The Salt River Horses

[observer53]

Originally Posted by bgray9

I do visit the area and have been there recently. It's a mixed bag. They certainly aren't destroying the place, but to intimate that there aren't some negative aspects to them being there is certainly inaccurate.

The ONLY "negative aspect" that the FS is citing is an alleged "safety" one. Nothing environmental or biological. The "this is all really about cattle grazing and $$$$" theory (see "Sunflower allotment") gets more traction every day.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by bgray9

I do visit the area and have been there recently. It's a mixed bag. They certainly aren't destroying the place, but to intimate that there aren't some negative aspects to them being there is certainly inaccurate.

And you have proof that everything you saw that was negative was caused by the horses and not some other "more native" animals in the area?

[bgray9]

Uh, sorry for bringing some additional information to the discussion. Kinda makes me more sympathetic to the Forest Service when people can't hear any viewpoint other than their own. But, hey, what does a career wildlife biologist who have been following the issue for a long while now know? Sheesh!

[observer53]

Originally Posted by bgray9

Uh, sorry for bringing some additional information to the discussion. Kinda makes me more sympathetic to the Forest Service when people can't hear any viewpoint other than their own. But, hey, what does a career wildlife biologist who have been following the issue for a long while now know? Sheesh!

I'm going by what the FS says their reasoning is... not that there might not be some other issues (though if the environmental impact was in fact happening as you suggested could theoretically happen, they'd be using that as a justification, too.) It does not appear that they are destroying the habitat to native species to a significant extent now. But, that's why managing the herd, which the SRWHMG has proposed to do, is important, to make sure that other issues don't come up due to a population that's too large.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by observer53

I'm going by what the FS says their reasoning is... not that there might not be some other issues (though if the environmental impact was in fact happening as you suggested could theoretically happen, they'd be using that as a justification, too.) It does not appear that they are destroying the habitat to native species to a significant extent now. But, that's why managing the herd, which the SRWHMG has proposed to do, is important, to make sure that other issues don't come up due to a population that's too large.

Exactly. If the environmental implications were really an issue, the FS could have used that as their reason instead of making up some nonsense about public safety. The fast that they did not tells me that the horses are not doing any substantial damage by existing there.

[bgray9]

Originally Posted by observer53

I'm going by what the FS says their reasoning is... not that there might not be some other issues (though if the environmental impact was in fact happening as you suggested could theoretically happen, they'd be using that as a justification, too.) It does not appear that they are destroying the habitat to native species to a significant extent now. But, that's why managing the herd, which the SRWHMG has proposed to do, is important, to make sure that other issues don't come up due to a population that's too large.

I'm not saying the FS is doing it for any other reason than what they say. I'm just saying there's more aspects to this than may appear to be the case at first blush. I've read stuff and have heard people talk about some environmental damage from the horses for years now, long before this current controversy flared up. Maybe somehow managing the herd can help the environmental damage situation, though I'm not sure how they keep the horses in the same area without seeing the environmental damage. I like the horses myself, but knowing that there is some damage to the area, my feelings about them remaining there are quite mixed.

[bgray9]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

Exactly. If the environmental implications were really an issue, the FS could have used that as their reason instead of making up some nonsense about public safety. The fast that they did not tells me that the horses are not doing any substantial damage by existing there.

You assume that the federal government does things rationally and with well thought out reasoning. Not all of us share such a faith!

[madison999]

great replace them w/cattle. anyone care to google how many gallons of water raising beef takes?