R.O.A.M Act a Judas Horse : DO NOT be Led into the Trap!!

Besides tearing the heart out of the Wild Free-roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 by taking away their statutory right to remain on their historic rangelands,....the ROAM Act also dispenses with considering the wild equines as part of any "multiple use" plan of the land use. "If and when" confilcts do arise, according to the ROAM Act, the WH&Bs will be the first to go. No more balance of considerations for them. They will be out of the "Multi-use" picture for good!

Once the ROAM Act is passed, the WFH&B WILL NOT have a legal right to remain on their historic lands, and, in setting up these new sanctuaries, the idea of ROAM is manage the WH&B independantly from any other resource so to "Avoid any potential conficts" w/ rangeland health and/or development and/or wildlife" .....this means in cases of conflits with WH&Bs ANYWHERE, it is the equines that will have to go. Of course, it has always been this way with the BLM although AGAINST the provisions of the WFH&B Act , but with ROAM it will "officially" be "OK" to have the horses come last and NOT be a part of any multi-use plan of the lands......and there goes any grounds we may have for suing the BLM for failure to consider the wild equines in their land-use plans.

Here is some relevant text of the ROAM Act that indicates same;

`(7) Identify new, appropriate rangeland for wild free roaming horses and burros, including use of land acquisitions, exchanges, conservation easements, voluntary grazing buyouts, and agreements with private landowners to allow for the federally supervised protection of wild horses and burros on private lands, except that the Secretary shall assess the effects of new range for wild free-roaming horses and burros on rangeland health, riparian zones, water quality, soil compaction, seed bed disturbance, native wildlife, and endangered or threatened species and transmit the results of the assessment to the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate.

`(8) Establish sanctuaries or exclusive use areas, except that the Secretary shall assess the effects of sanctuaries or exclusive use areas for wild free-roaming horses and burros on rangeland health, riparian zones, water quality, soil compaction, seed bed disturbance, native wildlife and endangered or threatened species and transmit the results of the assessment to the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate.

`(9) In identifying or designating any new rangeland, or establishing any sanctuary or exclusive use area for wild free-roaming horses and burros, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall take into account and avoid any potential conflicts with wind, solar, geothermal, oil, natural gas, energy transmission, and mineral resources potential of the lands affected by the identification, designation, or establishment.

So ROAM requires no conflict with rangeland health or other uses,......so say an area was at first deemed suitable, but what is to stop the BLM (or the ranchers) from complaining "down the road" later on, that the presence of the equines are conflicting with other resources or plans,....(and it most certainly will happen, eventually, sooner or later, as new "reserves" of oil and gas are found, or more "benefical" uses of the land arise,..or when the funding for the program runs out) of course, the WH&B will have to be removed from their "preserves." There will be no multi-use requirement as the ROAM Act is designed to give WH&B EXCLUSIVE use of the new lands >UNLESS a conflict arises. Once a conflict arises, the WH&B will have to go,....and where will they go once removed from one of these "preserves?"......back into long term holding pens, most likely, but never returned to their historic lands, you can bet your farm on that! Seems like the whole idea of ROAM is to divest the wild equines of the right to remain on their historic lands (unmolested) and also to divest them of any consideration as "resources" in any land-use plan.

The ROAM Act will be the death quell for wild and free roaming horses and burros upon their historic lands and/or for their consideration as a part of any multiple use plan on public lands.

And then there is this;

Expirmental Birth Control

`(10) Research, develop, and implement enhanced surgical or immunocontraception sterilization or other safe methods of fertility control.'.