FU NPS

Wild Horse living at Assateague Island, MD

   If you've read enough of my posts you know I've been to a few national parks. I love public lands especially the parks. I've fallen in love with every national park I've been to whether it be Acadia in Maine or my dream park as a child: Yellowstone. As you would expect, I have great respect for the National Park System and the Department of the Interior. I envy park rangers that get to go to work every morning at some of the most beautiful places in the world.

   While talking to rangers is enjoyable and amazing scenery has been ingrained in my memory, what I most enjoy seeing are the animals. There really is nothing like being stuck in a bear jam. When a bear is near the road in Yellowstone, you can bet traffic is backed up. likewise, I've been stuck in the middle of the road more than once because a herd of bison were crossing at their own pace.

   I have been so lucky to have seen so many big animals from Grizzlies, wolves, and elk to mule deer and alligators all in national parks. While I may not get as excited about a porcupine as I would a grizz, seeing one in Acadia National Park was still the highlight of the trip.

  One species I have yet to see out west are wild horses. Technically, I did see wild horses At Assateague Island in Maryland. The horses are wild. They have to deal with summer heat, winter cold, and biting insects. I purposely went to Assateague to see the horses. I loved seeing them and got great pictures as they  fed in the campground. However, I did not cross wild horses off of my bucket lisy.

  I still want to see wild horses roaming freely in the west. While it was cool to see the horses on the beach (they actually will swim in the ocean) I want to see mustangs on the prairie or herds roaming the sage brush.  

Which leads me to my gripe and the title of this post. While I normally support the National Park Service (NPS, I'm guessing you can figure out what the FU stands for in the title) I am devastated by one of their new mandates.

   Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota has a herd of wild horses. They were there when the park was created. The park service did not put them there. The herd lives in the southern part of the South Unit of the park fairly close to Interstate I-94. In 1970 the horses were designated under the title of "part of the historical setting". 

Recently, as in over the winter of 2022-23, the park changed the designation of the horses from part of the historical setting to "Livestock". Because of this, they want to remove ALL wild horses from Theodore Roosevelt NP. On average, before this change, the park wanted to keep the size of the herd at about fifty animals. However, since horses don't have any predators, that number has skyrocketed to over 200. 

   I fully understand there are too many horses on the landscape and some should be removed. Usually the normal way to remove them is to see if any Indian Reservations want them. After that, they can be sold at action. There have been ways to try to control the population such as contraceptives to the mares. Controls like this have worked with limited success.

   As I said, it saddens me that the Park Service wants to get rid of the entire herd. They say that native plants will benefit from the horse removal. Well, the horses have been there a hundred years, I think the grass has adjusted. I also believe that they are part of our national heritage, and specifically to North Dakota's heritage.

   Over the winter the park introduced three different plans ranging from giving contraceptives to ALL the mares and have the population slowly die out to a more radical approach of rounding up ALL the horses within two years. 

   This breaks my heart. I had planned on going to Theodore Roosevelt NP this summer. The plan was to go to Custer State Park and Wind Cave then take the six hour drive to Theo. I want to see the landscape and the park does have Bison and Bighorn Sheep but I am really only going there to see the horses. Custer has a ton of wildlife as do the Badlands and Wind Cave, but none of those places have wild horses. Theodore Roosevelt is the closest western place in the US to see wild horses, and they are taking that away.

   The people that are fighting to keep the horses say the horses draw visitors to the park. The park service disagrees saying enough people go to see the bison and sheep. I can tell you from a personal point of view, the park service is wrong. The only reason for me to drive to Theo is to see the horses. The horses will still be there this summer but I do not want to give my money to a park that is actively trying to remove them so I may not be going after all. 

   Pretty much the  only people that want t get rid of the horses are the National Park Service. The governor, the state legislature, and all the local businesses want to keep the horses. The governor can request the park keep the horses but he doesn't have jurisdiction. Though the park is in North Dakota, the park is run by the Dept of the Interior, so the Feds have the final say. During public hearings they made it clear they do not want the horses despite public outcry to keep them.

    The final decision has not been made yet but things look bleak. I can only hope that the park gives in to the will of the people and allows a small herd to represent the past to live in the park. There is no doubt that Theodore Rooosevelt himself would have wanted horses to live in a park named after him. Unless a decision is made that allows wild horses to roam freely in the park the Park System can go F themselves!

  

Wild Horses living on a sanctuary in South Dakota
They had been captured, abused, and lucky
enough to make it back to this sanctuary