AMERICAN TAXPAYERS START TO STAND UP AND SPEAK UP

Neil Kronze, Director of BLM, has recently given a small monolog in the matters of the Wild Horses on Public Lands. He gave it to the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies House Committee on Appropriations, which the information he gave, was simply misinformation. This is the type of thing America is not built upon, and the BLM, and their Director, should be replaced.

Not only is it quite costly, but the situation will, and has, led to further environmental damages that all of America will face sooner than later – and pay far more in taxpayer money than would be paid if the Director in this case simply told the truth, as well as directed the BLM within a truthful framework, and within ethics and integrity. He chooses not to do this; although, taxpayers inevitably will pay far more for this situation than we should. Here his statements in partials, to this Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives:

“One of the BLM’s most challenging responsibilities is management of the Wild Horse and Burro program. These animals have an incredible reproductive rate — nearly 20 percent herd growth every year — and virtually no natural predators. . . Because of the extraordinary growth rate of wild horse and burro herds, as well as the dramatic reduction in adoption rates, the BLM is now managing more than twice as many horses on the western rangelands as is recommended for a healthy balance between horses, wildlife, cattle and other resources. . . While contraceptive birth control methods currently in use can be improved upon, given the severity of the current situation, BLM is committed to taking more aggressive action to expand their use, as well as the application of spay and neuter treatments. Much of this direct action will begin in 2016, and will continue to be supported by the agency’s on-going general research efforts to improve the available tools for population control.” — Neil Kornze, BLM Director

• A Short Inner View in response to these issues:

John: Jim, you’ve seen what Neil Kronze had to say about the Wild Horse Herd population, and the rest?

James Howard (Freighter Pilot): Yes, I have. I fly over the 11 Western States constantly, and done so for 18 years now. The overwhelming amount of cattle, as always, is mind-boggling. It is pretty obvious, in both numbers and land-destruction, that cattle are in truth way over-populated on our Public Lands – and I am just a pilot and see it. And when compared to the Wild Horse population, which in my mind is 1 horse for every 2,000 or so cattle – Kronze, at the BLM and his cronies, are liars; also anyone else that would repeat such a travesty of the truth. The over-population of horses a myth, and simply untrue. Anyone can do a flyover – it is open-lands for it mostly. I strongly suggest people go out and look for themselves – see what we see!

John: Stan, you have also seen the statements from the Director of the BLM, and do a slightly different route over the 11 Western as Jim. Anything to add?

Stan Denning (Freighter Pilot): Yip, I fly the 11 Western, and most of it desert and over Public Lands. I have seen some of God’s best work while being a pilot for Jim’s company for 12 years, and proudly on American Owned Lands, fought and paid for by us, the taxpayers and American’s alike. I have seen also what people and our government do to these lands of ours. Cattle I see for miles on end – actually rare to see wild horses at all, so when I do it does catch my attention – and as I say, it’s rare to see them at all. Where I won’t call a man a liar, unless I am looking him in his eyes, I will state that I would like to speak with Mr. Kronze, and call him such, and point out to him several reasons why.

The end result I would leave him with, undoubtable, is the fact it defies reasoning what so ever that wild horses are the problem on Public Lands – obviously, to many including myself, it is nothing more than way too many cattle –

John: Hi Kent. Good talking to you again. You just heard Jim’s and Stan’s statements. Anything to add?

Kent Styles (Terrestrial Biologist): There is no doubt in my mind, the wild horses take the brunt of what cattle and sheep do – I am thinking the same as both Jim and Stan, Call these people out! I agree with their ratios, about 2,000 cattle to every 1 wild horse . . .

But it’s not just the problem of the cattle population, which is the over-population source in real-time, it’s the outright destruction of Public Lands – and this key point is the reasoning for the lies and so much misinformation. The cattle become a negative resource and it’s attritional effects well noted when good science and appropriate data gathered, without political agendas and no ordered manipulations from Directors or Administrators.

Cheatgrass for example – It’s not that cheatgrass follows fires, that is misinformation that the BLM and ranchers push to the public; rather, cheatgrass follows the destruction due to livestock grazing – directly — which contributes to the flammability of grasslands and results in more frequent wildfires. But, remember also that Wildfires are natural to native grasslands—although, not at the frequency created by cheatgrass–

John: So is the environment healthy, or not?

Kent Styles:  Good question. There’s a lot of studies that do take adversarial positions to many of the special-interest only studies done by BLM, where cattle grazing data not included — by the way, BLM demanded a few years ago for Rangeland Data concerning cattle to be Not-Included within any studies they contract or do internally. In opposition, and answering the question about the honesty of BLM employees and their Director quite well — honest science, which the BLM obviously does not like at all, tells us cattle generates many problems. Yes, they are and remain consistent in their dishonesty – Lord only knows why, as they pretty much have no credibility what so ever, and it is apparent they really don’t care.

Now to answer your question — healthy grassland easily recovers after fires – yes, but no in this circumstance of cattle grazing. It is only grasslands that have been degraded by livestock grazing that are vulnerable to significant cheatgrass invasion due to many things, but a large part contributed by the trample-effect of the ungulates, or in this case the cattle themselves . . . and their over-population.

So to say the wild horses trample-effects cause destruction of our Public Lands? This is simply an Untruth, and cannot be backed by legitimate science or data collection on our Rangelands today . . .

As a matter of fact, many of us have been challenging them to do so, but they refuse – necessarily so, because they would simply not obtain either the over-population of wild horses on Public Lands, nor would they retrieve data with anything but cattle and sheep destruction of our Public Lands consistent and undeniable upon perusal of that same data. . . So, the best “preventative” management, to stop wildfires on Public Lands if the BLM really assumes it is a problem here, would be to eliminate the major cause of cheatgrass spread and establishment in the first place. And that source is cattle production, not breed control for the wild horses, or eventually their removal –

John: If I am hearing you correctly, there is much more to this than just the over-population lies, but actually a cover-up of sorts?

Kent Styles: Cover up? An understatement for sure. The overwhelming fact is that biological crusts are extremely vulnerable to trampling and damage from hooves, but even more specific, cattle hooves. In most of the sagebrush steppe ecosystem, in the Great Basin for example, that includes Nevada, eastern Oregon, southern Idaho, and much of Utah, there were almost no large herds of grazing ungulates — like bison; and, even other parts of the sagebrush steppe that includes southwest Montana, parts of western Wyoming and Colorado, were on the fringe of the bison belt which was located to the east on the Great Plains.

So these ecosystems are really not tolerant at all, of especially cattle grazing. When cattle are let loose on these lands, they destroy the bio-crusts, which is significant because it provides the perfect disturbed soil conditions favorable for cheatgrass establishment – but the land pretty much destroyed for any other use, other than to grow cheatgrass.

Then we can dwell into the direct effects, and destruction of the Ecological System, and the Sage Grouse as well, and other wildlife – cattle and cheatgrass attract Ravens for example, and Ravens kill Sage Grouse – one can say without a doubt, Cattle and Not Horses simply destroy Rangelands and Sage Grouse alike . . .

So do wild horses disturb the Ecological System? Easily answered – None what so ever! Oddly, if there was an over-population of wild horses, the cattle and sheep would trample any evidence of that what so ever, as they are ungulates far more destructive than any of the others, to include wild horses – then we can discuss Browsers as well, but for another time and discussion . . .

John: Let’s wrap this up – what can be done?

Kent Styles: Legislator’s should demand the government agencies tell the truth. Perhaps a law or two, but they need more honest folks in the BLM and even the DOI. Their dishonesty is destroying our Public Lands, and they have a firm-hold on the devil’s own. Cattle ranchers could care less about America’s Public Lands, and actually see it as their own through the grazing permits they hold– to use and destroy as they wish, and whenever they want to do so! I agree with John, it is time for American’s to Stand Up and Be Counted.

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Thank you gentlemen, and I will see you at the next Alumnus gathering of our Vietnam Veteran Unit in May. But I do want to make a final statement:

Mr. Kronze mentions no predators on Public Lands any longer, and another reason for wild horse herd roundups – but that is simply not true either – so he is batting 100% on Untruth and WITHIN A TOTAL misinformation context — FOR A BUDGET, PAID FOR BY TAXPAYER MONEY!

True, in some areas there are not Apex Predators; but untrue that all Public Lands has no Apex Predators. We find, and in accord with BLM Math, it apparently makes no difference (and Mr. Kronze seems to allude to the fact it does, it would or may exist in their math – but it never has before), as they rate a 20% birth rate yearly (and for decades now — also shown over that time to be in error as well), as if there exists no mortality what so ever, no death rates, whether it be natural, human-caused, or at birth – so we find further fault within the 20% BLM Wild Horse Math Rate configuration and their software.  We, indeed discovered some time back, the software templates remains easily manipulated to boost percentages in particular areas where increases needed, as well as adjust percentages and counts to come out with just about anything they want during their counts, which we can truthfully state as fact!

When all of these figures and manipulations of Horse Count Software Templates considered — it is Erroneous, has been erroneous for quite some time, and we see no change in the erroneous counts or the continuous BLM Corrupt and Dishonest Behavior – they tell outrageous and outright lies to the Public as well as legislators, just as the Director has done above. . . America, we have a problem with a complete Dishonest and Corrupt government Agency.