Groups plead to extend comment time on wild horses report for Theodore Roosevelt National Park

MEDORA, N.D. — More than a dozen advocacy groups and the Medora City Council have asked Theodore Roosevelt National Park to extend a public comment period in a planning process that will decide the fate of the park’s wild horses.

In a letter sent on Friday, Oct. 6, to park Superintendent Angie Richman, the groups asked that the 30-day comment period expiring on Oct. 25 be extended for 30 days.

The public can comment on a draft environmental assessment that will guide the park’s new management plan for almost 200 horses roaming the south unit and eight or nine longhorn steers in the north unit.

Park administrators are considering three options: keeping the horses and cattle under the current management plan, which has a goal of maintaining a horse herd of 35 to 60, or the gradual or expedited removal of the herds.

More time should be given to comment, given the sweeping changes proposed and because almost 80 documents cited by the environmental assessment were only made available seven days into the 30-day comment period, the letter said.

“The wild horses attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to the park each year, and represent a significant economic driver for small businesses in the western portion of our state,” the letter said.

“Indeed, hundreds of local businesses and business owners depend on the TRNP’s wild horses for their livelihood by catering to seasonal tourists, who visit the Park specifically to view wild horses and, in the process, inject hundreds of thousands of dollars into the local economy each year,” the letter said.

The park’s foundation document defining “the park’s purpose, significance, fundamental resources and values — recognizes that the wild horses ‘were an important part of the cultural landscape when Theodore Roosevelt lived in the area and they are a very popular visitor attraction today,’ ” the letter continued.

Earlier attempts by the park to eliminate the wild horse herds, the letter noted, have sparked “very strong public disapproval.”

Wild horses were fenced in when a perimeter fence was built in the south unit before bison were introduced to the park after it was established in 1947.

Earlier this week, Chris Kman of Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates pointed out that the

draft environmental assessment grossly understated visitor support for the horses, giving the impression that less than half of visitors surveyed supported keeping the horses, when the survey report indicated 89% supported keeping the horses

to varying degrees.

“The release of thousands of pages of documents requires time to properly review, especially in light of the discrepancy with the (visitor survey) report that was released vs. the interpretation that the Park included in their Draft EA,” the letter said.

Those signing the letter included Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates, Medora City Council, American Wild Horse Campaign, In Defense of Animals, Wild in North Dakota, Oregon Wild Horse Organization, Save Our Wild Horses, WHAGR Institute, Equine Collaborative International, Wild Horse Education, Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Placement Group, Wild Lands Wild Horses Series and Fund, North Dakota Badlands Horse, The Cloud Foundation and Kuntz Nokota Ranch.

Richman didn’t immediately provide a response to The Forum to the groups’ request for more time to comment on the environmental assessment.

Patrick Springer first joined The Forum in 1985. He covers a wide range of subjects including health care, energy and population trends. Email address: pspringer@forumcomm.com
Phone: 701-367-5294