A Little History of the BLM for the Unknowing

For many years the wild horses and burros in this country enjoyed a relatively happy and peaceful life... lately maybe the last 20 years that has all changed. The wild horses and burros have been hounded and pursued to the brink of extinction. Yes, that's a large harsh word with many implications. but it is becoming a fact today. You have seen my articles and seen the photos that I have accumulated from my sources and my friends in this fight. We will not give up the fight to save these icons from the bolt gun. A great misconception is that the wild horses and burros here today are descendants of the Spanish horses brought here about the 1500's. This is simply not true. There are cave drawings and stories passed down that prove they were here even before then and our early ancestors and native Americans. To coin a phrase, the truth is out there.

DURING ANY other administration, it would be a front-page scandal. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt last month tapped William Perry Pendley, an anti-government zealot who has not been Senate-approved for any position, to lead the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which oversees one-tenth of the nation’s land. Mr. Pendley’s first turn in government, during the administration of President Ronald Reagan, was ignominious — and he has done nothing since to suggest he belongs in a position of public trust.

Mr. Pendley, a longtime conservative pundit, has written books with titles such as “Warriors for the West: Fighting Bureaucrats, Radical Groups, and Liberal Judges on America’s Frontier” and “War on the West: Government Tyranny on America’s Great Frontier.” His Twitter handle is @Sagebrush_Rebel, in reference to an anti-Washington movement demanding more access to public lands in the 1970s and 1980s. Environmentalists “don’t believe in human beings,” he declared in 2014. “The Founding Fathers intended all lands owned by the federal government to be sold,” he wrote in 2016. “Westerners know that only getting title to much of the land in the West will bring real change.”

When former interior secretary Ryan Zinke moved to slash the size of national monuments throughout the country, Mr. Pendley attacked him for not being aggressive enough. As the head of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, Mr. Pendley repeatedly sued the Interior Department on behalf of those seeking to weaken environmental protections.

The fact is that Mr. Pendeley has worked with the cattleman assoc. on different matters including defending them in court for different reasons for different issues. He has his fingers in everything and still collects monies from the law group he headed at one time and is still associated with. On his own decision, he was caught trying to sell off public lands in a less than ok deal and yet was never prosecuted. How is it this man who hates wild horses so bad, and a lot of other things, manages to stay out of jail? How is it that this man is allowed to control all that land and who has verbally stated his contempt for wild horses and burrow is permitted to decide their fate?

Well, I could go on and on from here and point out piece after piece of information showing you the problem at hand in the BLM. Most of which prove the system is broken. A lot of unnecessary money is being spent to round-up and contain the wild horses and burros. Plus the paid employees that tend to the horses and burros while in holding. The PZP programs are proven. It's cheap and there are plenty of people available to take care of the problem. American Wild Horse Campaign and Salt River Wild Horse Management Group have been using PZP quickly, easily, efficiently, and cost-effective for some time ...it works and for a fraction of the cost of what it is costing to herd, pen-up feed and keep the wild horses and burros. Then there is the payroll for the employees to maintain the penned up herds. $5. billion to do all that. I believe they should stay right where they are. Safe and free and wild. Good day.

When the BLM was formed, its duties were to supervise the western united states for settlers and others coming west to live. this worked well for a while. Somewhere along the way, its duties widened. Now we have the BLM of today. All too powerful, all not knowing. Literally, because they have driven the wild horse thing into the ground. Working for the cattleman's Assoc. and what not. Allowing lease farming, where do you go from here? Admittedly the system is broke and no longer functions properly. By the time everything is worked out I fear it will be too late. Can you imagine your little one coming to you and asking what a horse was? And you didn't know either?