herbert Frost. You will remember, CHWHA sent a letter at the beginning of January asking questions about the 2024 helicopter round up and questions we were left with after the park released their reports.
Superintendent Daniels sent an email to me today:
Hey Chris,
Just wanted to touch base with you. My team has been working, and made progress, on the response to your questions. They now sit with me, and I am currently drowning in other matters taking up my time, to include an impromptu back and forth trip to/from Omaha. My apologies for the continued delay, but I have not forgotten.
Hope you are well.
Rachel
We appreciate her taking the time to send us an email. We will keep you posted when we receive her response.
The TRNP wild horses continue to make headlines! We shared our friend Sabina Pierce from National Geographic’s interactive story with you last week. In case you missed it, you can read it here: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/dc1afeb601d641c296ff0d8f5e5af9fc We are thankful to our friends at The Dickinson Press for covering the story: https://www.thedickinsonpress.com/lifestyle/news-about-the-nokotas
The horses were also featured in an article in North Dakota Living Magazine! You can read that story here: https://www.ndliving.com/preserving-west?fbclid=IwY2xjawI0Xv1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHYf06m4_OTyNxHhXVKRClrv2vsdp6gwf-Yo6vA7mz_BHODR5RAJVEGJp1w_aem_qZFN8l-L0CtUYzFICkLQSQ
Sharing these stories and giving feedback to the papers helps the press know that stories about wild horses are important! This helps to keep them in the news! Please be sure to share these stories!
Lastly, our FIRST online silent auction of 2025 starts MONDAY March 10th! It will run through 8 pm Mountain time on March 17th! We have some GREAT items that have been donated! I will be updating the auction page today with NEW donations we received! You can check out all the items in this auction (and come back and bid on March 10th!) here: https://chwha.betterworld.org/auctions/2025-chwha-spring-auction
You can also donate your items to help make this auction a success here: https://chwha.betterworld.org/donate-an-item
There is a lot more brewing and we will have more to share soon!
Thank you for your continued support and have a great day!
Leave a Reply