A WILD AND FREE HOLIDAY FOR THE SALT RIVER WILD HORSES<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Salt River, AZ (December 10, 2015). . . . <\/i>The U.S. Forest has informed the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG) that it intends to withdraw its July 31, 2015, notice to round up and impound the wild horses that roam the Tonto National Forest along the Salt River.<\/p>\n
The withdrawal comes within days of the expiration of the 120-day stay of the roundup that was negotiated by the SRWHMG shortly after the impound notice was published.<\/p>\n
Since August, the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, the local community\u00a0 and the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign and Animal Recovery Mission have worked toward the cancellation of the impound notice in order to allow time to negotiate an agreement for the long-term protection of the horses on Salt River.<\/p>\n
Last Friday, the Arizona U.S House delegation led by Congressman Matt Salmon, sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack urging the Forest Service to move quickly to implement reasonable, humane solutions and protect the horses where they live. The letter encouraged the agency to work with the community and questioned why the horses could not be managed under the 1960 Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act.<\/p>\n
Last week, SRWHMG president Simone Netherlands met with Neil Bosworth, the Tonto National Forest supervisor, and received assurances that the agency is committed to working toward a long-term plan for the humane management of the horses along the river.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a big deal to us,\u201d Netherlands said. \u201cThat notice has been hanging like a cloud over our heads all this time. We are grateful for this important step and will continue to do everything in our power to work with the Forest Service and other authorities towards the good of the Tonto National Forest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile much work remains to be done and many details to work out, this is a very positive step toward protecting these horses, who are clearly valued by the public,\u201d said Suzanne Roy, Director of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign. \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful when our elected representatives and government agencies listen to the will of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The SRWHMG rallied the public and politicians immediately following the Forest Service\u2019s announcement of its intent to round up the horses. The group also filed a federal lawsuit seeking an injunction to stop the Forest Service from rounding up the horses. The SRWHMG later dropped the lawsuit as a sign of good faith in an effort to continue negotiations with the Forest Service.<\/p>\n
Arizona\u2019s political leaders, including Governor Doug Ducey, Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake, and Congresspersons Matt Salmon, Trent Franks, Martha McSally, Ann Kirkpatrick, Raul Grijalva, Kyrsten Sinema, Ruben Gallego and David Schweikert, have expressed support for their constituents\u2019 desire to establish long-term protection for the Salt River horses.<\/p>\n
\u201d The continued freedom of these wild horse families means a great deal to the American people,\u201d concludes Simone Netherlands. \u00a0\u201cPerhaps it is because they represent what we care about most \u2013 freedom and family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A WILD AND FREE HOLIDAY FOR THE SALT RIVER WILD HORSES Salt River, AZ (December 10, 2015). . . . The U.S. Forest has informed the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG) that it intends to withdraw its July 31, 2015, notice to round up and impound the wild horses that roam the Tonto …","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-news","category-updates"],"yoast_head":"\n