Dear supporters,

Yesterday, a group of locals held an emergency rally in the Lee Canyon Meadows to protest the USFS handling of wild horses in the Spring Mountains Recreational Area. As you likely know, this past Tuesday & Wednesday, the USFS rounded up the family of 8 wild horses in Kyle Canyon and sent them to a federal holding facility in Utah (the USFS says they do plan to adopt them out to a rescue after the (approx. 30 day) vaccination process is complete). There are, however, still horses in Lee Canyon (and Cold Creek), and we were told by USFS that they plan to round these horses up next.

See Channel 13's coverage of our protest here: https://www.ktnv.com/news/protesters-rally-to-save-mount-charlestons-wild-horses

Our protest served three purposes:

(1)To speak up for the Kyle canyon horses. If these horses can’t be brought back to the mountain, we want them sent to a reputable and well-established 501(c)3 (note that not every non profit (or animal rescue) is a 501(c)3). Preferably, we want them adopted by a 501(c)3 sanctuary that residents can easily visit and volunteer at. These horses are beloved members of our community and we want to maintain our special relationship with these horses.

(2)To speak up for the Lee Canyon horses. We urge the forest service to keep these horses in Lee Canyon and focus their efforts on ramping up enforcement of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. This law was put into place to prevent precisely the "negative" human-horse encounters the USFS cite as "justification" for rounding up the Kyle herd. And the USFS is legally and morally responsible for enforcing this law and educating folks about it. Thus we also urge the USFS to increase wild horse education on the mountain, such as by establishing a volunteer program dedicated to educating the public about how to peacefully co-exist with wild horses.

(3) To request that the forest service take better care of the mountain and all wildlife. At a minimum, we request:

 (a) Regular (e.g., monthly or even weekly) trash clean ups that are publicized online, along with the sign-up information. The enormous amount of litter on the mountain poses a threat to all wildlife, not just the horses, as they may mistake food wrappers for food (and, in one case, a resident came across a lizard who had died from being trapped in a discarded pop bottle on the Cathedral Rock trail).

 (b) A USFS presence on certain trails and trail heads (e.g., the more "touristy" ones, like Little Falls and Cathedral Rock). In particular, we would like to see the USFS proactively (and regularly!) educating folks about the harms of feeding and harassing wildlife. Residents often see folks feeding chipmunks on certain trails and have seen children chasing and trying to capture the Mount Charleston Blue Butterflies at the Little Falls waterfall (and they are protected species!). 

The USFS was well aware of our petition with 25,000+ signatures, yet nevertheless still relocated the family of 8 wild horses in Kyle Canyon. We thus need to make our voices louder, such as by reaching out to USFS decision makers directly and contacting state representatives and senators. We encourage every single one of you to use your voice for our beloved horses and wildlife, as they cannot speak for themselves. A quick email and/or phone call can go a long way, especially when we all speak up together.

• U.S. Forest Service Reps: jeremy.dorsey@usda.gov and jon.stansfield@usda.gov
• Reps: Dina Titus (702) 220-9823, Steven Horsford (702) 963-9360, Susie Lee (702) 963-9336
• Senators: Jackie Rosen (702) 388-0205, Catherine Cortez Masto (702) 388-5020

Thank you for helping protect these magnificent creatures!