URGENT ACTION ALERT
URGENT - PERMISSION TO COPY AND CROSS POST
Help us preserve the ‘Last of the Wild Horses’ in Northern New Mexico.
An action is underway by the district ranger of the El Rito District of the Carson National Forest to irradicate all but 12 or 14 of the wild horse population living within the 54,866 acre La Jarita Mesa Wildhorse territory.
We need to educate and bring attention to an important issue taking place in Northern New Mexico at this moment.
A recently discovered herd of wild horses within the Carson National Forest have been positively identified as descendants of the Spanish horses brought to the Americas by Juan de Onate in and around 1598. Blood tests done by the University of Kentucky have verified the ‘Spanish Markers’ found in some of these horses. These horses are in danger of being removed to the point of extinction through mismanagement by the El Rito Forest
Service. It is our belief that this action is in conjunction with a few cattle permittees who want to eliminate these horses to enable them to run more privately owned cattle on the ‘legally designated wild horse reserve.
Unless action is taken by the public immediately, the district ranger of the El Rito Ranger District will proceed with his plan to use water traps, feed traps, helicopters, tranquilizers, in order to remove these horses from the wild. These horses would be subject to being destroyed in the most ‘humane and cost efficient manner possible’.
This is not acceptable!!!!!!
At question here is the right of these horses to exist in an already designated ‘Wildhorse Territory”.
By the all accounts the herd of wild horses on the Jarita Mesa Wildhorse Territory may actually number between 40 and 100 horses.
These horses share the land with elk, deer, and permitted cattle. The elk and deer are legally hunted. Unfortunately there have been numerous stories of people finding horses from this herd shot dead, some left as bear bait. Suspicion falls on the ranchers in the area who believe the land belongs to them. Truth is the land belongs to the American people and the horses have a right to be there.
It is time for the El Rito Ranger District to do their job and protect these animals rather then ‘irradicate’ them. Why does the District Ranger want to euthanize these horses if he can’t find a suitable wild horse territory to remove them to? They are already on a suitable territory legally designated as a ‘Wild Horse Reserve. Does this make any sense to you? Only if you are a local cattle rancher who does not want to share the 56,866 acre Wildhorse Territory within Carson National Forest with less then 100 horses (it may be less then 50).
These La Jarita Mustangs represent one more place where the past is kept alive in the present. We should honor these horses as part of our history as the U.S. government intended. This land has been put aside by our government for these wild horses to be free to roam within. At the moment there is a single District ranger who wants to change the fate of these animals by declaring them a danger to the vegetation in the area and
professes a need to remove them. Private interest seems be playing a part in his decision. Well now it is time for some Public Interest.
At present the El Rito District Ranger plans to begin reducing the existing herd of wild and free roaming horses commencing initial capture in 2001. There are alternative ways of dealing with the situation that must be discussed , reviewed, and approved by the people of New Mexico. Please participate. We need your help.
In conjunction with the ‘Wild Horse and Burro Freedom Alliance’ we have requested specific information from District Ranger Kurt L. Winchester pertaining to the relationship between the wild horse herd, the cattle grazing, the vegetation and all existing management plans. There has been no response to date from a June 20th request.
The Alliance is a coalition of 16 organizations with a combined membership of over 9 million members dedicated to the preservation of wild, free roaming horses and burros on our public land.
We now must take action to prevent this proposed action from beginning in 2001, beginning with letters and calls to:
Bruce Babbit
Secretary of the Interior
1849 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20240
(interior@aol.com)
Pat Shea
Director
Bureau of Land Mngt.
Washington, DC 20240
(202)-208-3801
Pete Domenici
U.S. Senator
120 S. Federal Place #302
Santa Fe, N.M. 87501
(505) 346-6791
senator_domenici@domenici.senate.gov
Jeff Bingaman
U.S. Senator
119 E. Marcy St #101
Santa Fe, N.M. 87501
(505) 988-6647
senator_bingaman@bingaman.senate.gov
Eleanor Townds ***
USDA Forest Service Region III
517 Gold Ave SW
Albuquerque, N.M. 87012
(505) 842-3292
Gilbert Vigil ***
Carson National Forest
208 Cruz Alta Rd
Taos, N.M. 87571
(505) 758-6200
Jicarilla Ranger District ***
664 E. Broadway
Bloomfield, N.M. 87413
(505) 632-2956
Public Horse Enemy #1 ***
Kurt L. Winchester District Ranger
El Rito Ranger District
PO Box 56 El Rito, N.M. 87530
(505) 581-4554
(This is the gentlemen who has put forth the proposal. In our opinion, under the pressure of private
interests.)
*** important local people to contact
We need petitions, loud voices, energy, volunteers, letter writers, phone callers, celebrities, information, ideas, and your help.
To exchange info e-mail: Lajaritamustang@aol.com
Sample Letter:
Date: ________
AddressTo: _____________
It has been brought to my attention that the El Rito Ranger District has put forth a proposed action (dated June 16, 2000 file code 1950/2200) taking effect in 2001, designed to reduce the existing herd of wild free-roaming horses
now living within the Jarita Mesa Wildhorse Territory.
I am adamantly opposed to this plan and would like to see an alternative management plan put together after a proper study, exchange of information, (which has not been supplied to date although requested from Kurt Winchester, District Ranger, on June 20, 2000), and an open dialog held with members of the ‘Wild Horse and Burro Freedom Alliance’.
The survival and maintenance of the La Jarita Mustangs should take priority over the private interests of the cattle ranchers in the area. Anybody inflicting harm on any member of this herd should be held responsible according to the law.
The goal is to insure the preservation of the wild horses in Northern New Mexico on the legally designated Wild Horse Reserve on La Jarita Mesa.
It is with great concern I urge you to take immediate action towards these ends. With initial capture of these wild horses proposed to begin in 2001 there is little time left and strong action must be taken.
A concerned citizen and taxpayer,
your signature
INITIATE A PETITION
You can initiate a petition in your area and collect signatures on this issue. Use the following as the heading on your main page, and then have people provide you with their full name and address and signature.
Let The Wild Stay Free - Petition
1) To preserve the ‘Last of the Wild Horses’ in Northern New Mexico on their Legal Designated Wild Horse Reserve on the La Jarita Mesa.
2) To veto the proposed action put forth from the El Rito Ranger District concerning the reduction of the wild horses in the Jarita Mesa Wildhorse Territory located in Carson National Forest.. ( file code 1950/2260 )
3) To have the Forest Service create an alternative management plan to protect these wild horses and to provide maintenence and programs to further the goal of continued freedom for these horses to live on the La Jarita Reserve and to enforce laws to protect these animals.
THEN...
Please mail signed petitions to:
Northern New Mexico Spanish Colonial Horse Registry
PO Box 156
Abiquiu, NM 87510
|