Thank you once again for signing the petition to protect Mt Charleston's wild horses. We presented this petition at the May 2nd Mt Charleston Town Advisory Board (TAB) meeting and are pleased to report that it was well received. Thanks to our petition, the horses were discussed throughout the meeting, and the representatives from the relevant government agencies (metro and USFS) seemed very receptive to our concerns. Click here for the audio of this meeting; you can hear the petition presentation @ 2:17:39. Here are some other important highlights from the meetings:

(1) the Metro Sgt discussed the ways in which metro can sanction people for harassing & feeding wild horses (when this occurs off USFS/BLM land); Metro plans to, at future TAB meetings, report on the number of horse-related warnings and citations they give out (@ 9:44),

(2) the USFS reps say they have "absolutely nothing planned whatsoever (regarding the potential relocation of the horses)" ..."at this time, we don't have any kind of management plan at all; so, no roundups, no anything, we're just maintaining what we have currently"  (@ 01:22:39 & @2:33:53),

(3) the USFS reps report that a wild horse and burro specialist will attend the next Mt Charleston TAB meeting and will answer all and any questions about the wild horses then,

(4)  we asked the USFS to report, at future TAB meetings, the number of citations they issue to people for feeding/harassing the wild horses; they suggested they plan to do this (@ 2:38:54).

As we mentioned in our comments at the TAB meeting, we, like all Mt Charleston community members, are very concerned about the safety of our horses. But those who stand behind this petition believe in the innate goodness of human beings (& their tendency to avoid behaviors that are known to result in $2,000 fines!) and thus believe that we (the community and the USFS) ought to focus on educating the public about the moral and legal issues of feeding wild horses rather than making plans to sentence the horses to permanent captivity. As far as we can tell, there hasn't been much education or enforcement of the relevant laws by the USFS. 

And from this last meeting, it's clear that our horses will remain in Mt Charleston for the foreseeable future, so we hope that local horses advocates and the USFS will come together to make the mountain safer for them (and other wildlife!). It seems like the next TAB meeting is a great time to continue and further this conversation, so we hope to see many of you there!