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Bella and Me |
It has long been recognized that volunteers play a valuable role in the wild horse and burro (WH&B) program of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Not only are volunteers able to assist the BLM in certain aspects of the program, they provide a measurable success rate in ensuring more wild horse and burro adoptions are successful. About one year ago, BLM-California began a Volunteer Pilot Project. The goal of the Project is to develop, implement, and evaluate the processes necessary to expand volunteer participation in the wild horse and burro program, increase the number of successful adoptions, reduce program expenses and increase public ownership in a successful adoption program. The Project will be in development for approximately two years. The first year of the project was primarily devoted to the growth, coordination, and implementation of expanded usage of volunteers in California’s WH&B program. The second year of the project will entail evaluating the processes, effectiveness, and exportability to other BLM offices. The Project is being organized and coordinated by the National WH&B Public Outreach Coordinator with the assistance of the California WH&B Program Manager.
Volunteers have assisted in all of the pre-identified areas of the Project, from posting flyers about adoption events to conducting additional compliance inspections. Most effective has been the use of volunteers enhancing the adoptability of certain mustangs and the Adopter’s Assistants program. The enhancing-adoptability portion of the Project requires that the mustangs have been to at least one temporary adoption location or one scheduled facility adoption and have not been successfully adopted. Volunteers are responsible for training the mustangs to lead, be easily caught and haltered, have all four feet picked up and worked on, plus being able to be easily loaded into a BLM-approved trailer. Volunteers are reimbursed for feed, farrier and veterinary care. Specific timeframes and reimbursement limits apply. The Adopter’s Assistants area of the Project is primarily to provide assistance, encouragement and information about resources available to novice wild horse and burro adopters. Often, new wild horse and burro adopters can Since the inception of the California Volunteer Pilot Project, more than 170 new WH&B volunteers have signed up to promote the program, assist other adopters, help BLM staff, and to help the animals they dearly love, America’s Mustangs and Burros. If you are interested in volunteering for the BLM’s WH&B program, please contact your local BLM office. Following is a list of BLM servicing offices and contact information. Arizona – Kelly Grissom – (602) 417-9441 California – Janet Neal – (775) 861-6614 or Tom Pogacnik (916) 978-4637 Colorado – Fran Ackley – (719) 269-8511 Eastern States – Karen Malloy – (703) 440-1592 Idaho – Tom Miles – (208) 373-3804 Montana, South and North Dakota – Linda Coates-Markle (406) 896-5223 Nevada – Suzie Stokke – (775) 861-6469 New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas – Bob Mitchell – (405) 790-1045 Oregon – Gary McFadden - (541) 573-4492 Utah – Gus Warr – (801) 539-4057 Wyoming – Alan Shepard – (307) 775-6097 |
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Official Newsletter of the National Wild Horse and Burro Program
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be overwhelmed with the animal’s wildness and don’t know where to begin with gaining the animal’s trust. California’s Adopter’s Assistants are there for the new adopter. They can provide helpful information, from simple things such as allowing the animal time to adjust to its new surroundings to more complex issues such as how to move an untrained wild horse or burro from one pen to another or where to seek veterinary and farrier care in their area.