DEAD HORSES CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MISMANAGEMENT YET AGAIN
ELKO COUNTY, Nevada – September 12, 2018 – Wild horses were shot in August, 2018 and many more remain at risk on Boone Springs in a remote and rugged part of Elko County, Nevada due to actions by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency within the United States Department of the Interior. Madeleine Pickens, owner of Mustang Monument and nonprofit Saving America’s Mustangs, owns the private land at Boone Springs which lies unfenced and intermingled within nearly 600,000 acres of public lands managed by Elko BLM through Jill Silvey, District Manager. Ms. Pickens tried to develop the water at Boone Springs in 2016 to provide a reliable source of water for livestock, wildlife and wild horses. However, she was unable to develop the springs because Elko BLM refused to maintain a government road so she could access the springs with the necessary equipment. Fast forward today – there is now a crisis at Boone Springs and the adjacent public lands due to a lack of a reliable source of water for at least wild horses.
It all began when Pickens acquired the Ranch in 2010 within the 600,000 acre Spruce Allotment in northeast Elko County – with the vision to establish a one-of-a-kind, unique partnership with BLM to care for wild horses while still sustaining a livestock operation upon the allotment. A significant step to establish the intended partnership required Pickens to complete deferred maintenance upon a significant number of Wells and Springs riddled across the large allotment to enhance the sources of water for livestock, wildlife and wild horses. Pickens committed to do this at her expense, but from the start, Elko BLM and Jill Silvey crossed her. On the one hand, Elko BLM would demand that the maintenance be completed with threat of sanction if it was not timely done. On the other hand, Elko BLM would second-guess the maintenance that was done with threat and actual sanction that she allegedly worked outside of the authorizations. It was a constant “gotcha style of management by Elko BLM,” says Pickens, “totally lacking any cooperation and now exemplifying itself in the crisis at Boone Springs.”
When Pickens first learned of the crisis at Boone Springs she was willing to allow the natural environment do its work – however tragic and harsh the natural environment can be in such a remote and rugged part of Nevada. However, when BLM began meddling in its crisis management and shooting horses, that crossed the line, in view of Pickens. At that time, Pickens reached out to BLM, even offering up to BLM the use of her private land at Boone Springs so BLM could install temporary water troughs and haul water to Boone Springs. Pickens even offered to haul BLM’s temporary water trough to Boone Springs, but Jill Silvey said no.
All of this, however, seems to be a little too late for the wild horses near Boone Springs – demonstrating yet another example of the continued “crisis” management by BLM of wild horses in the West, as opposed to implementing a sustainable suite of actions to move the yardsticks up the line. It seems that BLM attempts to excuse its “crisis” management by citing to a lack of money from Congress, and while that may be a part of the problem, it remains a lack of leadership at BLM.
Pickens has been an advocate in the community and even nationwide, going out of her way to help animals. During Hurricane Katrina, she personally rescued 800 dogs and cats successfully.
This is a continuation of activities that have plagued Mustang Monument since she bought the ranch in 2010 to try and create a place where the American people could come and see wild horses in their natural setting. But the powers that be in Congress and the BLM, the federal agency that manages the wild horses, have never been willing to put their whole-hearted support behind Pickens’ project.
