Latest Instagram Photos
       
|
|||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
Thursday, May 03, 2018
You Don't Have to Burn A (Wild Horse) Book to Censor It I've never laid my life on the line for a story, and it's coincidence that the most recent "Of course you didn't interview BLM about wild horses" remark came on World Press Freedom Day. The reader was talking about Wild at Heart: Mustangs and the Young People Fighting to Save Them, my non-fiction book published by Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt. The book's credibility has been honored without BLM. It's a Junior Library Guild selection, winner of the Sterling North Heritage award for Excellence in Children's Literature and has been honored by Western Writers of America, National Science Teachers Association and American Association for the Advancement of Science. For nearly a year, I negotiated and nagged for interviews about BLM's wild horse and burro program. Didn't happen. But it's important to me that you see how it didn't happen. My last correspondence before the publication of this book is posted below. 
Tom
Gorey, Senior Public Affairs Specialist July
23, 2014
Bureau
of Land Management
1849
C. Street NW
Washington,
D.C. 20240
Dear Tom,
As you know, I’m writing Wild at Heart:
Mustangs and the Young People Fighting to Save Them for
Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt. This non-fiction book for young readers will be
published in Fall 2015.
In January of this year, Lisa Ross at
BLM’s Carson City office told me that all on-the-record responses must go
through you. I’ve contacted many BLM staffers since then, but received no
official statements. A partial list:
1/23/14: E-mail to
Tom Gorey, introducing project, asking for interview; he said he’d have to
check with wild horse and burro staff.
2/3/14: E-mail to Gorey
seeking update
2/4/14: E-mail from Gorey
indicating response is in the works; e-mail from Jeff Krauss asking for
questions in writing and “don’t hesitate to call” invitation
2/11/14: E-mail
questions to Krauss
2/19/14: E-mail
requesting update from Krauss
2/24/14: Melissa
Farlow, photojournalist working on the project, contacts Krauss since they’ve worked
together in past. Krauss responds
quickly but with no answers.
3/19/14: E-mail to
Krauss requesting follow-up to written questions
4/11/14: E-mail and
phone requests to Gorey and Krauss repeating offer to let them cherry-pick the
questions they wish to answer.
4/25/14: Phone calls
to former BLM staffers to ask about possible sources of information are met with enthusiasm. They, too, are told no current
staffers are authorized to speak.
5/5/14: Phone and e-mail
to Jeff Fontana, BLM California, and Lisa Reid, BLM Utah. Neither receives
authorization to answer questions.
5/5/14: Gorey e-mails
that he will respond to my voicemail request for update, copies Krauss. No
answers. Last contact with Gorey and Krauss
6/3-4/14: After phone
conversations, Debbie Collins asks for a brief history of e-mail exchanges with
BLM staff and list of questions. These are supplied. Last contact with Collins.
6/4/14: Fontana e-mails positive BLM news story from
2006. Last contact.
My publisher has pushed back Wild at Heart’s due date to give BLM more time to respond, but we’ve bent as far as we can. If I hear nothing by Aug. 1, 2014, we’ll reluctantly publish without comments from your agency.
Sincerely,
Terri Farley
CC: Neil Kornze, Director of
BLM
Before Wild At Heart, I'd had a conflicted but cordial relationship with BLM staffers, but now it's routine for government agencies to spurn or stonewall the press and public. That's not safe. Attention must be paid, even if what you hear is silence. Labels: BLM, Bureau of Land Management, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Junior Library Guild, mustangs, National ScienceTeachers Association, Western Writers of America, Wild at Heart, wild horses, World Press Freedom Day Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 12:50 PM 0 comments  
Sunday, October 22, 2017 Wild Horses Are Not an Invasive Species New Science, Old Bones and Wild Horses"It needs to be more widely understood that the horse's status as a native North American species is beyond serious question, " Dr. Ross MacPhee, curator American Museum of Natural History
 ©Terri FarleyCREATED FOR WILD AT HEART: MUSTANGS AND THE YOUNG PEOPLE FIGHTING TO SAVE THEMModern paleontology and sequencing of mitochondrial DNA is reflected in this equine clock which shows just how quickly horses returned to North America after they were wiped out along with other large mammals. Recent discoveries have narrowed the absence window since this graphic was created, causing many scientists to consider the possibility that pockets of North American horses may have survived even longer.Labels: American Museum of Natural History, DNA, Dr. Ross MacPhee, equine, horses, mustangs, native species, paleontology, science, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 2:52 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, May 30, 2017 5 WILD HORSE MYTHS: Alt-Facts Lead to Deadly New Budget for Mustangs
Budget 2018 calls for killing all wild horses and burros in Bureau of Land Management holding pens. That's about 44,000 equines according to BLM and roundups continue. BLM records show more mustangs "gathered" in the first three months of 2017 than were captured in all of 2016. Few voters want wild horses killed, but they’re bombarded by myths which infer there's no choice. Labels: animals, BLM, books, education, government, livestock, mustangs, Nevada, phantom stallion, politics, rodeo, rural, terri farley, West, Wild at Heart, wild horses, writing Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 10:15 PM 0 comments
Saturday, September 10, 2016 Wild Horse Science vs Feral Horse $cience in the American West
If you're interested in decisions being made with your money for your wild horses, Elko, isn't a convenient venue. Not to worry, says BLM. Meetings are (sorta) streamed online and the Wild Horse Advisory board includes folks to speak for all "...from advocacy groups, wild horse and burro research institutions, veterinarians, natural resource organizations, humane advocacy groups, wildlife associations, and livestock organizations." I'd assume by his email address that "cowdoc75" represents veterinary or livestock interests, but no. He's the Natural Resources expert. This board is clearly skewed toward cash cows and what they can do for ranchers, not what they can do to the environment. For that, they blame wild horses. The vote to kill mustangs was 7-1. Ginger Kathrens, Humane representative, was the lone vote for life. These horses belong to all Americans and this vote doesn't represent them. My letter to the Board and BLM follows. Please use the email addresses to convey your opinions.
TO: drfred@gmail.com,
cowdoc75@infowest.com
, mustangs@infowest.com
, jweileldvm@yahoo.com,
suemcd@vet.upenn.edu,
Jen.sall@gmail.com , benmasters88@gmail.com
, Steven.leslieyardley@yahoo.com
CC: dbolstad@blm.gov, nkornze@blm.gov, whbadvisoryboard@blm.gov
Advisory Board Members:
BLM was once so valuable
to me as a writer that I included staffers in dedications to my PHANTOM
STALLION book series. I even named a main character after BLM's Bryan Fuell of
Elko because he was so helpful.
BLM employees used to meet advocates at Bruno's for coffee before round-ups. We often disagreed, but we asked and answered questions and listened to each other. Now, advocates are met in the same Gerlach parking lot by armed rangers. And, when I asked questions for my non-fiction book on wild horses, BLM stonewalled for over 13 months, until my publisher finally sent the book to press without updated comments from the Interior Department. After 20 years of observing BLM, I thought I was beyond shock over wild horse mismanagement.
I was wrong. The
advisory board's choice of wild horse slaughter, based on willful ignorance of
science and finances, sucker-punched me.
BLM has wasted millions of dollars on rounding up and warehousing wild horses despite the availability of cheap on-range solutions to man-made problems. In fact, the Humane Society of the United States' analysis of BLM's budget documents indicated that the more money Congress appropriated to BLM's "reform," the more expensive the wild horse programs became. Only one thing changes from year to year: money going to independent contractors. BLM’s job is to protect and manage wild horses and the range, but BLM's Don Glen and Dean Bolstad made it clear at 2009 Wild Horse Advisory Board meetings that another priority was "keeping our contractors happy." And have they ever, with ever-increasing amounts of tax dollars. As an author for young readers, I know many students use the Interior Department's websites to search for factual information. The dissemination of '70s era science skewed toward merchandisers of Western resources amounts to malpractice of the sleaziest kind -- lying to kids for political gain. Board members, I urge you to retract this emotional response to BLM's cry for more money for further mismanagement. Instead, listen to non-vested scientists who've proven the environment's been turned upside down by man's replacement of native species (including equines; check the fossil record) with livestock. Listen to those with no financial stake in destroying the range. Years from now, will you have helped save the last wild places? Or will every book and Google search list you as an accomplice to the death of West?
Sincerely,
Terri Farley Labels: BLM, BLM adoption, BLM Advisory Board, BLM round ups, Bruno's, cattle, contractors, Dean Bolstad, Elko, Gerlach, Ginger Kathrens, long-term holding, mustangs, Neil Kornze, Nevada, slaughter, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 11:47 PM 1 comments
|
|||||||||||
|
Home | Books | The Author | Connect | Education | Wild Horses © Terri Farley |
