BLM Director Announces No Killing of Wild Horses in Captivity
Points to TCF/AWHPC Lawsuit as reason for Halting Wild Mare Sterilization
WASHINGTON, DC – (September 15, 2016) - Yesterday, BLM head, Neil Kornze announced that the BLM was not accepting the recommendation from their National Advisory Board to destroy wild horses in holding and to offer wild horses that had been passed over for adoption for sale without limitation. “This recommendation met a firestorm of outrage across the country and caused our phones to ring off the hook,” states Ginger Kathrens, Humane Advocate on the Advisory Board and Volunteer Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation (TCF), the sole dissenting vote to the board’s recommendation.
Prior to the Sept meeting TCF learned that the BLM decided to drop Wild Mare Sterilization Research Experiments in which wild mares (and fillies as young as 8 months) would be surgically sterilized. BLM Director Kornze indirectly referenced the TCF and AWHPC lawsuit requesting to be present to view and record the sterilization procedures, as the reason the experiments in Oregon were cancelled.
Other lawsuits and thousands of emails, letters and phone calls from concerned Americans played a significant part in bringing a halt to the experiments as well as halting the recommendation to destroy captive wild horses.
Kathrens warns, “this does not mean the horses in holding and on the range are out of trouble.” Kathrens recalls the documents that came to her office in late 2008 revealing BLM Secret Meetings in which the agency discussed how many horses could be killed each year and how many psychologists would be needed to counsel BLM employees asked to kill healthy wild horses.
In June, Kathrens was asked to speak before the House Sub-Committee on Federal Lands. “It was clear that the Western congressional representatives had no interest in hearing what I had to say,” she states. “They wanted the horses gone, and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming purred that euthanasia of thousands of captive wild horses would be such ‘a lovely way to die,’ Kathrens states.
When asked, “where do we go from here?” Kathrens replied, “it is imperative that we continue to speak up, encouraging BLM to use humane tools to limit births in our wild horse herds. The ultimate goal is limiting reproduction to natural mortality. And to reduce the number of wild horses held in short term corrals, we should return these non-reproducing geldings and mares to available BLM lands designated for wild horse use, but where no wild horses currently live.”
This victory is due to thousands of advocates and concerned Americans’ expressing outrage and presenting a united voice for the wild horses.
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LINKS:
BLM DirectorAnnounces No Killing of Wild Horses in Holding
BLM won't euthanize wild horses it cannot adopt — Kornze
Lawsuit Filed toUphold Right to Observe Controversial Wild Horse Sterilization Experiments
Republican Led SubCommittee on Federal Lands
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DENVER—In response to House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop asking “Is a fish an antiquity?” after President Obama protected the new Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, the Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Deputy Director Greg Zimmerman:
“Congressman Bishop’s predictable reaction to our newest national monument would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. From ‘great harm’ to ‘elite special interests’ to ‘bandits in the night,’ Rob Bishop never seems to run out of insults when President Obama extends his conservation legacy.
“Outrageous claims like these make you wonder if Congressman Bishop has ever read the Antiquities Act, which allows the president to protect locations of ‘historic and scientific interest.’ The fish Congressman Bishop mocks are, without a doubt, of scientific interest.”
The Wrong Side of History: 100 Years of Opposition to Our Nation’s Natural Treasures
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Former Head Coach of Marshall University to speak on rebuilding
football team after tragedy
Jack Lengyel will be the riveting guest speaker for Bank of Utah’s
Fall Speaker Events in Ogden, Lehi, Logan and Salt Lake, Oct. 4-5
OGDEN, Utah, September XX, 2016 – Bank of Utah’s Annual Fall Speaker Event, Oct. 4 -5 will feature Jack Lengyel, former head football coach at Marshall University. Lengyel is best known as the head football coach who took on the daunting task of rebuilding the Marshall Thundering Herd football team after a tragic plane crash in 1970. Lengyel’s story came to life on the big screen in the movie, “We Are Marshall” where he was portrayed by Matthew McConaughey. The bank’s Fall Speaker events will take place in Logan, Ogden, Salt Lake City and Lehi.
Bank of Utah customers and local business leaders are invited to register for the free event in their communities to hear Lengyel’s enthralling story. Those who attend will walk away understanding Lengyel’s feelings at the time of the tragedy, how Marshall University’s football program was revived and the unprecedented actions Lengyel took to bring the team members together.
Bank of Utah’s Fall Speaker Event will take place:
Ogden - October 4, 2016
Hub 801, 3525 Riverdale Road, Ogden
Breakfast Buffet: 7:30 a.m.
Presentation: 8:00-9:00 a.m.
Complimentary self-parking
Logan - October 4, 2016
The Riverwoods Conference Center, 615 Riverwoods Parkway
Lunch Buffet: 12:00 p.m.
Presentation: 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Complimentary self-parking
Lehi - October 5, 2016
Thanksgiving Point, 2935 Thanksgiving Way
Breakfast Buffet: 7:30 a.m.
Presentation: 8:00-9:00 a.m.
Complimentary self-parking
Salt Lake City - October 5, 2016
Grand America Hotel, 555 South Main Street
Lunch Buffet: 12:00 p.m.
Presentation: 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Complimentary self-parking
“We are delighted to host these events across the Wasatch Front in order to share this captivating story with local business leaders,” said Douglas L. DeFries, Bank of Utah president. “Jack will not only give an account of his time as head coach at Marshall University, but he will discuss the importance of motivation and how to plan for personal and professional success.”
Bank of Utah’s Fall Speaker Event is open to business leaders and pre-registration is required. Seating is limited. To register, visit https://bankofutah.com/events.
About Bank of Utah
Bank of Utah, in business for 63 years, was founded and organized by Frank M. Browning, an Ogden business executive. The bank officially opened for business on December 1, 1952 with 16 employees, and has grown to over 300 employees and nearly one billion dollars in assets. The bank currently has 13 full-service branches along the Wasatch Front, mortgage offices in St. George, South Towne, Price, Logan and Sandy, and corporate trust teams in Ogden and Salt Lake City. Bank of Utah offers personal banking, business banking, home lending, trust management and investment services. For more information call 1-800-516-5559 or visit bankofutah.com.
About Jack Lengyel
Jack Lengyel is currently a software executive. He served as head football coach at the College of Wooster and then moved to Marshall University where he took over the Thundering Herd football program after the plane crash that killed nearly the entire team in 1970. From there, Lengyel served as athletic director at California State University, University of Missouri and the United States Naval Academy. Lengyel earned his bachelor of science from Akron University and has a master of education degree from Kent State University. Lengyel has received honors and awards including the John L. Toner Aware, the Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Athletics Aware, The Homer Rice Award and NACDA’s James J. Corbett Award.
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DENVER—The Center for Western Priorities issued a new analysis, The Wildfire Burden, spotlighting one of many flaws with attempts to “transfer” U.S. public lands to state and private control. Any Western state politician pushing this idea is committing his or her state to the liabilities and high costs associated with managing public lands, including fighting wildfire.
According to data acquired by CWP from the U.S. Forest Service, the agency spent over $6 billion fighting fire in Western states between 2009 and 2015. The U.S. government spent billions more annually on wildfire when you account for firefighting by the Department of Interior, in addition to spending on wildfire preparedness, rehabilitation, and hazardous fuels reductions.
“Public lands seizure proposals are built on a house of cards that comes crashing down under the weight of simple economic realities,” said Greg Zimmerman, deputy director with the Center for Western Priorities. “The cost of fighting wildfire alone would place an unreasonable burden on cash-strapped state budgets, with one big fire risking a state’s financial solvency. Where’s the money going to come from?"
It’s not uncommon for the U.S. Forest Service to spend northward of $100 million a year in any given Western state suppressing wildfire.
U.S. Forest Service Wildfire Suppression Spending (2009-2015 total)
Arizona
$485 million
California
$2.4 billion
Colorado
$236 million
Idaho
$643 million
Montana
$363 million
New Mexico
$420 million
Nevada
$117 million
Oregon
$863 million
Utah
$171 million
Washington
$445 million
Wyoming
$96 million
Western States Total
$6.2 billion
Land seizure advocates—including the leading proponent, Utah State Representative Ken Ivory—remain silent on how they plan to fund wildfire fighting costs without help from the U.S. government, without selling off public lands, without raising taxes, and without raiding important parts of a state’s budget, such as K-12 education or law enforcement.
“Wildfire is an unavoidable cost associated with managing our American public lands. But let’s not also forget about the undeniable economic benefits of these lands. Access for outdoor recreation, the provisioning of freshwater, historic preservation, and energy production to name just a few,” continued Zimmerman. “The myriad benefits are shared by all Americans, as are the costs of managing those lands.”
The Wildfire Burden is an update to a report with the same title first issued two years ago. In a separate report, The Mining Burden, the Center for Western Priorities examined the cleanup cost states would take onto their books from all abandoned mines if lands were “transferred” into state hands.
For more information, visit westernpriorities.org. Greg Zimmerman is available for video and audio interviews about wildfire costs and the land seizure movement. To schedule an interview, call (720) 279-8038.
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