From the desk of President Ron Cerri:
April 2011
by Ron Cerri
I really try to write on a new issue each month—I don’t want everyone to think that the mustang issue is all NCA works on. But this issue gets more threatening to public land grazing and the state’s resources, its economy and wildlife every day. I have tried not to respond to every absurd story in the press about how the mustang hating, selfish cattlemen want nothing more than to exterminate all the wild horses and burros. Cattlemen can say over and over again it’s about the resource; what part of that don’t you understand? Of course that is not as exciting as making it sound like there’s a new range war in the west; the poor helpless mustangs against the powerful cattle barons.
These journalists amaze me. They would have the public believe that they know more about managing the public lands and the wild horses than the BLM and the people who have lived there all their lives. Just recently I saw an article written by George Knapp, a reporter from KLAS TV Channel 8 in Las Vegas. The title of his report was “Cattle-driven Rhoads pushes bullshit horse law”. I know where the bullshit came from and it sure wasn’t from Senator Rhoads. What this journalist was referring to was Senate Joint Resolution 5 (SJR5). Mr. Knapp states that in just the last two years, the BLM has wiped horses off the map on over one million acres in Nevada. For some reason journalists like Mr. Knapp and all the others that see themselves as saviors of poor defenseless mustangs, ignore the fact that there are 20,000 plus horses in Nevada or about 9,000 head above the Appropriate Management Level (AML) set by the BLM or the maximum amount of horses determined by the BLM the land could sustain and still maintain a thriving ecological balance, and 40,000 horses throughout the west, when there should only be 26,600 according to the BLM. If only the BLM range cons had known that in order to be a real range scientist what they should have done was go to journalism school.
What SJR5 does is request that the Secretary of the Interior comply with existing laws and regulations regulating wild horses and burros. I don’t think that it’s over the top to ask that the Secretary abide by and enforce the laws set forth by Congress for hell sake.
When SJR5 was scheduled for workshop in the Senate Natural Resource Committee, the committee members received over 600 e-mails from pro wild horse groups opposing it, of course, almost all from out of state. When the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association learned this we immediately sent our members an e-mail with a list of the Senators on the Natural Resource Committee asking that they let these committee members know that they were in favor of passage of the resolution. Thanks to everyone’s efforts we were successful to that point, but it still has to go to the full Senate and then on to the Assembly. We still have a long way to go and every wild horse advocacy group with a website is urging everyone who visits their site to let Nevada’s legislators know they oppose the passage of this resolution. Some are going so far as to say if the Legislature passes it they will never visit Nevada again. That’s not what a legislator from Las Vegas wants to hear.
We shouldn’t expect that someone else will be writing the letters and making comments on the issues that will affect us. As ranchers, we are all busy and don’t think we have the time to send letters and comments. On hot topics, NCA drafts comments and bullet points that you are welcome to use when writing your own comments. Our opposition has figured out the effectiveness of utilizing mass mailings, and it’s time for us to do the same. We’ve all heard the saying “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”, and lawmakers make their decisions based on comments they receive from the majority. If our representatives only hear from the advocacy groups then they will win.
I suppose most of you have heard by now about the BLM’s proposed strategy for future management of wild horses and burros. This basically is the BLM caving in to pro wild horse groups. It’s not that hard to understand why they would do this. They have, and continue to take a real beating in the press and media for doing what the law says they are supposed to do. You can stand up and get knocked on your butt only so many times before you decide to either throw in the towel or change tactics. Unfortunately, the BLM still thinks these wild horse groups can be reasonable, and if they give them at least part of what they want they will be satisfied and go away. I’ve attended enough wild horse and burro meetings with these people to know they want nothing less than zero management, and to heck with the land and its resources, let nature take its course.
If you haven’t read this new proposal the long and the short of it is:
- BLM will enter into public/private partnerships for the establishment of ecosanctuaries (this is for Madeleine)
- BLM will allow wild horse and burro numbers to exceed Appropriate Management Levels by 9000 head. The BLM acknowledges that these numbers are not sustainable and will require a reduction in other uses; i.e. livestock grazing and wildlife.
- BLM will rely more on fertility control using a “catch, treat and release” gather method and they plan to increase adoptions
There’s one thing I know for sure—this is predominately a Nevada problem and the other western states with horses expect Nevada to take the lead. I believe the time has come that we need to seriously consider filing suit against the BLM to force them to abide by the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act. If we don’t, the livestock industry will be doomed in Nevada. The ideal scenario would be for the state to step up and do this in order to protect the land, water, wildlife, and the economies of rural counties as well as the state.
The livestock industry generates over $200 million towards Nevada’s economy annually. It is imperative that our elected officials protect this. It would be totally irresponsible to think turning Nevada into a wild horse and burro ecosanctuary could replace that income. There are plenty of wild horses in Nevada today for tourists to see if they truly want to without creating sanctuaries for them.
This month’s quote comes from the book Cowboy Ethics—What Wall Street Can Learn from the Code of the West by James P. Owen and is very simple:
Know Where to Draw the Line