Fighting to Protect California’s Devil’s Garden Wild Horses
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
On Friday, we shared an update on our decades-long court battle to save the wild horses roaming Wyoming’s Checkerboard. But our fight to preserve the freedom of America’s wild herds stretches far beyond Wyoming—it’s also unfolding in California’s Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory (DGPWHT), where our legal team recently filed an objection to a flawed management plan that endangers the future of this cherished herd.
The protest challenges the USDA Forest Service’s Wild Horse Territory Plan, which continues outdated population limits for Devil’s Garden that are placing unnecessary constraints on this wild horse herd. Thanks to previous litigation filed by AWHC, the territory has expanded, yet the Forest Service has failed to adjust population limits to account for the increase in land, forage, and water resources. That’s why we’ve taken action, alongside the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), to demand fair treatment for these majestic animals. If you can, please chip in to help us power this critical effort.
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The Forest Service continues to rely on an outdated 2013 population limit – or Appropriate Management Level (AML) – that restricts the number of horses allowed in the territory. This AML hasn’t been updated to reflect the expanded habitat size. Additionally, the Forest Service plans to restrict access to this new land to “incidental” use by just 40 horses, and only during the months when privately-owned cattle aren’t grazing on this public land.
More space, water, and forage should allow more horses to live wild and free without harm to the ecosystem! Wild horses deserve access to all the public lands within the Wild Horse Territory, which is legally designated as their habitat.
We believe that the Forest Service’s failure to raise the AML is both illogical and unlawful. We’re fighting to ensure these plans accurately reflect the expanded habitat we worked hard to secure. This means recalculating the AML to align with the territory’s increased resources and improving the alternatives analysis to consider sustainable population increases for the wild herds.
Failing to make these adjustments is not just irresponsible—it violates the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Without our legal action, these outdated policies will restrict the horses’ population and continue to expose them to dangerous helicopter roundups and a life in confinement.
Your support is critical to helping us keep the Devil’s Garden wild horses free on the lands they have a right to call home. We will carefully evaluate the Forest Service’s answer to our protest and pursue all viable legal paths as needed.
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Thank you for being part of this crucial effort. Together, we can ensure that California’s wild horses remain free and protected, where they belong.
With gratitude,
American Wild Horse Conservation