The Salt River Horse Collaborative

The Salt River Horse Collaborative meetings are over. There are some things that we are not happy with both about the process, as well as about the outcome. However at this time, we are going to try to solve our issues internally with both the Forest Service and the Ag Department.

The collaborative process was initiated by the Forest Service as part of the IGA (Inter Governmental Agreement) and consisted of a series of meetings organized and mediated by the agency, Concur inc. The agency, working with the FS and AZDA, invited a bunch of people and organizations they believed to have a stake in the Salt River wild horse issue. It included ranchers and ranching organizations, hunting organizations, environmental organizations, the reservations, MCSO, the BLM and also wild horse organizations like SRWHMG and AWHC. The process, while claiming to be neutral, was quite a few lightyears from it. Our only consolation is that the results of this expensive process is only a “recommendation” to the AZDA. They can do with that recommendation what they see fit and what is consistent with the law. We will try to explain more about the closed and confidential meetings when we can, but to give you an idea, this is a slide from one of our presentations.

As always, we count on your support. Thank you. Keeping the Salt River wild horses free, sincerely SRWHMG.