Major Legal Win for Salt River Wild Horse Protection

Tonto National Forest Successfully Defends Humane Treatment of Wild Horses While Apache Sitgreaves National Forest Blatantly Disregards It

Phoenix, AZ (December 5, 2023) – A lawsuit aimed at overturning thehumane managementprogram that is protecting theSalt River wild horsesin the Tonto National Forest has been dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, Phoenix Division.

Thelawsuitwas filed in April of this year by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and sport hunting organizations. It contained numerousfactual inaccuraciesabout theSalt River wild horses. It also omitted any reference to the state law protecting the horses and authorizing the Arizona Department of Agriculture to manage them.

The complaint alleged that the United States Forest Service (USFS) failed to follow the National EnvironmentalPolicyAct (NEPA) related to the Intergovernmental Agreements (IGA) and the management plan. Yet it neglected to mention that the Salt River wild horse habitat area was analyzed under NEPA in theFinal Environmental Impact Statement(FEIS) for the Tonto National Forest Plan issued in March of 2022.

On July 31, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), which manages the nation’s national forests, including the Tonto National Forest, filed amotion to dismissthe lawsuit. At this point, theSalt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG)and theAmerican Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign)also filed a motion to intervene in the case. The intervention papers corrected misinformation contained in the CBD complaint, including the outright factual errors. The judge granted theUSFS’s motion to dismiss the original lawsuit, but allowed the CBD an additional 30 days to amend its complaint. The 30-day deadline was on Nov. 30 and no amendments were filed.

The case is now effectively dismissed in the lower courts.

“We commend theUSFSTonto National Forest for filing a motion to dismiss the lawsuit and for continuing to work with the state on the humane management of these beloved wild horses,” said Simone Netherlands, president of the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group. “The court's decision will allow us to continue to manage and care for theSalt River wild horses, who are beloved by the Arizona public and an important part of our state’s history.”

Netherlands’ group has long advocated for protection of theSalt River wild horsesand currently manages them through a partnership with the Arizona Department of Agriculture.

“This was a misguided attempt to destroy a successful, humanewild horse managementprogram. We are pleased the court recognized the lawsuit’s lack of merit and granted the motion to dismiss,” said AWHC Executive Director Suzanne Roy. “The CBD and the sport hunters are completely out of step with the wishes of the public, which stands firmly on the side of protecting theSalt River wild horsesas iconic Arizona natural treasures.”

Roy citedrecent pollingthat showed 88 percent of Arizonans support protecting theSalt River wild horses.

TheSalt River wild horsesin the Tonto National Forest are protected under astate lawpassed in 2016 in response to public opposition to aUSFSplan to eliminate the horses from the forest. The law protects the horses from harassment, shooting, killing, slaughter, and capture and authorizes the Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA) to enter into an IGA with theUSFSfor the management of the horses.

The effective dismissal of the lawsuit came on the same day that the neighboring Apache Sitgreaves National Forest shipped 45 Alpine wild horses to Texas kill pen as part of an ongoing effort to eliminate wild horses from the forest. Noting the stark contrast between the two forests’ approach towild horse management, Netherlands stated,

“The Apache Sitgreaves National Forest should follow the Tonto National Forest’s lead in managing wild horses humanely. Under no circumstance should the Forest Service ever send horses captured from ourpublic landsto kill pens and slaughter auctions.”

Fortunately, rescue organizations worked together to rescue the 45 Alpine wild horses, however hundreds more are at risk as the Apache Sitgreaves Forest continues to round them up.

The SRWHMG and AWHC are urging the public to contact Randy Moore, Chief of theUSFSto urge him to support humanewild horse managementwith fertility control and to protect wild horses on public lands managed by theUSFSfrom slaughter.

About the Salt RiverWild Horse ManagementGroup:TheSalt River Wild Horse Management Group(SRWHMG) is an Arizona non-profit organization dedicated to protect, monitor, and humanely manage theSalt River wild horses. The SRWHMG has secured agreements and protections for this iconic and beloved wild horse herd in the Tonto National Forest and the group partners with the State of Arizona for the day-to-day management of the herd, including a highly successful fertility control program that has stabilized population growth within its first two years.

About the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign):The American Wild Horse Conservation is the nation's leading nonprofit wild horse conservation organization, with more than 700,000 supporters and followers nationwide. AWHC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse and burros in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. In addition to advocating for the protection and preservation of America's wild herds, AWHC implements the largest wild horsefertility controlprogram in the world through a partnership with the State of Nevada for wild horses that live in the Virginia Range near Reno.

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