As all of you know, we have fought long and hard for the protection of the historic and beautiful Salt River wild horses, who today, are protected pursuant to A R.S. 3-1491. (Or the Salt River Horse Act, HB2340)
Pursuant to the Act, last year, the Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA) and the U.S. Forest Service signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) for the management of the Salt River wild horses. This agreement allowed the AZDA to contract with the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group to manage the horses on a short term basis. We now have a Salt River Horse Liaison who is awesome to work with and the program is going great, including managing the health of the herd, improving their habitat, as well as the humane birth control aspect of it. (More news about that soon)
However, the agreement (IGA) also required the AZDA and Forest Service to engage in a collaborative process to develop the long-term management plan for the horses. That process is being overseen by the Udall Foundation U.S. Center for Environmental Conflict Resolution and will have many different stakeholders and interested parties at the table.
Our president Simone Netherlands, as well as a representative of the American Wild Horse Campaign, will represent the interests of the horses as well as you, the public who loves them.
We look forward to working with the government entities and interested parties in a series of meetings that will last one year.
We will work hard like we always have and continue to offer the manpower, the willpower and the funds (provided by the public) for the long term humane management of the herd, so they can stay wild and free.
The eventual management plan that is developed by the collaborative will be submitted to the Forest Service, which will then initiate a NEPA process to evaluate the impacts of the plan. The AZDA then also has to accept it and make sure it follows the letter of the law of the Salt River Horse Act.
The collaborative process begins soon. It is not a public process so we can keep you posted only to a certain extent. You will not hear us take jabs at government entities or other stakeholders since it is our goal to work together with them. This is the only way forward towards positive progress. The road towards progress is long, but it leads to humane wild horse management, which we need in other parts of the country as well.
We ask for your continued support and your patience as this process plays out. Rest assured that we will represent you the public, and we will know that you will be right here, standing right beside us every hoof beat of the way.
If you’d like to give input, please pledge your support for humane wild horse management in the review section of our fb page and give us 5 stars. (Click our name on this post to get there)
For more information about us, go to www.srwhmg.org
Gratefully, SRWHMG.
Photo by SRWHMG GP Walsh Photography.