Hello and Happy Saturday!
We posted a blog about a meeting we had yesterday. We have received several emails, and we want to give some clarification on this meeting. If you missed our blog from yesterday, you can read it here: https://chwha.org/2025/05/30/todays-meeting/
First, I want to say that we have been working on getting a meeting with Secretary Burgum and/or his staff since March of this year! We were so relieved when we FINALLY were able to secure this meeting.
We had to give an outline of what we wanted to discuss and then we also sent in supporting documentation for our meeting. This included a petition to have the collars removed that had OVER 7,000 signatures! THANK YOU to all of you for making that happen!
The meeting was with the current #2 person at the Department of the Interior, Karen Budd-Falen. She is the Acting Deputy Secretary. Her role will be Associate Deputy Secretary once Kate MacGregor, who was confirmed by the US Senate on May 15th, officially takes office.
Regional Director Bert Frost was there to answer questions and give input on our concerns.
No, as many of you noted, we did not agree with Bert and he did not seem willing to work with us to change the practices and policies we are all concerned about.
We already knew the park’s position on all of the things that were discussed in yesterday’s meeting. You will also remember that last fall, we had a meeting with the #2 person at the National Park Service in Washington, DC, NPS Deputy Director Frank Lands. That meeting also did not bring about any change.
THAT is why we worked so hard to secure a meeting with Secretary Burgum and/or his staff. Secretary Burgum is the head of the Department of the Interior which oversees the National Park Service, among other agencies, like the BLM.
We were scheduled for 45 minutes. We actually talked to the group for 50 minutes. We are so thankful for this meeting and for the time that was given to hear our concerns.
What happens now?
Karen will meet with Secretary Burgum and discuss our concerns. Secretary Burgum will weigh in on these issues – i.e. GonaCon, Collars, Livestock classification, etc. and Karen has promised to get back to me within 30 days with Secretary Burgum’s official response.
We also will be submitting information to Karen for her review on different wild horse HMA’s that are under threat with current roundups planned soon!
THIS is a very big deal and something we worked VERY hard at!
As you know, Secretary Burgum has been a HUGE advocate for the TRNP wild horses while he was governor of North Dakota. During the 2025 ND Legislative Session, SB 2331 – SPECIFICALLY – did NOT pass the ND Senate largely because our legislators believe that we have an ally in Secretary Burgum and he will make sure our TRNP wild horses are taken care of.
We will know more in the next 30 days.
We will update you on all of this as soon as we have some answers.
Thank you for your support and have a great day!
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