Construction of the Van Gogh Legacy Fence is Finished!!

To Whom It May Concern,

On Feb 10, 2017 One Spirit was hit by a large truck on Highway 318 within the boundaries of the Sand Wash Basin Herd Management Area. By the time I arrived at the scene her body had been moved and all that was left was a mass that was later determined to be her unborn foal.

Fortunately, the driver of the truck was unhurt. He was lucky. It was in the middle of the night on icy roads. Horses, unlike other wildlife, do not have a fight-or-flight response to vehicles. The Sand Wash Basin horses are very used to cars that slow down until the horse moves; they are not accustomed to the 65 plus mile an hour semi’s that travel Highway 318.

For the last several years Sand Wash Basin has lost at least one Wild Horse on Highway 318. We are lucky there has not been a serious injury or loss of life to a human, but the odds are not running in the favor of the passengers on Highway 318.

Last winter it was common for there to be between 30-50 Wild Horses on 318 or in the unfenced meadows that border 318.

After we lost One Spirit, and several phone calls to CDOT, they brought out the large solar-powered danger signs and left them till spring. During this time, we started conversations with both the BLM and CDOT about putting a fence along the north side of 318. At first CDOT told us that it was a good idea, but they could not afford it, but maybe they could pay half and the BLM could pay half. We were told that they would schedule a meeting and we could all sit down and see what might work to get the fence up. Since then we’ve been told by CDOT, that “no it is not going to happen”. This was decided without a meeting ever occurring.

What I have since learned is that CDOT leases the land from the BLM that Highway 318 is on. That lease also includes the normal easements on both sides of the road. The BLM believes it is CDOT’s responsibility to put the fence up. If the BLM puts the fence up they have lots of red tape including an archaeological study that must be done any time BLM land is being disturbed. There is a lot more red tape to get through if the BLM were to put the fence in, which could take more than a year just to complete the paperwork. The southern boundary of the Herd Management Area is on the south side of 318 where there is a pre-existing fence. This allows the Wild Horses to cross the road until they get to a fence line.

During the summer the southern area of the Herd Management Area is heavily used by off road vehicles and there are no water sources close to Highway 318 both of which keep the Wild Horses north of 318. It also allows the grasses to grow in the southern areas with very little foraging by the Wild Horses. Once we get our first snow in Sand Wash Basin the Wild Horses no longer depend on the ponds or the deeper washes in the Basin for their water. They can move to where the grass has grown undisturbed all summer, which for the southern bands of Wild Horses leads them to Highway 318.

In the later part of 2017 and already this year, 2018, we have had numerous reports of Wild Horses on Highway 318. On Dec 30, 2017 I was in the Basin and received word that there was a Wild Horse that had died on the south side of 318, south of the fence on 318. After IDing the Wild Horse and contacting more people who commonly travel Highway 318, we learned that a large band of Wild Horses had been on 318 for several days and had been seen running parallel to the fence. There is one Wild Horse that has been on the south side of the fence since Oct. The people we talked to said that, the two stallions had been fighting across the fence. Although Kiowa, the stallion that died, was not hit by a car, what we do know is alarming. The band that Kiowa was normally with consists of 8 Wild Horses and there are normally two other bands that run with that band, each having another 3 or 4 Wild Horses. That brings the number of Wild Horses that had been on 318 to roughly 15-16 Wild Horses. A car or semi traveling at a high rate of speed on icy winter roads, at night, that comes upon this band of Wild Horses is in trouble! It’s only a matter of time until this does happen, and we lose a family member or an entire family.