Heber Wild Horses - Heber Wild Horses

From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 11

12/13/2022

On August 31, 2005 the USDA Forest Service put out a press release with the title:
UNAUTHORIZED HORSES TO BE REMOVED FROM THE NATIONAL FOREST

The press release stated there were “approximately 300 horses” that were grazing a portion of the Rodeo/Chediski burned area near Heber. It claimed the horses came from “adjacent lands” and they were unable to locate their owners for the most part. It went on to say “Significant numbers of stray, domestic horses were in the area before the Rodeo-Chediski Fire in 2002” but since the fire there had been more horses. The Forest Service did not consider the horses to be wild and therefore not eligible for adoption. The horses would be sent to auction for sale to the highest bidder.

In an attempt to save the Heber wild horse herd advocates filed a complaint against the Forest Service seeking a preliminary injunction which alleged the USFS had not conducted a census, inventory, or any other kind of survey in order to determine if the horses seen were “wild free-roaming” horses and entitled to protection. The plaintiffs were successful. The court granted an injunction which prevented the defendants from conducting roundups and removals of any horses from the forest.

From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 10

12/8/2022

July 19, 2005 – The USFS fails to manage the Heber Wild Horse Territory as mandated by law, fails to provide a management plan for the wild horses and the Territory, fails to keep accurate counts of wild horses in and associated with the Heber Wild Horse Territory and Apache Sitgreaves National Forests for years prior to July 19, 2005. Yet the USFS issues solicitation for bids to have unbranded, unclaimed free-roaming wild horses in Apache Sitgreaves National Forests removed as what they call “trespass horses” and hauled to Holbrook auction house on July 19, 2005. Solicitation is done without required compliance of a full study of the impact on the environment as required by law under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA). In addition, the USFS has never done a NEPA or the required development of a management plan for wild horses in Apache Sitgreaves National Forests and for the almost 20,000 acre Heber Wild Horse Territory set aside for the wild horses by Congress as a sanctuary. The USFS provides no evidence of any investigation of any kind to support the “trespass horse” assertion. However, historical documents and affidavits of residents together with photographs provided by residents to attorneys for the horses demonstrate a continuous presence of the ASNF wild horses generations before the Rodeo Chediski fire.

These photos were taken in 2005. The Heber wild horses in this area move on and off the designated Heber Wild Horse Territory.

From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 9

12/8/2022

Tall Tales
Stories were fabricated in an attempt to justify removing free-roaming horses and closing the Heber Wild Horse Territory. We have seen this happen often when it comes to America’s wild horses and burros. For example, the horses are going to starve! We’re removing them for their own good! Nothing to indicate that is the case. But the horses are removed and the cattle are brought in.

The Sitgreaves has tall tales that have been repeated over and over by those who want the horses gone but are in favor of non native privately owned cattle being brought in to guzzle the water and graze the grasses. One of the stories is about a stallion we dubbed “Frosty”.

Frosty the Stallion
The Forest Service and public lands ranchers have clung tightly to their assertion that at the time the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was passed there were only 7 wild horses in the 800,000 plus acres of forest in the Sitgreaves. Keep in mind they never have provided evidence that a wild horse census was ever conducted in order to determine the establishment of the Heber Wild Horse Territory and what portion of the forest it should include. Over the years “stories” were told that the band stallion was sterile due to a winter snowstorm that froze his testicles. Funny how the storm didn’t seem to affect the other horses in the Sitgreaves that the ranchers were capturing and removing. Eventually the story went on to claim there were just two mares left and they would die of natural attrition therefore the Heber Wild Horse Territory should be dissolved. No mention was made of the other wild horses that were seen in the forest including horses in the designated Heber Wild Horse Territory.

Feral Cat Myth
Comparing wild horses to feral cats is a form of fear mongering used by public lands cattle ranchers. Their story that wild horses breed like feral cats is an attempt to scare people into thinking the horses are overpopulating and the situation is urgent. Either the people who use that comparison are too ignorant to know that cats have litters and horses don’t. Or they think the people they are telling their story to are too ignorant to know horses only have one foal a year at most. An adult female cat can have 3 litters a year with an average of 4-6 kittens per litter. In any case there is no evidence to support the claim that the Heber herd is overpopulated. Based on numbers by the forest service beginning in 2005 to the present day the Heber herd has an approximate growth rate of 1.5% per year. That is a far cry from the 20% that the FS and BLM claim wild horse herds have.
While the silliness of their stories can be somewhat humorous, the consequences of repeating those big lies can be devastating to the Heber wild horse herd and the American people who want to keep wild horses on our public lands. Their deceptive propaganda is used to manipulate facts and information in hopes of furthering their agenda to remove the wild horses from the forest.

From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 8

12/4/2022

The Rodeo-Chediski was a combined fire that began in June 2002. After the fire the Forest Service claimed they thought the free-roaming horses in the Sitgreaves were all feral horses from the White Mountain Apache reservation that had crossed into the forest due the fence being burned by the fire. However, sworn affidavits signed by numerous people indicate wild horses were seen in the Sitgreaves from the early 1970s up until and beyond the Rodeo-Chediski fire.

One such affidavit was signed by a fire lookout for the Forest Service. He was familiar with the Heber Wild Horse Territory and stated that over the years he had seen a band of horses in the Territory particularly around the Gentry lookout. He went on to say that while driving around on the forest roads he became familiar with one particular band he observed numerous times since the summer of 2000. The band stallion was a buckskin who usually had 7-8 mares with him. He said the band produced foals during each of the three years he had been observing them. He said the horses were unbranded and had no marks on them to indicate they were domestic.

During the fire two people of our Heber Wild Horses advocacy group were assisting in evacuating people and animals. One was able to get into the forest during her off time. She was excited to see Old Buck and his mare Sweet Suzanna in their usual territory on forest road 51.

Old Buck standing watch.

From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 7

12/4/2022

February 1, 1989: Mack Hughes narrates to his wife, Stella Hughes, the Hashknife Cowboy, his memoirs of cowboy life on the sprawling Hashknife Ranch in New Mexico and Eastern Arizona circa 1922. In the chapter on wild horses, Hughes describes thousands of wild horses called broomies by the cowboys running on the Rim and the delight the ranchers took in running with the broomies. Some of the broomies were caught and tamed to become excellent ranch horses. Continuous wild horse sightings in Apache Sitgreaves National Forests are documented in the Hughes book, in Jo Baeza’s Arizona Highways February 1988 story Horses of Arizona, and by residents through narration and pictures from the early part of the 20th century through the present.

From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 6

12/4/2022

Some in the Forest Service wanted to terminate the Heber Wild Horse Territory

It should come as a surprise to no one who has read our previous ‘Chronicles’ that the intent of the Forest Service was to eliminate the horses and disband the Heber Wild Horse Territory. For years the Forest Service paid ranchers to round up horses with no evidence to indicate the horses were not part of the protected Heber wild horse herd. A 1991 report by the FS said the “A/S [Apache-Sitgreaves] “herd” should not be recognized at all”. Those same words were then used in correspondence by other Forest Service employees including Forest Supervisor Elaine J. Zieroth and range manager Kendall Hughes.

“From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 5“ provided information from a March 10, 1994 memo from Forest Service District Ranger Kate Klein to a public lands rancher in the Black Mesa Ranger District. In her memo she instructed the rancher to capture and remove horses that were seen in one of the pastures. On June 21, 1993 District Ranger Klein sent a memo to Forest Supervisor John Bedell with the subject line “Territory Withdrawal Recommendation”. In the memo Klein mentions the 1991 report and how it said the Heber Wild Horse Territory should “not be recognized at all”. Klein’s final sentence of this short memo was: “I recommend it [Heber Wild Horse Territory] be removed from the records as a territory and that the animals be removed by the State Livestock Sanitary Board.”

Although the Heber Wild Horse Territory was not eliminated there are still Forest Service websites found online that list Wild Horse Territories but do not include the Heber Wild Horse Territory.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/wild.../territories/index.shtml

Those of you who had been in the forest years ago may remember band stallion Van Gogh.

From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 5

12/4/2022

After the establishment of the Heber Wild Horse Territory the elimination of free-roaming horses in the Sitgreaves National Forest continued.

Obviously unphazed by the passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act and the designation of the Heber Wild Horse Territory the Forest Service continued on in their attempt to eliminate unbranded, unclaimed horses in the Sitgreaves. The Forest Service had written agreements with local ranchers to capture horses that were in specific cattle allotments. Some of the agreements included pastures that overlapped the designated Heber Wild Horse Territory. Agreements stated the rancher would be paid $100.00 for each horse captured and $2.00 per day for feed pending disposal by the Forest Service. The horses were then sold at public auction without limitation.

A 1974 Range Inspection Report that we obtained through a FOIA request revealed horses in the Black Mesa Ranger District had been captured and sold at public auction that year. That was just months after the establishment of the Heber Wild Horse Territory which was supposed to protect wild horses as mandated under the 1971 Act. From the same FOIA request we received numerous written agreements between the Forest Service and public lands ranchers for the capture of free-roaming horses during the 1980s and into the 1990s. The FOIA response also produced numerous invoices from Valley Livestock Auction where the captured horses had been sold. The final memo we received from the FOIA request was dated March 10, 1994. It was sent to the ranch owner and cc’d to the local ranch manager. It instructed the rancher to remove horses from one of the grazing units in “hopes to eliminate” horses that were observed. It came from Kate Klein who was the Forest Service District Ranger.

From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 4

11/29/2022

The Designation of the Heber Wild Horse Territory
PUBLIC LAW 92-195-DEC. 15, 1971 649
Public Law 92-195

It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.

Per information from a FOIA request it was discovered that in 1973 W. R. Fallis who was the Assistant Regional Forester, U.S. Forest Service Region 3 requested Inventory Procedures from the Dept of the Interior (BLM) to assist the Forest Service in determining where wild horses were in order to properly designate Wild Horse Territories.

Inventory Procedures:
The Department of the Interior responded with their Inventory Procedures which included the following and much, much more.

Establishment
“It is essential that the maximum geographic limit of the herd be defined”
The use of maps and aerial photos of the inventory area. Collecting data on the ground through the use of the grid technique. Photographs should be taken. It stressed the importance of data. The procedure stated that the “inventory may continue for a period of several years or until an accurate picture of seasonal distribution, territorial limit and forage habits is determined.”

These BLM Inventory Procedures were then sent by Assistant Regional Forester Fallis to Region 3 Forest Supervisors.

But did the Forest Service follow any of the recommendations in order to determine the Heber Wild Horse Territory (HWHT)?

FOIA requests have asked how the Forest Service determined how the 19,700 acres out of the entire Sitgreaves National Forests came to be designated as the Heber Wild Horse Territory. None of the FOIA request responses indicated the Inventory Procedures were followed. There were no photos, no maps indicating where a survey had been done, no survey grids, no data returned in the FOIA responses. In fact, it doesn’t appear there were any procedures for making that determination. Instead the HWHT appears to have been based on the words of a rancher/FS employee who stated there were 7 horses in the forest. With over 800,000 acres and no indication of any wild horse survey, the arbitrary and capricious designation of just under 20,000 acres was made by the Forest Service. The Forest Service is still set on binding the wild horses to those limits. Just lines on a map of a small area that is sliced up with cattle pasture fences and natural terrain.

Post photo is of some of today's Heber wild horses...a herd in peril.

From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 4

11/29/2022

“And the wild horses wasn’t hurtin’ nothin’.”
Nevada Rep. Walter Baring introduced a bill in January 1959 to prohibit the use of motorized vehicles to hunt wild horses and burros on public lands. Known as the “Wild Horse Annie Act” the bill passed and became Public Law 86-234 on Sept. 8, 1959. But that bill did little to protect the wild horses and burros from extirpation from our public lands. Their numbers continued to shrink and public outcry for the protection of America’s wild horses and burros was being heard loud and clear by Congress. But the protection of wild horses and burros was not welcomed by everybody. There were still many in positions of power who just wanted them all gone, such was the case in the Sitgreaves.

Animosity towards the wild horses on the part of the Forest Service and ranchers never let up over the years. Prior to the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act being signed into law there was already concern on the part of some of the Forest Service personnel in the Sitgreaves National Forest. In the late 1960s the Sitgreaves Forest Ranger made a deal with local ranchers to capture the horses and remove them from the forest in order to avoid having the forest designated as a wild horse “refuge”. Although many were captured and sold at auction for slaughter with over 800,000 acres in the Sitgreaves and a long history of wild horses throughout, capturing them all was not possible.

The Forest Service and the public lands ranchers always fall back on one of their favorite myths that the horses are not wild because they all came from the White Mountain Apache reservation due to fences being downed. They conveniently fail to mention that a downed fence also allows horses from the forest to cross into the reservation, there are no one way turnstyles. Also important to note is that the Apaches saw the value of the horses that were brought in by the early explorers and settlers and released into the forest which is how they historically acquired horses. Whether on one side of a fence or the other they are of the same ancestors. And most importantly is that the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act defines wild as:
(b) "wild free-roaming horses and burros" means all unbranded and unclaimed horses
and burros on public lands of the United States;

Oral history interview with Doy Reidhead [with transcript], April 3, 2006.
Excerpts:
“So the old ranger that was up there, a great old guy, he just wanted the horses gone. And I’ll tell you why he wanted ’em gone. This might be a.... He was afraid they’d make a wild horse refuge. Now here we’re already gettin’ into some stink. You see what I mean? He said, "If these horses don’t get moved, we’re gonna have trouble with this. They’ll take this and make a wild horse refuge out of it." So he said, "I’ll build the traps, and we’ll [salt?] catch these horses." "All right, that’s fine." "You take ’em to sale and sell ’em, and whatever you get is yours." Lowe: So they were unbranded? Reidhead: Yeah. But they’d give me a bill of sale to ’em. They was unbranded, and on Forest Service land. So we built them traps and [salted?]. We caught 187 horses. I’d unload ’em out of the traps and load ’em in a trailer and haul ’em to sale. A hundred dollars was a big price on ’em.”
Reidhead: Well, in the old days there was no fightin’ fires. Didn’t have nothin’ to fight fires with. My dad tells the story they used to run more wild horses in this country than they do everything put together now. And the wild horses wasn’t hurtin’ nothin’.

Full transcript at:
http://archive.library.nau.edu/.../collection/cpa/id/21163

http://archive.library.nau.edu/.../collection/cpa/id/21163

From the Chronicles of the Heber Wild Horse Herd Part 3

11/20/2022

While the history of the Heber Wild Horse Herd is long and rich the history of the Forest Service attempting to destroy the Heber herd is long and sordid.

In 1931 in the Sitgreaves National Forest in Navajo County, AZ the Forest Service had a policy of “ridding the range of wild horses” by having the FS Rangers shoot them. Back then, as is the case today, “ridding the range of wild horses” was all to benefit the public lands ranchers. However, a problem arose when domestic horses that were grazing the forest were also being shot. This resulted in a Federal Court Case which in the end sided with the Forest Service and allowed their policy of shooting of wild horses to continue as long as an effort was made to determine if the horses were wild or domestic.
The following is an excerpt of the Memorandum that was issued by Quincy Randles, Acting Regional Forester.

G-Trespass
Wild Horses No. 20-G-3 Albuquerque, New Mexico
April 22, 1931
Memorandum for Forest Officers:
Excerpt:
From the information in the decree and injunction, it is evident that in carrying out closing order procedure, the courts will insist that ample notice of the plans for disposing of the wild horses, including the period fixed by the Forest Supervisor for disposing of them, be given to the interested stockmen; also, that before shooting horses, Forest officers use reasonable diligence in determining whether the horses are wild or gentle. It is realized that where wild and gentle horses are mixed on the same range it is rather difficult to distinguish the gentle horses from the wild ones, consequently a gentle horse may be killed accidentally, in which case the Service would be criticized, but if reasonable diligence is used to determine whether the horse is wild or gentle and notice of the time set for shooting the wild horses is given to the local stockmen, it is felt that the closing order procedure will be supported by the Federal courts and by public sentiment.
/s/ Quincy Randles, Acting Regional Forester.

From the resulting Federal Court Order:

The Complainant, through its officers, is authorized to dispose of, by shooting if necessary, any wild horse of unknown ownership, as herein defined, whether branded or not, found in trespass on the National Forest running at large on the forest after said range has been closed by the Secretary of Agriculture to the grazing of wild horses of unknown ownership as herein defined and reasonable notice has been given thereof.
Hereof fail not, under penalty of the law thence ensuing. WITNESS, the Honorable F. C. Jacobs, Judge of the District Court of the United States for the District of Arizona and the seal of said Court hereunto affixed at Phoenix this 9th day of April, A.D. 1931.
The Memorandum and along with the Federal Court Order
http://npshistory.com/.../region/3/early-days/2/sec3.htm

As we watch the Heber wild horses living free it’s important to reflect back in history to their ancestors and the abuse they underwent. Today’s horses are still in the crosshairs of the Forest Service. We are currently watching the death of the Alpine wild horse herd at the hands of the Forest Service. They no longer shoot horses, though they do have a loophole for that option, they are using different weapons to eliminate the herds. After the initial culls the Heber herd will be kept in a nonviable state through the heavy use of birth control on the mares ensuring that man, not nature will select which mares breed. That is not the definition of wild.