OBAMA Wild Horse Posts Still Unfilled, Board’s Current Makeup Suspect at Best

Straight from the Horse's Heart

story by Steven Long ~ publisher of Horseback Magazine

BLM Board to Meet this Week is BOGUS!

BLM Contractor Chopper attacking lone horse at recent Antelope Complex stampede ~ photo by Terry Fitch

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The federal Bureau of Land Management faces a burgeoning scandal that threatens to embroil to cabinet level agencies.
Three members of the agency’s Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board should have left their post on June 14, 2010, but continue to serve despite shady authority to have their terms extended until new members are appointed.
“The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture are reviewing candidates for the categories of Natural Resource Management, Wild Horse and Burro Research, and the General Public Interest with a special emphasis on Equine Behavior,” BLM national spokesman told Horseback Online early Monday.
“Once the Secretaries agree on the selections, appointment letters will be sent out,” Gorey said.
The Obama Administration agency extended the expired terms of three long gone outgoing trustees of the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board. The board members continue to serve.  Horseback Online broke the story February 17.  And one board member continues to serve under a cloud after allegations she heads a sham horse welfare group.
But Gorey says the old board members whose terms have expired may continue to serve, but cites no statute that enables them to continue in office.
“These terms have been temporarily extended until new nominees are appointed, “ Gorey said then.
Each of the hold over trustees represents an area of the agency’s interest. They are:
Ms. Renee Taylor – Livestock Management
Dr. Vernon D.  Dooley – Wild Horse and Burro Management
Dr. J. Wayne Burkhardt – Natural Resources Management
All oversee areas that are in the direct line of fire of wild horse advocates critical of the agency’s massive roundups which some say will eventually cause the North American Mustang to become extinct.
Gorey told Horseback Magazine that BLM Director Bob Abbey has already named the prospective replacement board members but refused to make them public. Asked if the secretive bureau was hiding the identity of its appointees, an official in Abbey’s office said the names are being kept secret, not by law, but through BLM Policy.

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