What’s In a Name? Maybe Plenty

Horseback Magazine

By Steven Long

NYT Accepts Myth as Fact in Disappointing Story

First Fatality in Calico Roundup, No Witnesses Allowed

Activist Claims Terror in Horses Eyes in BLM Photo Release

HOUSTON , (Horseback) – The federal Bureau of Land Management has released the name of a Nevada landowner who is cooperating with the agency in its roundup of more than 2,000 horses in the remote badlands of that arid state.

Horseback Magazine repeatedly asked for the name of the landowner, Greg Foster, who is cooperating with BLM on the gather. The agency claims the wild horses it is stampeding with a low flying helicopter are in mountainous terrain. Spokesmen say that the bureau is only setting up a holding pen and storing equipment on Foster’s property. Since press and public have been barred from witnessing the “gather” except in tightly controlled “media days,” there is no way to independently determine if the BLM is herding wild horses found on the landowner’s property.
The agency claims the horses are driven from the Nevada highlands into the pen set up on Foster’s property.
The BLM has refused to release any more information about the landowner other than his name. A search has produced numerous Nevadans named Greg Foster. An agency spokeswoman claimed the information is protected by the federal privacy act, however, details regarding federal contractors who are not engaged in national security work are generally readily available as public record. Horseback has asked for the information under the federal Freedom of Information Act. Horseback has also asked if Foster is reimbursing the federal government for removing horses from his property.
The roundup was ordered by Nevada BLM officials with the approval of Director Bob Abbey. It has sparked protests and demonstrations nationwide. It has also prompted celebrities such as Willie Nelson, the Barbie Twins, Cheryl Crow, and comedian Bill Maher to call on President Obama to call off the capture.
One horse has reportedly died in the roundup.
In 2008, 45 percent of the roundups resulted in at least one fatality, and on another roundup in Nevada, 27 horses died. The total number of deaths through injury or for other reasons totaled 126 animals last year.
The percentage of dead horses on BLM roundups this year is slightly worse at 46 percent resulting in at least one horse death. In July, a Wyoming gather proved fatal to 11 horses. Through September of this year, 79 horses have died as the agency rushes to clear wild horses from the West.
Over the last two years a total of 205 horses have died at the agency’s hands during its “gathers” to thin the herds despite the almost 260 million acres of vacant land managed by BLM.
Wild horse advocates claim the BLM roundups are genetically bankrupting the herds to the point of extinction.
The horse habitat set aside by the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act is coveted by ranchers for grazing land who sign leases at fire sale prices of $1.35 per cow per month.