Adorable Wild Horses Roaming Free in North Dakota Theodore Roosevelt National Park The horses could be removed under a National Park Service proposal that worries advocates who say the horses are a cultural connection to the past.
Tourists driving on the scenic park roads can often see herds of horses, which is a symbol of the West and a sight that delights tourists. Supporters want to see the horses continue to roam the badlands, and disagree with park officials referring to the horses as “livestock.”
The park service is revising its livestock program and writing an environmental assessment to examine the impact of not taking new actions or removing the horses entirely.
Migration entails capturing horses and giving some of them to the tribe first, then auctioning off the animals or giving them to other entities. Another approach would include techniques to prevent future breeding and allow the horses to spend the rest of their lives in parks.
The horses have allies among government leaders and advocacy groups. The horses’ popularity won’t stop park officials from removing them from the landscape at North Dakota’s top tourist attraction, an advocate said.
“At the end of the day, that’s our national parks, that’s paid for with our taxes, and those are our horses. We have a right to say what happens to our parks and the animals that live there,” says Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocate Chairman Chris Kerman told The Associated Press.
last year, Park Superintendent Angie Richman told The Bismarck Tribune said the park has no laws or requirements that horses must be in the park. She has previously said that whatever decision is ultimately made, the park will have to reduce its population of about 200 horses to 35-60 based on the population goals of the 1978 environmental assessment.
Kerman said she wants the park to “use science” to “properly manage the horses,” including at least 150 to 200 breedable horses to ensure their genetic viability. She added that the impact of the park’s use of contraceptives on the mares was unknown.
Removing the horses “would have an adverse impact on the park’s ecosystem,” Kerman said. The horses are historic fixtures, and the park has reintroduced bison and elk, she said.
After the park was established in 1947, several herds of wild horses were accidentally enclosed in the park, Castle McLaughlin said. Castle McLaughlin studied the history and origin of these horses while a graduate student with the North Dakota Park Service in the 1980s.
Park officials tried to exterminate the horses in the early years, shooting them on sight and hiring local cowboys to round them up and remove them, she said. At one point, the park even sold the horses to a local zoo as food for the big cats.
Around 1970, a new supervisor discovered that Roosevelt had written about the existence of wild horses in the Badlands during his tenure. Park officials decided to preserve the horses as a historic demonstration herd, illustrating the open range era. “However, the Park Service is still not interested in them,” McLaughlin told The Associated Press.
“Essentially, they’re like cultural artefacts, almost because they reflect the lives of generations of western North Dakota ranchers and First Nations. They’re part of those communities,” and may have ties to Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull, she said.
Theodore Roosevelt, 1880s hunting and herding when young Badlands in what is now western North Dakota. The western tourist town of Medora is located at the gate of the national park named after him.
Roosevelt’s position in North Dakota is pivotal, presidential library named after him Construction is underway near the park — a push behind 2019 legislation championed by Republican Gov. Doug Burgum.
Burgum It has been proposed to have the state government work with the park service to manage the horses.Earlier this year, North Dakota’s Republican-controlled legislature passed a Supports resolution to protect horses.
Republican Senator John Hoving The North Dakota governor, who has included the legislation in a funding bill for the U.S. Department of the Interior, told The Associated Press “will instruct them to keep the horses in the park, consistent with what Teddy Roosevelt did when he was out at Medora.”
“Most of the comments we’ve received have been that people want to keep the horses. We’ve made it clear that we think (the park) should keep the horses,” Hoven said. He urges parks to keep more than 35-60 horses for genetic reasons.
The senator said he expected the environmental review to be completed soon, which would provide an opportunity for public comment. Richman told The Associated Press that the park plans to release an assessment report this summer. The timeline for a final decision is unclear.
The environmental review will look at the impact of each of the three proposals on various areas, Maureen McGee-Ballinger, the park’s deputy superintendent, told The Associated Press.
During the previous public comment period, there were thousands of responses to the park’s proposal, the vast majority of which opposed “total livestock removal.”
Kerman’s team has been aggressively building support for the horses, including drafting an administration resolution and reaching out to congressional offices, tribal leaders, similar advocacy groups and “pretty much anyone who would listen to me,” she said.
McLaughlin said the park’s efforts “have more potential than ever to be successful.” I mean, they’ve never been so firm and open about their intentions, but I’ve never seen a country like that, either. Now such a fight for the horses. “
The northern part of the park, about 70 miles (112.65 km) from Medora, is home to about nine longhorn cattle. The proposals would also affect the longhorns, though the horses are the more worrisome ones. Hoving said his legislation does not target longhorns. The cattle are managed according to the 1970 plan.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park “is a very One of the few national parks that has horses, which makes it special.”
wild horses roam here too Assateague Island National Seashores of Maryland and Virginia.
The economic impact of these horses on tourism cannot be described, but they are hugely popular with the media, photographers, travel writers and social media influencers, Ott Coleman said.
“Removing the horses really removes a feature that our park visitors are used to seeing,” she said.
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