range magazine-winter 2013-mustang maddy · 76 • range magazine • winter 2013 m adeleine...

76 • RANGE MAGAZINE • WINTER 2013

Madeleine Pickens loves John Wayne,the western way of life, and wildhorses, so as wife of oil and gas

tycoon and multibillionaire T. Boone Pick-ens, she bought some of her very own—500head of “wild” horses that came off the Pyra-mid Lake Paiute tribal lands in northwestNevada in late 2010. Of course, she needed aplace to keep them, and she also has plenty ofmoney, so she then bought two ranches inElko County, where she transferred the hors-es in June 2011. One of her corporations,Tommy LLC, paid more than $2.7 millionfor the Warm Creek Ranch, and throughOTS LLC, Madeleine purchased the adjacentSpruce Ranch for nearly $2.6 million beforetransferring that property to her nonprofitcorporation, Saving America’s Mustangs(SAM). Together, those ranches own or con-trol 5,100 acre-feet of water rights, whichequates to 1,661,842,277 gallons, or enoughwater to supply 2,550 homes for a year. It wasnot unheard of during the housing boom foran acre-foot of water in northern Nevada tosell for $45,000. Madeleine has a plan to turn the ranches,

located 25 miles south of Wells, Nev., into aneco-sanctuary where tourists can come to seethe magnificent wild horses running free,

while learning about them in a special mus-tang education center. Eco-tourists can evenstay at the ranch in authentic Native Ameri-can structures, go on covered-wagon rides tocow camps, attend the wellness center, androck climb, while their children learn to growvegetables and attend scouting jamborees. Allthe while, people can “behold the wonders ofthat beautiful piece of heaven in northernNevada,” according to SAM’s public-rela-tions materials.While T. Boone and Mrs. Pickens were

testifying before the Elko County Commis-sion in November 2010 to encourage localsupport for their project, one old Nevadarancher sat close to them, entranced. “T-Bone and Miss Maddy looked great,” GeorgeParman says. “Her hair is lovely and her skinis so tight and pale.” The commissionersvoted against the project 3-1, because cattleranches are important to Elko County’seconomy. During T. Boone’s comments tothe group, he never mentioned mustangs butinstead gave a clinic on Texas water, suggest-ing the establishment of an aquifer commis-sion which would give everyone oneacre-foot of water so all ranchers and farmerswould be treated the same way.Madeleine loves the glamour and

romance of wild horses, but what she actual-ly bought with her $6 million are cattleranches, and the public lands tied to thoseranches are designated for use by livestock.So are all the wells and springs that go withthe grazing allotments—permitted for stock-water use by Nevada law, not for excess feralhorses. (Is this 5,100 acre-feet of stockwateror irrigation water the same water T. Booneis suggesting the new aquifer police divvyup?) After four years of trying to get theBLM to agree to her plan, it turns outMadeleine’s shopping spree is over becauseall the money in the world can’t buy anyonea shortcut through the miles of bureaucraticred tape it’s going to take to convert thesecattle ranches to a wild horse eco-sanctuary.The BLM says it will be September 2013before its process is completed and any deci-sions are made...even though Mrs. Pickens isadvertising that her operation will be opensix months earlier.For now, Madeleine is keeping her Paiute

horses—which aren’t technically “wild hors-es” because they didn’t come off public landsand don’t fit the federal definition created bythe Wild Free-Roaming Horses & Burros Actof 1971—on her private ground at WarmCreek. She has applied to the BLM to let her

Mustang MaddyMadeleine Pickens’ magnificent mustang monument will turnwild stallions into eunuchs and destroy the vibrant and productive

livestock industry in a large part of northeastern Nevada. And all because of John Wayne. By Rachel Dahl

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Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickensand almost ex-wife Madeleine onthe red carpet for the annualblack-tie White HouseCorrespondents’ Dinner at theWashington Hilton, May 9, 2009.On Sept. 25, 2012, Madeleine said,“The vastness of the lands of ourexisting proper ties...certainly offersenough acreage to fence offportions for the existing herds sothey would not be interacting withthe horses we would rescue andreturn to the eco-sanctuary.”

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change the cattle permits to domestic horses,which would allow her to turn the horses outon public grazing land, but this is exactlywhat the Elko County Commission didn’twant to see happen. No one thinks the rangeat Warm Creek can support 500 horses.With 4,050 deeded acres and 19,586 acres

of grazing allotments, the current manage-ment plan on the Warm Creek Ranch allowsfor 200 head of cows year-round, but only oncertain places and at certain times during theyear in order to keep the range healthy.According to a BLM document that discuss-es the proposed eco-sanctuary, the carryingcapacity on the range doesn’t convert 1-to-1from cows to horses; instead it’s 1-to-1.8.Horses eat differently than cattle. They havetop and bottom teeth which rip forage closerto the ground, and, with only one stomach tothe cow’s four, they need far more food to

survive than a cow does. Horses are simplymuch tougher on the land, water sources,and plants than cattle.BLM staff who prepared the environ-

mental assessment on Mrs. Pickens’ requestto convert grazing permits to horses are say-ing that the environmental documents showshe can turn out 200 head of horses on thegrazing allotments, but not for the wholeyear like she could if she were turning outcows. While she waits for the final BLM deci-sion, she is feeding expensive hay to keep her500 Paiute horses from destroying the WarmCreek meadows.Part of the BLM requirements to allow

an eco-sanctuary is that the manager of thefederal horses must prove that he/she canprovide humane care. Several of the olderhorses at Warm Creek are poor and under-nourished while others are fat and healthy.According to Clay Naninni, who is the realtorwho sold Madeleine the Elko County ranch-es and stayed on as manager of the project,“we aren’t going to pamper the horses.” Hesays they’ve had some casualties and havebeen trimming feet and gelding horses at theranch for a year. They just finished geldingthe last batch of 60 stud colts that wereweaned early. Those colts are kept in a pen atthe ranch and fed hay just like the horses theBLM keeps in their holding programs. Theylook unhealthy and their growth is stuntedfrom coming off their mothers too early. Madeleine just released a statement say-

ing, “It also has never been our intent to haveto neuter any existing wild-horse herds onour lands.” But that’s exactly what the BLM isgoing to require her to do if it approves hereco-sanctuary proposal. The BLM isn’t goingto let Miss Maddy run a reproducing herd ofwild horses on her allotments. Madeleine’s second ranch, the Spruce, is

located adjacent and just south of the WarmCreek Ranch and is the property under con-sideration by the BLM for the eco-sanctuaryproposal. Because of budget pressures andthe lack of political will to exercise disposalauthority of excess horses which the 1971 lawallows, the BLM has decided to look at alter-native ways to manage horses for the longterm. It has already adopted out more than aquarter-million mustangs but still can’t keepup with the amount of wild horses. Last yearit asked the public to submit proposals forcreative alternatives to the long-term holdingprograms. More than 47,000 unadoptableferal horses are currently being held sincethey were gathered from public lands in 10western states. There are still more than37,000 horses and burros in the wild, and theherds double every four years. The BLMspends close to $80 million a year to managethe program. The excess mustangs, just likeother animals wild and domestic, are a nat-ural resource and could be earning moneyfor our depleted Treasury instead of costingmoney to taxpayers.In February 2012, the BLM approved an

Several of the older horses at Warm Creek are poor and undernourished while others are fat and healthy. According to Clay Naninni, who is the realtor whosold Madeleine the Elko County ranches and stayed on as manager of the project, “we aren’t going to pamper the horses.”

Madeleine has two huge billboards on IdahoStreet in downtown Elko, Nev., advertising thatthe eco-preserve is “Coming Soon!” How manybillboards must one buy to make up the tax basein a community after taking two ranches out ofproduction?

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eco-sanctuary proposal in Wyoming for a4,000-acre, all-private ranch, where 250 wildhorses will be cared for. Madeleine’s plan wasthe second chosen for consideration and theonly one that would combine private andpublic lands. In her proposal, Madeleineoriginally wanted to take 1,000 head of hors-es out of long-term holding in the Midwestand return them to the Nevada ranch. (Sev-eral years ago she bragged on TV that shewould take all the horses in holding and did-n’t mention a word about using our tax dol-lars to do it.) She would use the Warm CreekRanch as headquarters, has already startedbuilding visitor facilities, and hopes to opensoon. If her eco-sanctuary proposal is accept-

ed, she would have to share the Spruce allot-ment with wildlife, recreationists, hunters,and future mining ventures.

Members of the Wells Chamber of Com-merce are happy with the plan. DirectorMatt Holford says, “Our position is we’re atourism group and anything that bringstourists in helps this town of 1,500 people.”Holford says that Madeleine has been a goodneighbor since she joined the chamber, andshe has spent a lot of money in Wells makingimprovements to the ranch. “They’ve boughtgas and food, and put money back into oureconomy.”

According to records in the Elko CountyAssessor’s office, the Spruce Ranch is exempt

from taxes because Saving America’s Mus-tangs is a nonprofit organization—which inconservative Elko County is hard for anyoneto swallow. Even the BLM folks see the prob-lem. At a recent scoping meeting held by theBLM in Reno to solicit comments on Mrs.Pickens’ plan, one government employeeremarked that the ranches “would go fromrevenue generating to federally funded.”

The Spruce Ranch has 14,000 acres ofprivate ground and 508,000 in the publicland grazing allotment, as well as 23 wellsand four pipelines that are all permitted forstockwater. According to the BLM, the mostcattle the ranch could sustain is 909. Takinginto consideration water and feed availability,along with the liberal conversion rate BLM isusing for Warm Creek of 1 cow to 1.8 horses,the most horses Madeleine could turn outon the Spruce allotment would be 505.

To illustrate how bad the wild-horseproblem is, there are currently 1,400 wildhorses on three herd management areas(HMAs) that overlap the ranch boundaries.Terri Dobis, who heads up the eco-sanctuaryproposal for the Elko BLM office, says thereshould only be around 300 head there tokeep both range and horses healthy. Accord-ing to BLM regulations, the official appropri-ate management levels for those three HMAsis between 277 and 464 horses.

In order to make Madeleine’s proposalfor an eco-sanctuary work, the BLM says it’s

Madeleine is feeding prime hay to her 500 Paiute horses. Her ranch manager knows the horses will destroy the range on the Warm Creek Ranch, so they feed thehorses in what they call the “sacrificial meadow.” Ignoring the fact that the ranches won’t sustain 1,400 head of horses, Madeleine still says, “[Saving America’sMustangs] stands ready to take the first group of 900 horses from the pens they stand in to once again enjoy the freedom of the open spaces of Nevada.”

According to the BLM scoping document regarding the eco-sanctuary, eco-tourists will stay in rusticaccommodations similar to historic Native American dwellings. These teepees have been built near theoriginal ranch house at the Warm Creek headquarters. If Madeleine gets her way, two former cattleranches “would go from revenue generating to federally funded.”

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going to have to restructure the three existingwild horse HMAs that fall into the Spruceallotment and revise management objectives.Then it will gather all the horses off thoseHMAs, send the mares and foals to holding,geld the stud horses, and turn out a limitednumber of those back to the newly struc-tured eco-sanctuary.But most important to the livestock

industry and ranching in particular, the BLMwould remove and retire the Spruce allot-ment from the N1 grazing district. As ElkoCounty director of natural resources, RandyBrown, says: “We can’t look at dollar signs.What we’ve lost is another Nevada ranch.Two actually.”To complicate things even further, before

any horses can be turned back out,Madeleine would have to apply to the stateengineer to change the use of the water andto use cattle watering improvements for feralhorses. Tracy Taylor, from the state engineer’soffice, says that Nevada currently issues waterrights for wild horses under the wildlife des-ignation if they are on an HMA. However,she says, “It’s a fine line, and all the otherstatutes and water laws apply in consideringa change in the permit.”Wild-horse advocates who attended the

Reno scoping meeting expressed many con-cerns over Madeleine’s plan, including howBLM would pay to maintain the horses.Unlike long-term holding pastures in theMidwest that operate on a per animal “con-tract” with private landowners, according toZach Reichold, who is the national BLM wildhorse and burro expert, Madeleine’s propos-al would be under an “agreement” thatallows any money she brings in through herfund-raising efforts and tourism activities togo into an account to offset the costs to thegovernment. Some estimates put direct pay-ments to SAM from taxpayers at $253,000for managing the feral horses. If that ranchwere running cattle, the annual economicvalue produced on the allotment would be$303,000. Of that, nearly $15,000 is grazingfees that the rancher pays to the BLM.According to Ralph Sacrison, an Elko Coun-ty mining engineer, removing the $303,000value from the economy, coupled with thedirect burden of nearly $253,000, results in afinancial burden of $556,000.Bonnie Kohlerider is a longtime wild-

horse advocate who attends many BLM-sponsored wild-horse events. While talkingto a BLM employee at the scoping meetingwho said ranchers will oppose converting

grazing allotments as well as removing anyallotments, Bonnie replied, “We may have toagree with cattlemen on this one.”Advocates were also concerned over Mrs.

Pickens’ plan because they believe it flies inthe face of the 1971 law. Because the BLMwill only allow a nonreproducing herd at theeco-sanctuary, any horses returned to theSpruce allotment would have to be gelded,and no one knows for sure how a bunch ofwhat used to be wild stallions are going tobehave when taken from pasture and turnedback out on the range. They can’t put maresout on the ranch because the BLM says studhorses from the Maverick-Medicine complexsouth of the ranch would jump the fence todo what the birds and the bees and the hors-es do.John Wayne would be turning over in

his grave. “You know what?” Kohleriderasks. “That’s not wild horses. I won’t comesee it.” ■

Rachel Dahl is a sixth-generation Nevadanwho descends from cattle ranchers on herfather’s side and dairy farmers on her moth-er’s. Her great-great-grandfather, CharlesWallace Brooks, started Model Dairy in Renoin 1906. She is a schoolteacher and council-woman in Fallon, Nev.

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R emember how Forrest Gump, for noparticular reason, was always thereduring historic events? Well, it is either

that, or I’m having flashbacks to when Iloaded the kids in the car and went to Dis-neyland. After taking the boat ride throughthe tunnel with all the dolls singing “It’s aSmall World After All” and the kids singingthat same song for weeks after getting backhome, the world couldn’t shrink back to nor-mal fast enough for me. Or, as in the wordsof that great philosopher, Yogi Berra, it’s déjàvu all over again.

Hard to figure which it is, but I have his-tory with the “wild” horses. Granddad, manya night at the dinner table, spoke of surplushorses. After the first World War, mechaniza-tion came to farming. One third of the cropsused to go to feed the horses. Grain got so

cheap in the ‘20s that once they got a firegoing in the stove, they burned wheat forheat. No money for coal. People left thefarms, opened the gates, turned their horsesout and looked for work in the cities.

Another memory was hanging aroundSandy Anderson’s saddleshop and havingJohnnie Crow mind the time when, duringthe Depression, Miller & Lux Company sentthe orders to gather up all the horses off thecompany ranches that weren’t needed andtrail them to Winnemucca to sell. Johnnieswore that when they got to town the horsesnever brought enough money to pay thebuckaroos who drove them. The word camefrom headquarters to get rid of the rest of thehorses on the ranches. Some were givenaway, some were turned out, and some wereused for coyote bait.

In the local custom and culture, anyonewho had a ranch had a few mares but mostranchers also loved having a fast horse, a cut-ting horse, or, like Jiggs Catterson, a horsethat could drive your head in the dirt. Lots ofwork teams were still used. Pat Culp alwaysfed in the winter with teams. No such thingas a wild horse. If you had a rimrock behindthe house, with or without a BLM-sanc-tioned horse permit, you usually turned outsome horses or a stud bunch to save feed.When you needed them you gathered, sortedand cleaned them up with the chicken buyer.

Out on the high wide and lonesome,even larger bunches of horses ran. TaftMiller, Tom Bailey, Sammy Boyce. They ranin Catlow Valley and back towards the nar-rows. Legend has it that to scare everyone outof Catlow, real or contrived, with a war going

Whoa, Dammit, WhoaOut on the high wide and lonesome. By Hank Vogler



over horses, Taft supposedly shot the saddlehorn off Tom’s saddle while Tom was settinga horse. When Taft had to answer charges ofattempted murder, his rebuttal was: “If Icould shoot the horn off the saddle, Icould’ve just as easy killed him. I was justwarning him.” Truth or not, they kept a lot ofpeople from nosing around Catlow Valley.

Bob “Beetle” Bailey was Tom’s boy. Beetleand his brother Walt treated me great and fora little kid in a small town that was special.When I graduated from college in 1971, Ijoined the local Elks Lodge. Avel Diaz was incharge of the kitchen and Julio Urizar wasthe manager. They put me on the kitchencommittee. It was great fun. Avel rallied ourgroup. We had to prepare a fine meal for theOregon Cattlemen’s Association. All the dig-nitaries were seated and the executive secre-tary was pontificating about how they hadpushed the envelope in the last year and theworld was their oyster.

I slipped into the bar to get away fromthe bloviating and there sat Beetle Bailey. Hewas white as a sheet. Thought somebody hadtipped over. I said, you okay, Beetle? “Yes,” hesaid, “but I got to give a speech.” Now this is aguy who came within a hair’s breadth of rid-ing the famous bucking horse War Paint tothe whistle. This is the guy who could lookyou in the eye and tell you that the horse youjust bought was a good one, just needed afew more rides, only to find out that he hadbucked the last three owners off.

So Beetle, what’s the speech about? “Wildhorse and burro act.” He then, like a fortuneteller, predicted the future of what was to be.It is absolutely uncanny how accurate he was.After running it by me, he went into the bigroom with the wheels and asked to speak. Herepeated his tale of what was to evolve andbegged for help to get it stopped before it wastoo late. As he finished the house was silent.Then a fellow hollered out, “Hell, Beetle, youjust want to claim them all,” and the housebroke in half with laughter. Beetle, dejected,walked off the stage. A short while later thefirst horse gathers started right in HarneyCounty and the BLM manager was putunder the microscope. The newly found pro-tectionists showed up flush with money andpower. They fought tooth and nail with allthe same poor-pitiful-horse-and-mean-nasty-rancher tales still in use today. Beetlewas hired as a horse expert for the BLM.Ironic as it was, a horse tipped over on himand Beetle never was the same. Yet they atleast allowed the use of helicopters.

Now here, all these years later, we are nocloser to solving this dilemma than in 1971.We have too much money involved in theproblem. The loss of revenue would be hugeif we came up with a reasonable solution.With a sound reasonable solution, themoney spigot slows to a trickle.

Before 1971, horses had ownership.Culling was at least every couple of years.The old, the deformed were culled. Theyoung studs were cut and halter-broke. Thefillies were sold or culled. Inbreeding wasstrictly verboten. The amount turned backmatched the grass. If a dry spell got started,triage was performed. It wasn’t perfect butwhen the government by an emotionaldecree with total lack of science is mandatedand private property seized for the “publicgood,” watch out. By the time unintendedconsequences start to sprout, it’s too late.More people become vested in the problemthan in finding the solution.

We should be ever vigilant to preventcruelty. The good book speaks of worship-ping other things. The Egyptians worshipped

cats. A mountain lion killed a lady jogger inCalifornia. A female cat it was. A fund was setup for the jogger lady’s kids and the kittens ofthe mountain lion. Hard to believe, but thekittens received more than twice as muchmoney as the children.

We are bombarded with pleas to harvestorgans from humans when they die. Puttingdown an unwanted old horse and turning itinto meat, leather and other things is prettyhumanitarian. A hungry kid in a ThirdWorld country has more on his mind than ifdinner used to have a nickname. Nothing iscrueler than watching an old horse devolveinto a pain-racked miserable hulk of its for-mer self. Neither horse sanctuaries, holdingcorrals, or long-term holding contracts arethe answer. Humane harvest and inspectioncomes closest. What is cruelty is the bilkingof money from people under false premises.

Hang and rattle. ■

Hank Vogler runs a sheep and cattle outfit ineastern Nevada. He’s surrounded by unwant-ed feral horses.

More than 47,000 wild horses and burros are fed and cared for at short-term corrals and long-termpastures. As of August 2012, there were 13,800 in corrals and 33,600 horses in Midwestern pastures. Outon the range, BLM estimates that about 31,500 horses and 5,800 burros are roaming on BLM-managedrangelands in 10 western states as of Feb. 29, 2012. Appropriate management levels should be 26,545, sowe are exceeding what the range can sustain by 11,000 animals. These are your tax dollars at work.Check http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/whbprogram/history_and_facts/quick_facts.html.FROM TOP: Horses awaiting adoption at the Litchfield corrals in Northern California. ➤Adoptableburros, a pair amongst thousands. ➤Mustang fans, observers and bloggers from all over the West watch agather near Susanville, Calif., and report anything “nasty.” They are being watched by the BLM.OPPOSITE: Mare Tag #9615. She’s got a tattoo on her neck. No one wants her.

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range magazine-winter 2013-mustang maddy · 76 • range magazine • winter 2013 m adeleine...

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