Forest Service aims at horses, shoots self in the foot

Editorial board

The Republic | azcentral.com

July 19, 2015 - There are dozens of wild horses which live along the Salt and Verde Rivers northeast of Mesa. This location is at the Coon Bluff Recreation area which is one of several recreation sites along the lower Salt River. Tonto Forest officials have announced a plan to remove the horses from their environment. Red Mountain is in the background across the Salt River.

Horses living wild on the lower Salt River in the Tonto National Forest are beloved
These horses have the power to inspire nostalgic longing; that makes them a recreational amenity worth keeping
Managing this herd makes sense; eliminating it doesn’t

The U.S. Forest Service took aim at an icon of the Old West and shot itself in the foot.

The feds want to round up and eliminate horses living wild on the lower Salt River in the Tonto National Forest. Not surprisingly, this misguided plan was greeted with public anger. The horses are beloved and far more attractive than many of the people you see in bathing suits along Arizona waterways.

The Forest Service’s public notice announcing the roundup treats those horses like vermin.

Any eyewitness could correct that impression. A glimpse of these animals is enough to transport an urban visitor back in time. A mythic image.

The horses are monitored by the non-profit Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, which is defending the animals against the Forest Service’s ultimatum couched in creative weasel words.

Federal law protects wild horses, but the Forest Service calls the herd in question “unauthorized livestock.” Those who own this “livestock” were given a deadline to reclaim their animals or have them “impounded.” This presumes someone owns the horses.

After impoundment, it’s the auction block. “Livestock not sold at public sale may be sold at private sale or condemned and destroyed, or otherwise disposed of,” the public notice explains.

Really?

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The Forest Service says the horses pose a safety issue to recreationists. They cause accidents on the road. They come into campgrounds and could hurt people who try to get too close. In other words, they act like wild animals.

Using that logic, one could argue for rounding up Bambi and the fawns. Those deer can become darn bold. Scorpions and bobcats are at large in the national forest, too.

Granted, they are natives. Horses are more recent immigrants. The wild horses protected by law trace their lineage to escapees from Spanish Conquistadors.

The Forest Service and others argue that population has been augmented by modern horses that were turned loose or escaped. Some of these horses may have known the inside of a corral.The service also says horses along the Salt River were claimed by Native Americans in the past, further removing them from protection under the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.

The Forest Service says it has no authority to manage these horses or to contract with private groups to take control. If so, that’s a problem Washington needs to fix.

And this is why: These bureaucratic arguments only go so far when you’re talking about something that stirs as much emotion as wild horses. The Forest Service picked the wrong fight. The rangers already are losing in the court of public opinion.

If these horses present a problem on public land — and there’s no evidence that they do — the Forest Service needs to find a more productive approach than this public relations blunder. The Salt River horse group says it has a number of alternatives that the Forest Service has not adequately considered.

Managing this herd makes sense. Eliminating it doesn’t.

These horses have the power to inspire nostalgic longing in the hearts of urban Arizonans and out-of-state visitors. That makes them a recreational amenity worth keeping.