Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC  20240

 Dear Secretary Salazar:

We have written to you recently about the proposal made to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) by Mrs. Madeleine Pickens of the National Wild Horse Foundation to adopt or otherwise care for 30,000 excess wild horses.  We understand that Mrs. Pickens’ organization has mounted a letter campaign to you seeking your approval of her proposal.  As you may know, the Public Lands Foundation (PLF) is a non-profit national conservation organization whose members are mainly retired BLM employees.  We advocate and work for the retention of the National Public Lands in public hands, professionally and sustainably managed for the responsible common use and enjoyment of the American people.

            PLF was initially encouraged by Mrs. Pickens’ original proposal and viewed it as an excellent opportunity to help solve BLM’s financial and managerial problems as well as provide good habitat for the excess horses.  However, we have since learned that she currently does not want to take title to the animals but instead wants to graze them as “wild horses” on public lands as part of a large northern Nevada ranch she has yet to obtain.  Not only that, she wants the BLM to pay her for feeding and caring for the animals.

            In light of this departure from her original offer, the PLF strongly endorses BLM’s position as outlined in their March 16, 2009 statement regarding Madeleine Pickens’ Wild Horse Sanctuary Proposal.  As stated by BLM, returning 10,000 wild horses to allotments that did not contain wild horse herds prior to the 1971 WH&B Act is not only illegal, it is not a solution to the problem.   PLF totally agrees with BLM that if the National Wild Horse Foundation would like to bid on a contract to provide long term holding facilities on private lands for excess wild horses they should be encouraged to do so. Open bidding would ensure taxpayers would get maximum benefit from their investment.

We encourage you not to support Mrs. Pickens latest proposal.

Sincerely,
/s/ George Lea