Salt River horses

[Alston_Neal]

A coalition of conservationists, environmentalists and birders sued the U.S. Forest Service today for failing to protect the Lower Salt River Recreation Area from hundreds of unowned horses that threaten endangered species habitat.

https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/ ... 2023-04-27

[CannondaleKid]

@Alston_Neal
In the lawsuit...
Cow grazing in the area was terminated in 1978 because there was only enough forage for 12 cows and it was no longer economically viable for ranching.
But in 2016 the folks who wanted so bad to wander among the horses taking photos constantly cried to "save the horses" have the horses protected and pressed for state legislation to pass a STATE law to OVERRIDE the jurisdiction of the US Department of Agriculture, and then the state walked away from it.
Don't you just love it how the state passes the buck... not our problem
On the one hand:
A.R.S. 3-1491
E. This state shall enter into an agreement pursuant to section 11-952 with the United States forest service to implement this article or to address any issue relating to the Salt river horse herd.
Sounds to me that there would be a shared responsibility between AZ and the Forest Service... but only up until the state of Arizona wants to wash its hands of the matter, as shown in this response from Risk Management Division of the AZ Department of Administration:
Salt River Wild Horse Management Group is a nonprofit organization that manages this herd under the AZ Department of Agriculture.
A.R.S. 3-1491 was created to protect The Salt River Wild Horse Herd. The State of Arizona does not own nor assume liability for the herd.

Essentially Arizona said by law the horses must be protected, but just don't ask us to lift a finger to help, we already passed that off onto the nonprofit group. (AFAIK with no state funding)
The horses are increasingly concentrated in smaller areas by artificial feeding (by the nonprofit) to prevent mass starvation. The horses now associate people with food and approach them for food.

I can attest to a few points mentioned in the suit... I've only seen one mule deer (a large buck) in the whole area in the last 7 years whereas before I encountered them regularly. Also, I used to encounter bighorn every so often but I believe there is one last pair of bighorn sheep in the area west of the Salt River between Blue Point and Stewart Mountain. Both coyotes and javelina appear to be few and far between as well.

[Alston_Neal]

Driving up the Beeline the other day my wife and I were gobsmacked at the number of horses by the SRWHMG corrals all along the ridge line. Maybe 50 plus.


FB post up from SRWHMG,
Salt River, April 28th 2023,
Enjoyed by millions of visitors to the Tonto National Forest, the Salt River wild horses roam freely in their 20,000 acre habitat along the river, protected by State Law ARS 3-1491. They are the pride of the community, a favorite subject of photographers and the icon of the wild, free spirit of Arizona and the American West.
The only new foal to the herd was born in March and was just named "Slendor" by the public. It is the humane birth control program that has reduced the foaling rate of the herd from 100 foals a year, to just one or two per year, so that the herd can stay in balance with it's environment.
It is the agreements between the Forest Service and the AZDA that make these programs possible. With this successful management program, implemented by SRWHMG, Arizona is setting the example for humane management of wild horses.
However, there are some that do not like the succes of the management programs and they are now under attack. The Center for Biological Diversity yesterday, filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service that seeks to overturn the intergovernmental agreements that make it possible for the Salt River horse herd to roam free. A halt of those programs would result in an an uncontrolled population, and subsequent removal of this cherished herd.
The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group states that the CBD is doing this using baseless claims about the environment, without providing any scientific proof of such.
The CBD’s false claims are numerous:
A. They take a wild guess at the number of Salt River wild horses on Forest Service land of 600 horses. However, the official helicopter count results are 270 horses currently on Forest Service lands and a database app of every single horse has 414 living horses, with approximately 100 currently staying on the adjoining two reservations. In addition, the number of foals this herd produces is only ONE per year for the past 3 years, due to the successful fertility control program by the 3rd party contractor, the SRWHMG.
B. The CBD has no proof of declining numbers of the protected species they mention. In fact all species along the river are living symbiotically together including the horses. Bighorn sheep are being seen again along the lower salt river, bald eagle populations are thriving and deer are seen grazing on the abundant forage this year. In fact, the only population that is declining is the horse population. (see pictures of deer grazing in a healthy environment)
C. CBD fails to mention the 8 million visitors to this National Forest who are responsible for pollution of the Salt River as well as prolific hunting of birds and mammals, which disturbs and impacts all species negatively, including the protected species. See hunting trash and bullets in the horses habitat. They fail to mention these impacts because the big fane hunting organisations are in on the lawsuit also.
F. The horses do not eat cottonwood trees and can therefore not be pointed to for cottonwood decline if any. However, the long lasting drought and SRP low water management of only 8 CFS in the Salt River, as well as recent high floods have washed away some sapplings, but otherwise cottonwood can be seen doing good along the river. The horses do however eat invasive species of Salt Cedar and Giant Reed, thereby helping the environment.
E. Wild horse manure is also very good for the environment in that they spread the seeds of trees and provide a nice fertilization bed. Most of the trees in the forest have sprouted from horse manure, which helps all other species, especially birds.
D. Any impact on the riparian area is being managed responsibly by the Forest Service; water troughs are strategically placed away from the riparian area to encourage use of the entire 20,000 acres the horses live on. The Forest Service has also placed boundary fencing between the reservations and fencing along the roads.
F. A huge detrimental threat to all species of the lower Salt River is wildfire danger. With the percipitation this year, extreme fire danger exists with the dried up vegetation. The horses help reduce that fire danger by consuming the dry brush under the trees, which is the fuel to wild fires. Wildfires would obviously be to desastrous detriment of all species, regardless if they are protected by the state or by the endangered species act. These wild horses should be appreciated for their high value in reducing that fire danger.
Simone Netherlands, president of the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group states; “If the environmental concern was genuine, they would not attempt to halt a succesfull birth control program, as that would result in a larger and uncontrolled population of horses. Once the population is out of control, then the horses will be removed, which is the ultimate goal of the lawsuit. "It will be far better to stay the course of humanely managing the horses, and all organizations, as well as the Forest Service, should work together to improve the environment and reduce the pollution of the lower Salt River”.
SRWHMG is currently consulting their attorney and vows to join the lawsuit and defend the popular horse herd.

[CannondaleKid]

E. Wild horse manure is also very good for the environment in that they spread the seeds of trees and provide a nice fertilization bed. Most of the trees in the forest have sprouted from horse manure, which helps all other species, especially birds.

However, that "wild" (more accurately "feral") horse manure also includes seeds NOT native to the area because of the hay they provide the herd, and some of the resulting sprouting plants look nasty... definitely not what had been growing there a few years ago.
And the rest of the area is practically barren due to the overgrazing.

Maybe 50 plus.

I regularly mountain bike on both the East (Blue Point to Goldfields Rec Sites) and West sides of the Salt River and yesterday I rode by the other side of the ridge from the SRWHMG corrals and at the water and feeding station on the ridge had easily over 200 horses surrounding it. And that didn't include the few dozen I saw on the other side of the Salt River.

[ShatteredArm]

@Alston_Neal
That FB post is cringe. Crazy that they accuse the Center for Biological Diversity of being "unscientific" as their post is littered with blatant appeals to emotion.

[chumley]

appeals to emotion

That is the entire basis of the "controversy". I don't know anybody that doesn't think the horses are beautiful, amazing animals. They are. And seeing them and photographing them is a great experience. But that should play no factor in decisions made regarding whether they belong there at all, or in what numbers, what kind of human support they need to survive at all, etc.

But emotion always wins.

[RedRoxx44]

Despite the bad rap some get; a portion of the old time ranchers knew how to manage the land with the cattle, sheep or horses they ran. Sure a lot overgrazed and caused arroyo downcutting but so did the old ones. Just look at Chaco Canyon and a few other areas. History and humans always the same, just on a different scale.