Imagine the thousands of jobs that will be created by safari-style tours from Las Vegas where nearly 40 Million tourists visit each year, if wild burros on Route 66 attract a half million people a year to tiny Oatman, Arizona. European, Asian, Latin and North American visitors will love seeing wild horses and burros exhibiting distinctly wild behaviors so close to the Strip, the world capital of indoor adventure and the potential hub for outdoor adventures.
Public land in the Spring Mountain Complex west of Las Vegas is managed by two federal agencies, US Forestry Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM). BLM/USFS are legally charged with managing public land for multiple uses; wild horse viewing is one of those just as much as all-terrain vehicles (ATV’s) and skiing, hunting and hiking.
However, BLM/USFS insist they are not in the ‘jobs business’ so they may remove over 80% of the horses and burros roaming near Las Vegas in late winter 2014. They’ll spend over $300,000 on a helicopter roundup – that’s big taxpayer dollars in a time of huge deficit. Why?
BLM/USFS argue that in order to preserve the health of a 646,000 acre range they must limit wild horses to 63 or 93 from their 2013 estimate of 500-600 horses currently on the range. Yet they cannot reduce the much larger number of deer and non-native elk who feed on this range because only the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) is responsible for deer and elk.
Should BLM & USFS be allowed to limit Spring Mountain’s wild horses to less than 93 horses for millions of wildlife enthusiasts, photographers, tourists & residents who want the thrill of viewing them when NDOW allows over 250 non-native elk to multiply for less than 5 hunters per year? Particularly when tourism is the major economic growth sector in the state and Nevada’s Governor is actively trying to increase tourism?
Where is the logic in this form of management?
That’s not good business for Las Vegas. Nor is it fair to tens of thousands of Americans and International visitors who will want the thrill of viewing free-roaming wild horses & burros.
Private enterprise can easily develop eco-tours from Las Vegas, BUT only if BLM changes its’ rules and leaves enough Wild Horses & Burros to roam in the Spring Mountains.
If they don’t, how can a tour guide find 1 horse in 10,000 acres?
The Spring Mountain Alliance proposes innovative alternative methods of population control, range analysis and census-taking to benefit all wildlife.
After years of protesting roundups, members of the Las Vegas group, America’s Wild Horse Advocates (AWHA), felt it was time for positive change by working with the BLM. In early 2012, they created the Spring Mountain Alliance, a 501(c) (3) non-profit, volunteer organization of concerned citizens, businesses and professionals to answer then BLM Director Bob Abbey’s 2011 challenge to volunteer groups “to help manage and sustain wild horse herds”.
No livestock graze on public land in the Spring Mountains east of Pahrump and west of Las Vegas, so BLM/USFS and the Spring Mountain Alliance have a unique opportunity to experiment with an innovative wild horse & burro management plan that will help the local economy.
Using volunteer labor and expertise, the Alliance’s 6-point plan can be implemented at little or no cost to taxpayers. This 6-point public/private plan will provide quality jobs by leveraging the existing resources of Vegas tourism stakeholders like hotels, tour companies, airlines, etc. BLM will be aided in its effort to perform its land management mission in a period of dwindling resources. The wild horses and burros will be sustained in natural family and bachelor groups in their native habitat.
The Alliance’s 6-point plan is a win-win alternative: hundreds of thousands of visitors can be attracted to our ‘Serengeti in Las Vegas’ at little cost to taxpayers. However, BLM/USFS must be willing to try a new approach to wild horse & burro protection.
We have extraordinary wilderness in America and our Mustangs are the American equivalent of lions and elephants. If Third World Africa can save their wildlife for tourism and earn billions doing that, why can’t our American government preserve our wild Mustangs and historic burros properly for tourism? We the people must turn these government agencies around.
Over 1300 Alliance supporters – and growing – have asked the BLM to put a 3-year hold on removals of Wild Horses & Burros from the Spring Mountain Complex. If you want to add your voice, click here.
Until 2002, Las Vegas residents and tourists delighted in seeing wild horses & burros in the magnificent Red Rock Canyon Recreation Area, just 20 minutes from the Vegas Strip.
Red Rock Wild Horses © Mary Sue Kunz
However by 2005, all wild horses & most of the burros were removed forever by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) the federal agency charged in 1971 with preserving wild horses & burros on our public land.
Red Rock Burro © Arlene Gawne
Why were they removed? Drought and fire damaged their range from 2000-2005 but BLM could have returned most horses when conditions improved. BLM instead has accelerated the removal of Southern Nevada’s wild herds. Why?
Cold Creek Stallions © Arlene Gawne
Why did our Federal Government strip this stunning tourist draw from Las Vegas?
Red Rock Brothers Sparring © M S Kunz
Why would we allow that to happen again?
Cold Creek Wild Horses © Darcy Grizzle
To view more of the behavior and beauty of our Spring Mountain herds, visit: DiscoverWildHorses.com
Cold Creek Pinto Foal © Darcy Grizzle