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Bullies of the range! Well written!

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  • By John Kolesza
  • In Arizona, a small parcel of land in the Heber area was designated a wild horse territory in 1974 as prescribed in the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971. At the time of designation, there were seven horses present and the area was designated as being roughly 19,000 acres. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the horses in this area died out. By 1995, the Forest Service could not find a single horse living in the wild horse territory.
 

In 2002, the Rodeo-Chedeski fire destroyed over 500,000 acres of forests in areas surrounding Heber. With fences down, tribal horses streamed onto forest lands. By 2005, there were over 250 horses when the Forest Service announced intentions of rounding up these trespass horses. Lawsuits by horse advocates followed.

The federal court issued its ruling in 2007 and directed the Forest Service to develop a management plan for the horses. Conservationists across Arizona have seen the dramatic changes in the forest areas of Heber and the horse numbers are estimated at between 500 and 1,000 head.

 

If there is a culprit in this, it sits in the total lack of accountability with all of the forest supervisors and staff that have allowed the situation to fester over the past decade. A reasonable number of horses and a plan needed to be developed. The Apache Sitgreaves National Forests has created a climate of hostility and resentment, as well as an entitlement attitude by the horse advocates. The 19,000 acres that were designated as the horse territory has been expanded. The total land that feral horses now inhabit is over 400,000 acres. The “wild” horses are no longer wild, they graze with impunity at campsites. They are often referred to as the “bullies” of the range as they hoard water holes and drinkers to the exclusion of other wildlife.

It is simply unacceptable that feral horses are managed differently than resident wildlife, lawful grazing, and at levels that clearly cannot be considered to exist within a “thriving ecological balance” as prescribed by law.

This summer, public comments should occur (if the Forest Service can find the time) and that a plan will be put together. The wild horse advocates will scream in protest and file lawsuits so that the plan is on hold indefinitely. Sadly, these advocates do not care at all about any other wildlife.

Last, but not least, illegal activity by frustrated people who do not share the passion that horse advocates do is reprehensible. Frustration at the inept forest management is the cause. The Apache Sitgreaves National Forest employees allowed this mess to fester for over 10 years with no action. The forest in another four years will be decidedly worse off and the number of horses will double by that time. Shame on the horse advocates for not being reasonable. They want the whole forest and the way things are going they will soon have it. I pity all of the other wildlife that is being forced out by the bullies of the range.

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Pretty lame that the forest service has done little to nothing about this. Even worse that the libtard horse lovers think that the forest, and public land is there for these entitled feral horses to destroy. 

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Got the same chit going on in unit 9 over on the east side...don't know what it looks like now as I heard there was some die off due to drought. Stock originally came off the rez...

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10 hours ago, Hoofnit said:

Got the same chit going on in unit 9 over on the east side...don't know what it looks like now as I heard there was some die off due to drought. Stock originally came off the rez...

On my U9 cow elk hunt last October, I saw more feral horses than elk.  I hunted the southeast side.

 

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Would they try to arrest 1000 people if we just started shooting them? Eventually this is what will happen. 

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The problem needs to be dealt with sooner or later.  It is only getting worse.

 

I will admit, when I first read this title, I thought it was going to be about the Ben Avery range masters.

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Good article! 

What's the old saying? Closing the barn door after the horses have left? In this case,  literally.  

Even the Salt River herd is getting worse.  Heading north yesterday,  I saw them about a mile or so NORTH of the Bush Highway turnoff.  First time I've seen them there.  They were grazing on the west side of SR87. Appears they're expanding their range north towards Sycamore creek. 

Between the horses and burros, the blame falls completely with the Forest Service and BLM. 

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Forest service sucks, never do anything besides pull down large government pay checks. Look at the no patrolling during fire restrictions.

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Another way that the hunt/gun/fish haters systematically work to control the world to their misguided ideology.

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On 5/26/2019 at 6:25 PM, Dave Price said:

Went scouting in 3C today, saw one elk and about 50 horses. Need to remove them!

Yeah someone needs to run through there with a suppressed blackout.

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On 5/26/2019 at 6:26 AM, AZkiller said:

Would they try to arrest 1000 people if we just started shooting them? Eventually this is what will happen. 

At first I freaked because I thought I clicked the "blood from a turnip" thread!

I have a similar thought, and I would be sooooo tempted. The problem is it would all get blamed on hunters which is a black eye that we just dont need.  What needs to happen is game and fish and the forest service need to rub some chia seeds on their crotch and water away. Maybe they can grow something useful where there testicles used to be. 

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When is it time to quit worrying about getting a black eye, and doing what is right.  Our currant President is doing it!  

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