Page 57 - 2002 DT 12 issues

Wha t’ s Insi d e !
Featured Articles
The Mustangs’ Plight..................................1
Boot Tracks.................................................5
Special
Quiz............................................................7

Departments
August 2002 News & Notes............................................2
Programs & Hikes........................................4
Desk Schedule............................................6
Bulletin Board.............................................8

The Mustangs’ Plight ○ ○ Thankfully the burros don’t have ○ they came to be here. Some originated
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○ the same problems, so they were left most likely from true mustangs or, to
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by Mary Sue Kunz ○
alone this season, but the remaining be technically correct, loose or
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or years the wild horses of ○ wild horses of Red Rock are now stand- escaped Spanish horses of the Conquis-
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Southern Nevada have man- ○ ing in corrals, getting feed and water at ○ tadors. But many were actually
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F aged to live their lives on the ○ last from volunteers of the Las Vegas ○ free-roaming ranch horses, as the old-
range that is now Red Rock National ○ ○ chapter of the National Wild Horse As- ○ timers’ stories go. The desert became
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Conservation Area, having their babies ○ sociation (NWHA). The plan is to care their pasture, and every year or so the
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and grazing in our warm sun, their usual ○ for these thirty-nine animals until some- ranchers would round up most of them,
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predators being only the occasional ○ time next winter, when hopefully El keep some for ranch work and breed
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mountain lion or coyote. This year, ○ Niño returns with rains
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however, they have been stalked into and the land can sup-
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near-oblivion by the weather. ○ port them again. They
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Bad years have come and gone, but ○ will then be turned back
this is the worst by far. With no appre- ○ ○ out onto the range.
ciable rain for over 400 days and sparse ○ ○ This is not going to
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sprinklings prior to that, no grass has ○ be cheap. NWHA fig-
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sprouted for forage in 2 1/2 years, and ○ ures it will cost close to
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now the springs have dried up. ○ $12,000 to buy hay for
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During the days preceding this past ○ six months, so
Fourth of July weekend, BLM cowboys ○ ○ donations are being so-
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gathered virtually all the wild horses ○ licited. Because the
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that remained on our deserts, from the ○ good people of Las Ve-
Muddy Mountains near Lake Mead to ○ gas—as well as visiting
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the once-green meadows of Cold Creek ○ tourists from all over the world—have ○ ○ others, then turn the rest back out onto
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the desert. Eventually the ranchers just
at Mt. Charleston and down to the can- ○ a special fondness for these horses, sup- ○
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never bothered to go get the rest, and
yons of the red rock country. This was ○ port is growing daily as word gets out ○
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○ this is how these herds were formed—
a life or death rescue in the nick of time, about their plight. Red Rock with no
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○ supposedly.
for with the record-setting heat of the ○ mustangs would be a sad and lonely
○ ○ However they came to live here,
following week, these horses would ○ place. Without this effort, there would ○
○ Red Rock Canyon has been their home
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surely have died. It was decided to re- ○ no longer be mustangs here at all.
○ for many, many years. It is a desire to
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lease some of the Cold Creek horses ○ There is some opposition to this ○
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back to the wild, since with reduced ○ plan, primarily from the Nevada De- ○ see wild horses that draws plenty of
tourists to the area, and what a disap-
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numbers, they would manage suffi- ○ partment of Wildlife which doesn’t see ○
○ pointment it would be to many if the
ciently. But Red Rock Canyon’s vast ○ the mustangs as anything wild at all, but ○
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deserts and ridges could no longer sup- ○ ○ rather as merely “loose horses,” no mat- ○
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port mustang life. ○ ter how long they’ve been loose or how Plight, continued on page 6