“At present there is much work to do to build a new movement for public land. I’d venture that most Americans still don’t know or understand the issues. The don’t even know they own the land.”
~ Christopher Ketchum, This Land
Hello and Happy Tuesday to everyone!
Locals North Dakota new stations are covering the story that last week during the Senate confirmation hearing for Katharine MacGregor to be Deputy Secretary of the Interior, Senator John Hoven once again took advantage of the opportunity to ask about the wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. You can listen to the recording of the exchange at about 1:59 here: https://www.energy.senate.gov/hearings/2025/4/hearing-to-consider-the-nominations-of-ms-katharine-macgregor-to-be-deputy-secretary-of-the-interior-and-mr-james-danly-to-be-deputy-secretary-of-energy
In the exchange, Hoeven stated: “We are working on legislation to protect the horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.” He asked if she would work with his office on that legislation and she said that she would.
We are happy that Senator Hoeven remains engaged on this issue.
Don’t think for a moment that he is not incentivized by your emails that ask for the park to stop using GonaCon on these mares as well as the emails asking that the collars be removed, along with the continued communication from Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates. Senator Hoeven knows where his constituents stand with regards to the wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt Park. REMEMBER: Our legislators do not know there is an issue unless we let them know. Now more than ever, it is important that you contact your legislators and continue building a relationship with them and their staff. We will need federal legislators from every state to support this legislation when the time comes.
We also have to thank our North Dakota state legislators for passing SCR 4006! This put North Dakota on record that they want the wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park federally protected.
We also wanted to let you know that we have contacted our lawyers, as many of you requested. We are working on setting up a meeting to discuss legal recourse with regards to the continued use of GonaCon on this herd. Our lawyers practice environmental law and as you can imagine, they are quite busy these days! We have shared our concerns and are waiting for our turn at the table. We will update you when we have more news to share.
We are working on a new blog series that will explain our concerns about the continued aggressive use of GonaCon on this herd and why Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates continues to fight so hard for a healthy and genetically viable herd of wild horses to remain in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We will start this later this week.
Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates is also in regular communication with Theodore Roosevelt National Park and their staff. We make sure that we bring your concerns to their attention. THESE ARE OUR PUBLIC LANDS! We have the right to question the people paid for by our tax dollars about the management of our public lands.
Our last email apparently warranted a response from the National Park Service Regional Director, Bert Frost. His email seemed condescending and we felt that it was a completely inappropriate response to all of us as members of the tax paying public. We responded and have been waiting a week for his reply. The question we are asking, as a result of seeing the GonaCon darting team out and about again at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, is a simple question that warrants only a yes or no response: Did every mare with the exception of 201418 and 202017 along with the 5 new fillies that were born in 2024 all receive injections of GonaCon in 2024?
That question, as we mentioned, prompted a seemingly condescending and unacceptable response from Director Frost. We have sent a follow up email to him and his staff again today. We will update you when we get a response.
It would be incredibly easy for the fate of the wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park get lost in the bigger news stories that plague us on a daily basis – BUT – we have worked too hard to stop now! We HAVE TO keep the horses in the forefront as much as possible until we are able to secure federal protection for this herd. Please remember, federal protection can take YEARS to realize. That doesn’t mean that we wait YEARS to take action! Federal protection will ONLY happen if we stay the course and keep fighting for these horses.
We need your help and support to continue our critical advocacy work. Please consider making a tax deductible donation to support our work. You can make your donation here: https://secure.everyaction.com/wnK6YjHlTkCC2Aq57_7srQ2
Thank you for your continued support and have a great day!
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