Madeleine Pickens
Wild horse advocate Pickens, wife of T. Boone Pickens, visits with horses on her ranch.
After more than two years of hard work, Madeleine Pickens and The Saving America’s Mustangs (Foundation) are continuing to work toward getting the BLM and the federal government to allow the creation of a wild horse sanctuary and has offered the federal government a proposal to resolve their dilemma of excess horses, solve their administrative challenges, and provide a permanent home for these horses.
Madeleine Picken's alternative that will save taxpayers tremendous amounts of money. She has purchased land (with her own money) in northern Nevada on which she plans to build a wild horse sanctuary.
Her plan is to then donate it to a non-profit foundation, add public range land, and create an eco-tourism center where the horses that are already living in holding pens in captivity could go to live and roam freely. The combined property would encompass more than 900 square miles.
In addition to saving the lives of horses and saving taxpayers money, Madeleine plans for this sanctuary to be a “living museum” where families can visit and stay while they learn about Native American culture and watch the wild horses roaming freely.
When asked by one interviewer “What’s your concern if you can’t make this work out with the government?” Madeleine’s unhesitating reply was:
“I’m going to make this work. This is divine intervention. No question it’s going to work. I’ve been on it for two years. There’s no question it should have never taken this long, but the government’s going to have to listen…”
Under the proposal, the Foundation would purchase and operate a ranch for the sole purpose of providing proper care and a perpetual home for the horses.
This ranch would have year-long grazing capability, federal and private land for management flexibility, sufficient private land for hay production for at least 20,000 head during hard times of drought, deep snow, and rangeland fire, plus adequate water and sufficient size to support a minimum herd of this size.
The Foundation would enter into a contract or cooperative agreement, as already stipulated in the Wild Horse and Burro Act, with the Secretary of Interior to relocate the 9,000 wild horses currently held in short term holding corrals to the ranch, and to accept future non-adopted wild horses.
The total population of horses on the ranch would be determined by its carrying capacity (approximately 20,000 to 30,000 head). The horse population would be managed as a non reproductive herd.
The Foundation will be able to take an additional 2,000 to 4,000 animals annually from future government wild horse gathers. With abundant forage, water, and acreage will provide for a near normal life expectancy of wild horses on the ranch.
In turn, there will be no further need for BLM utilizing holding pens to hold horses for years is eliminated. This is good for the government having a readily available permanent home for the horses which will ensure that healthy herds thrive on healthy rangelands. Taxpayers will save tens of millions annually.