STOP the BLM Roundups and demand transparency - TAKE ACTION

STOP the BLM Roundups and demand transparency!

Greetings,

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500-0004
Phone:(202) 456-1111
Facsimile: (202)-456-3348

The Honorable Ken Salazar
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20240
Facsimile: (202)-208-6956

Dear President Obama and Secretary Salazar:

We are writing to object in the strongest of terms to the Department of Interior's newly established policy of severely restricting public access to observe and document the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) multi-million dollar, taxpayer-funded wild horse roundups. We further request an immediate moratorium on all summer roundups of wild horses, given Saturday's tragic outcome at the start of the Owyhee Complex roundup in northeastern Nevada.

This is an extremely time sensitive issue. Over the next four months, the BLM intends to capture and remove 6,000 wild horse and burros from six Western states. At least half of these roundups are scheduled to take place in desert environments in the hot summer months.

On Saturday, BLM captured 228 wild horses in the Owyhee Complex with no public observers present. The agency has confirmed that at least seven horses died from dehydration-related complications. The majority of these mustangs were stampeded by helicopter for at least eight miles in temperatures exceeding 90 degrees.

While the agency has suspended the operation, it is shocking and unconscionable that BLM is apparently so lacking in basic scientific knowledge about range conditions and equine biology that it did not foresee the fatal consequences of the Owyhee capture plan.

The Owyhee roundup commenced with a total blackout on public observation, as did a second helicopter gather that commenced yesterday in Oregon, with over 100 mustangs captured, and at least one young foal dead.

The Interior Department's crackdown on public access to observe wild horse roundups is a direct result of the controversy generated by release of video and photographic images taken by public observers of the Calico capture operation, which took place between December 28, 2009 and February 4, 2010 in northwestern Nevada. The images of the Calico roundup, and the large number of wild horses injured or killed as a result of that operation, sparked public outrage and generated international media attention.

With 1,200 horses targeted, the Owyhee Complex roundup is BLM's third largest capture operation of the year. Until the operation was suspended, only two public observation days had been scheduled, on July 23-24. By this time, capture operations in two of the Complex's three Herd Management Areas (HMAs) would have been completed, under a complete shroud of secrecy.

Equally objectionable is the agency's decision to shut the door to public observation of the horses at the Broken Arrow holding facility in Fallon, Nevada, where many of the Calico horses await their fate.

The intent behind this crackdown is clear: to prevent the public from seeing images of roundup activities. This was acknowledged forthrightly by Lili Thomas, BLM National Wild Horse and Burro Specialist, who stated at a public workshop on June 14, 2010 in Denver:

"Observation without education leads to misperception . . . A lot of video is out there and no explanation and people seeing all this on the social networking, Working wild horse is not a pretty sight. It's very complicated. . . . So it's caused us to have a really hard time trying to explain what's happening."

Ms. Thomas went on to say that BLM would provide observation access to a small number of hand-picked observers with "large animal experience." This restriction is akin to closing the Gulf of Mexico and preventing anyone but petrochemical engineers from documenting the devastation caused by the oil spill.

This policy is unacceptable, and makes a mockery of President Obama's stated commitment to open government and transparency in government operations.

In a Presidential Memorandum, Mr. Obama wrote: "Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing."

Restricting public access to the BLM wild horse operations, including a small number of staged opportunities at roundups, is clearly intended to curtail public scrutiny of this BLM program. The action will prevent citizens from knowing what their government is doing with regard to management of our nation's wild horses and burros.

America's mustangs are cherished nationally and internationally as symbols of independence and freedom and protected by an Act of Congress. Yet the BLM's destructive management policy has reduced their number to a mere 30,000. Today, the agency warehouses more wild horses in government holding pens and pastures than are left on the range. The cost to taxpayers for this broken program is expected to exceed $70 million next fiscal year.

On behalf of our collective memberships of millions of citizens, we ask the Obama Administration to deliver the change it promised by reforming the BLM's costly and inhumane program. The agency talks about change, but continues business as usual policies that claim the lives of more and more mustangs. The situation is untenable and must change. Granting full public access to all BLM wild horse operations and suspending dangerous summer roundups are critical first steps.

Sincerely,

[Your name]