Wild Horse Fire Brigade

10/28/2026

OH YEA! William & Michelle Published Mini-Dissertation on Wild Horses!! THE TRUTH SHALL SET THEM FREE!

𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲-𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲-𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗔𝗻 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶-𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

𝗗𝗿𝗮𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲-𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹𝘀, 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀, 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲-𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

By: William Simpson II & Michelle Gough - © Oct. 24, 2026 - All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

This dissertation presents a detailed synthesis of the landscape-scale ecological functions of free-roaming wild horses when managed according to principles that preserve naturally-living intact family bands, natural selective pressures, and placement in appropriate remote wilderness or forested landscapes free from intensive commercial livestock competition and chemical fertility control.
The core empirical foundation is William E. Simpson II’s continuous, close-range observational research (exceeding 25,000 hours over twelve-plus years) at Wild Horse Ranch, documented in the 2019 Impact of Wild Horses on Wilderness Landscape and Wildfire – Preliminary Findings Report, the Natural Wildfire Abatement and Forest Protection Plan (Wild Horse Fire Brigade), and subsequent writings on genetics, reseeding, and fire behavior.
These observations are contextualized and strengthened by peer-reviewed literature, including Ripple et al. (2015) on the collapse of large herbivores and resulting changes in fire regimes; recent studies of equid grazing in Mediterranean and Iberian landscapes demonstrating fuel reduction; research on endozoochorous seed dispersal by equids; and genetic studies of the TBX3 locus and Dun alleles documenting retention of ancestral camouflage traits.
The analysis concludes that properly sited free-roaming horses can reduce fine-fuel continuity, facilitate native plant reseeding, maintain genetic diversity under natural selection, and provide these services at low public cost relative to mechanical treatment or long-term holding.
Current federal practices of repeated removal and chemical contraception risk forgoing these functions and reducing gene flow.
https://www.pitchstonewaters.com/landscape-scale-ecological-benefits-of-properly-managed-free-roaming-wild-horses-in-appropriate-wilderness-ecosystems-an-empirical-and-scientific-synthesis-mini-dissertation/
Help Alberta Wildies Society Sam Bentley Science Science Channel Media Research Center Equus Magazine TheHorse.com The Horse Magazine

Drawing on more than a decade of field observation and supporting scientific literature, this paper examines how properly managed free-roaming wild horses may reduce wildfire fuels, disperse seeds, preserve genetic diversity, and contribute to landscape-scale ecological function.

10/28/2026

𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆’𝘀 𝗢𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝟯𝟰𝟱𝟰 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗶𝗿𝗰𝘂𝗺𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗡𝗘𝗣𝗔 𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗘𝗤𝗔

A ploy for midterm votes from ranchers? Or, something else?

By: William Simpson II - Wild Horse Researcher & Rancher

DOI Secretary Burgum's Order No. 3454 does NOT have legal authority to circumvent the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for every location or action it covers.

It also has no effect on the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

What the Order Actually Does on NEPA

The Order repeatedly states that actions must be “consistent with applicable law.”

It also states that “final permit decisions shall remain with the BLM authorized officer.”

It directs use of existing statutory tools, primarily:FLPMA § 402(h) (43 U.S.C. § 1752(h)):

A statutory categorical exclusion that allows the Secretary to issue a grazing permit or lease without an EA or EIS if:

The permit continues the current grazing management of the allotment, and

The agency has assessed the allotment and determined it is meeting land health standards or is not meeting them due to factors other than existing livestock grazing.

Extraordinary circumstances review is still required.
Also:

Existing environmental analyses with a Determination of NEPA Adequacy (DNA). FLPMA § 402(c)(2) continuation of terms until NEPA is completed.

The Order instructs BLM to clarify and prioritize use of these existing mechanisms for no-change renewals and vacant allotments.

It also directs use of technology to help prepare documentation.

It does not create a new exemption.

It does not waive extraordinary circumstances review.

It does not authorize skipping NEPA where the statutory criteria are not met.

Limits of the Order’s Authority
A Secretary’s Order is an internal management directive.
It cannot override statutes.

Section 8 of the Order itself says:

“To the extent there is any inconsistency between the provisions of this Order and any Federal laws or regulations, the laws or regulations will control.”

NEPA still applies to major federal actions significantly affecting the environment.

Expanding grazing onto new lands will generally still require NEPA.

Reinstating suspended AUMs in ways that change management will generally still require NEPA.

Opening grazing in National Wildlife Refuge System units will generally still require NEPA.

Actions affecting listed species under the Endangered Species Act will generally still require NEPA (and often ESA consultation).

Courts have long held that agencies cannot use policy directives to avoid NEPA’s procedural requirements.

CEQA is California state law.

It does not apply to purely federal actions on federal lands managed by DOI agencies.

It would only be relevant if a project also requires a state permit, approval, or funding that triggers CEQA.

Legal Challenges That Make Sense

Challenges would most likely focus on specific implementing decisions, not the Order itself.

The Order is internal policy and generally not final agency action under the Administrative Procedure Act.

Viable claims include:

*NEPA violations on specific permits/allotments
*Improper application of the FLPMA § 402(h) categorical exclusion when the allotment is not meeting land health standards due to livestock, or when management is actually changing.
*Failure to consider cumulative impacts, alternatives, or new information (climate, invasive species, wildlife) when relying on old analyses or DNAs.
*Arbitrary and capricious use of “super intelligence” tools if they result in incomplete or biased environmental documents.
*APA arbitrary-and-capricious challenges to individual permit decisions, AUM reinstatements, or refuge compatibility determinations that ignore rangeland health standards (43 CFR Subpart 4180), FLPMA’s multiple-use mandate, or the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.
*Endangered Species Act claims if expanded grazing or predator-control changes affect listed species or critical habitat without proper consultation.
*Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act claims if horse-reduction actions (roundups, fertility control, AML adjustments) are driven primarily by livestock AUM goals rather than the Act’s requirements.
*National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act claims if grazing is authorized in refuges without proper compatibility determinations that prioritize the refuge’s conservation purposes.
*FLPMA land-use plan consistency challenges if new grazing is authorized in areas where the applicable Resource Management Plan does not allow it or sets different objectives.

Successful challenges will almost always be site-specific (particular allotments, herd management areas, or refuge units).

They will turn on whether the agency actually met the criteria for a categorical exclusion or completed adequate NEPA/ESA review for that location.

Broad facial challenges to the Order itself are unlikely to succeed because it repeatedly defers to “applicable law.”

Bottom line:

The Order pushes aggressive use of existing statutory shortcuts for no-change grazing renewals.

But it does not—and cannot—grant authority to ignore NEPA or CEQA across the board.

Legal challenges remain available wherever the agency applies those shortcuts improperly or fails to meet statutory requirements on specific lands.

ABUSERS OF AMERICA'S PUBLIC LANDS or it's Protected Cultural Heritage Wild Horses WILL meet our lawyers in court!

We sued the BLM before and won because we were rightful and meritorious. And we won't hesitate to do so again.

Secretary Kennedy The Epoch Times Sam Bentley Secretary Doug Burgum President Donald J. Trump

10/28/2026

𝗗𝗢𝗜 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗴 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗴𝘂𝗺 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗪𝗮𝗿 𝗔𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲'

𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗢𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 - 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗱-𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗮𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗶𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀, 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗽.'

On October 27, 2026, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed Secretary’s Order No. 3454, “Supporting America’s Ranchers through Resilient Rangelands.”

Framed as support for rural economies and wildfire mitigation, the Order is a systematic expansion of livestock grazing priority across Department of the Interior lands. It accelerates permit renewals, reinstates suspended Animal Unit Months (AUMs), opens additional lands, eases constraints on predator control, and explicitly targets wild horses and burros for reduction to free forage for cattle and sheep.

The cumulative effect is a transfer of public rangelands from multi-species ecological function to industrial livestock production, with severe consequences for native predators, bison, and free-roaming equines.

Expanding Livestock at the Expense of Native Systems

The Order establishes a Department-wide Rangeland Health Initiative whose primary purpose is to facilitate livestock use.

Within 30 days, BLM, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and National Park Service must identify lands for long-term or emergency grazing. Within 120 days they must outline steps to issue permits. A goal of “no net loss of AUMs” is set, and BLM must inventory and evaluate reinstatement of suspended AUMs. Vacant and ungrazed allotments are to receive streamlined application processes, with preference for full 10-year terms for local livestock operators under the Taylor Grazing Act. Technology (“super intelligence”) is directed to clear permit backlogs and draft environmental documents for no-change renewals.

These directives lock in higher livestock densities on more acres for longer periods. Cattle and sheep are non-native, production-oriented herbivores whose grazing, trampling, and selective feeding have documented effects on western rangelands:

destruction of biological soil crusts,
soil compaction and erosion,
reduction of native perennial grasses,
and facilitation of invasive annuals such as cheatgrass.

Peer-reviewed analyses show livestock on public lands in the western United States are significant greenhouse-gas sources and shift ecosystems toward warmer, drier conditions that favor fire-prone invasives. A 1991 GAO report and subsequent studies found livestock grazing among the leading causes of species endangerment on public lands, particularly plants, with long recovery times in arid systems.

The Order’s emphasis on reinstating AUMs and opening new lands occurs without equivalent requirements to reduce livestock where rangeland health standards are already failing due to current grazing.

Predators and Other Wildlife Lose Protections

Section 5(f) and 6(b) require bureaus to identify and recommend changes to regulations, policies, and guidance that limit protection of livestock from predators. FWS must, within 90 days, review Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act processes affecting avian depredation and recommend changes to maximize livestock protection. Within 15 days, FWS must review the ESA section 10(j) rule and the Colorado gray-wolf reintroduction Memorandum of Understanding for greater responsiveness to livestock depredation, including criteria for lethal removal. FWS is also directed to initiate compatibility determinations for grazing in National Wildlife Refuge System units, including both temporary and 10-year authorizations.

These provisions tilt management toward increased lethal control of wolves, mountain lions, bears, coyotes, and other predators when they prey on livestock. Reduced native prey bases (deer, elk) from forage competition and habitat alteration already drive predators toward livestock; expanded grazing intensifies that dynamic.

Refuge grazing expansions risk degrading habitat used by bison, predators, and their prey.

The Order’s wildfire and “rangeland health” framing prioritizes livestock return after fire over recovery of native cover and structure needed by wildlife.

Direct Assault on Wild Horses and Sustainable Preservation
Section 6(a)(7) instructs BLM, “to the maximum extent practicable,” to reduce impacts on rangeland health from wild horses and burros. It requires improved tracking of fertility-control treatments, data collection on impacts to allotments, and a plan to reach and maintain Appropriate Management Levels (AML) “to ensure cessation of the destruction of rangelands by excess wild horses and burros.” This accelerates roundups, fertility control (including EPA-registered pesticides), and population suppression in service of livestock AUMs.

The Order’s background cites wild-horse “overpopulation” as a cause of reduced forage, reinforcing the narrative that horses must be reduced to free capacity for cattle and sheep. Free-roaming horses, managed as wild, function as ecosystem engineers in appropriate wilderness: year-round grazing reduces fine fuels, creates firebreaks, and can promote plant diversity and heterogeneity relative to sheep grazing. European rewilding studies (Portugal’s Greater Côa Valley; Iberian and Mediterranean systems) show semi-wild horses reduce grass height and biomass, lowering wildfire risk while favoring forbs. In contrast, cattle and sheep are seasonally managed, concentrate impacts near water and fences, and have been linked to cheatgrass expansion and loss of soil crusts. The Order ignores this distinction and treats horses as the problem to be solved for livestock.

Cattle and Sheep as Destructive Invasive Herbivores

Cattle and sheep are Eurasian domesticates introduced to North America. On arid and semi-arid public lands they differ fundamentally from native large herbivores or free-roaming equines.

Their heavy hoof action destroys biological soil crusts that stabilize soils and fix nitrogen. Selective grazing reduces native bunchgrasses, creating openings for invasive annuals. Trampling and nutrient redistribution alter plant communities, increase erosion, and degrade riparian zones.

Multiple studies document livestock as a primary driver of plant endangerment and landscape conversion on western public lands. While targeted grazing can sometimes reduce fuels, the Order’s expansionist approach—no-net-loss AUMs, reinstatement of suspended capacity, and opening of new lands—does not require the careful intensity, timing, or rest that even proponents of strategic grazing acknowledge as necessary. The result is further conversion of native systems toward livestock forage, at the expense of predators, bison, wild horses, and the biodiversity that depends on intact plant communities.

Institutional Momentum Against Multi-Use Balance

Tight timelines (30–180 days), preference for local livestock operators, coordination with USDA/Forest Service, and the Rangeland Health Initiative’s focus on livestock production create lasting institutional bias. The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, FLPMA’s multiple-use mandate, and refuge purposes are cited, yet implementation prioritizes livestock expansion and predator control over the ecological roles of free-roaming equines or the prey base for native carnivores. Existing failures of rangeland health standards due to livestock are not addressed with equivalent urgency.

Order 3454 is not neutral range management. It is a deliberate shift that expands the footprint and legal priority of non-native livestock, reduces constraints on lethal predator control, and accelerates suppression of wild horses to free forage. The ecological record shows cattle and sheep as agents of soil crust destruction, native-plant decline, and invasive-grass expansion. Treating them as the solution while targeting free-roaming horses and native predators is a policy of landscape conversion, not resilience.

References
Secretary’s Order No. 3454, Supporting America’s Ranchers through Resilient Rangelands (signed Oct. 27, 2026):
https://www.doi.gov/sites/default/files/document_secretarys_orders/so-3454-supporting-americas-ranchers-through-resilient-rangeland-2026-10-27-signed_508.pdf
BLM press release on the Order:
https://www.blm.gov/press-release/secretary-burgum-signs-order-support-american-ranchers-expand-grazing-and-cut-red-tape
Western Watersheds Project analysis of the Order:
https://westernwatersheds.org/2026/10/new-secretarial-order-prioritizes-grazing-above-all-else-on-public-lands/
Livestock Use on Public Lands in the Western USA Exacerbates Climate Change (Environmental Management, 2022):
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00267-022-01633-8
Managed as wild, horses influence grassland vegetation differently than domestic herds (Biological Conservation, 2024):
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320724000302
New paper highlights the benefits of grazing with wild horses (Rewilding Europe, Greater Côa Valley study):
https://rewildingeurope.com/news/new-paper-highlights-the-benefits-of-grazing-with-wild-horses/
Landscape-Scale Ecological Benefits of Properly Managed Free-Roaming Wild Horses (Pitchstone Waters synthesis):
https://www.pitchstonewaters.com/landscape-scale-ecological-benefits-of-properly-managed-free-roaming-wild-horses-in-appropriate-wilderness-ecosystems-an-empirical-and-scientific-synthesis-mini-dissertation/
# Secretary Kennedy Help Alberta Wildies Society Sierra Club The Epoch Times Redwood News TV5 News Los Angeles Times The Seattle Times San Francisco Chronicle KOLO 8 News Now Kati Weis

10/27/2026

WATCH THIS VIDEO & SHARE (Turn On Speaker)
https://vimeo.com/285882192
Help Alberta Wildies Society Secretary Kennedy Sam Bentley

American wild horses, a North American native-species, are fast disappearing as have other megafauna on the continent. They have been severely depleted by government mismanagement down from 2-million wild horses (1920s) to just about 5% of that former population today. The best science tell us that....

10/25/2026

SHARE-SHARE-SHARE! 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀—𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗮𝗱𝗲’𝘀 𝗛𝘆𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗱

(image: Senior wild horse researcher William Simpson II standing by the latest shipment of 3.25-tons of alfalfa for Our Herd. This year, we're on tract to supplement 50-tons of alfalfa hay to our free-roaming herd - Read Why Below).

Natural Selection is Nature’s rigorous filter for genetic vigor.

It is not cruelty; it is the mechanism that has shaped every free-roaming equid population for millennia. Mother Nature applies a suite of pressures—disease, extreme weather (drought, heat, cold), difficult terrain (rocks, potholes, abandoned fencing), competition among mares and stallions, predators (mountain lions, bears, wolves, coyotes), other wildlife risks, and the intelligence required to navigate them. Individuals that cannot meet these challenges leave fewer offspring. Over generations, weaker genetics are suppressed and stronger traits advance.

This process maintains the adaptive fitness that defines a truly wild herd.Our Cultural Heritage herd is not a random collection of domestic horses gone astray. Some individuals still express the ancestral Dun allele (and related non-dun1 alleles) at the TBX3 locus—the wild-type camouflage pattern with dorsal stripe, leg bars, and body markings that predates domestication.

Local fossils in the Cascade-Siskiyou Mountains document the deep presence of horses in this landscape.

Peer-reviewed scholarship, including the PhD dissertation of Dr. Yvette Running Horse Collin (University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017), together with Indigenous Traditional Knowledge and other historical and scientific sources, challenges the Eurocentric claim that all American horses are solely post-Columbian Spanish introductions. Collin’s work synthesizes Indigenous accounts, historical records, and scientific evidence to conclude that Indigenous horses of the Americas persisted through the Pleistocene and that the original peoples of these lands maintained relationships with them long before European contact.

Our herd carries the genetic and cultural signature of that deeper history. The herd once lived as unowned “feral” animals under Siskiyou County jurisdiction, roughly 20 miles northeast of Hornbrook, California. High-grading (selective removal of desirable individuals for sale or meat) was eroding genetic quality. Wild Horse Fire Brigade sought and obtained formal ownership recognition from the County specifically to end illegal pilfering under California Food and Agricultural Code and to stabilize the population.

Ownership transferred the herd into the legal category of privately held livestock managed by William Simpson, Michelle Gough, and the 501(c)(3) nonprofit WHFB. That legal shift created both opportunity and responsibility.

Livestock-style management designed for domestic horses would domesticate the herd and destroy the very wild character and genetic processes we are trying to preserve.

Full hands-off “let Nature take its course” management on open range, however, risks unmitigated suffering during extreme drought years when forage quality drops. With the same parasite load that is already present, the lowered nutritional value of the abundant forage creates a net loss of available calories for the grazing horses. (The primary seasonal rise in intestinal parasite pressure occurs in spring, when sugar content in the forage is at its peak—not during the late-summer and early-fall drought period.) This is especially challenging for older animals and lactating mares.

WHFB therefore adopted a hybrid model grounded in the BLM’s own Wild Horse and Burro Management Handbook (which calls for self-sustaining populations of healthy animals while protecting free-roaming behavior and genetic diversity) and updated with principles from the National Academy of Sciences and IUCN Equid Specialist Group guidance.Key elements of the plan:

*Allow Natural Selection to operate across the open range where the herd resides. Competition, terrain, predators, weather, and disease continue to test individuals.

*Monitor body condition and intervene only at the margins during exceptional stress (such as the 2026 drought).

*Supplemental high-quality alfalfa (approximately 50 tons this year versus the normal ~30 tons) and water (1,000 gallons per day at the ranch) are made available at Wild Horse Ranch—the historic core of the home range—so animals that choose to visit can offset the sharpest nutritional shortfall. Full feeding of the entire herd would require roughly 1,000 tons of hay annually (hundreds of thousands of dollars) and is neither practical nor desirable.

*Provide targeted support (worming and concentrated feed such as Omolene 300 when feasible) to pregnant or nursing older mares that visit the ranch, reducing mortality risk without removing the broader selective pressures.

*Avoid routine intensive handling, confinement, or selective breeding that would convert the population into a domestic herd.

This approach does not eliminate Natural Selection. The horses still face the full range of natural challenges on the open range—competition, predators, weather, terrain, and disease. What it does is reduce the harshest effects of extreme drought by offering a limited amount of extra feed and water at the ranch for the horses that choose to come in.

Even in a dry year, the open range itself still provides the great majority of the forage the herd needs (hundreds of thousands of tons available to all the herbivores in the area).

The supplemental feeding is only a temporary cushion during the worst part of a drought, not a replacement for natural living.
It aligns with the BLM handbook’s emphasis on genetic monitoring and minimum viable population considerations, the National Academy of Sciences’ recognition that genetic diversity and adaptive capacity depend on natural processes plus careful management of small populations, and IUCN principles for maintaining wild equid fitness while addressing welfare in managed landscapes.

No system is perfect. Some animals will still fail Nature’s tests.

That is the unavoidable cost of keeping a herd wild rather than turning it into a domestic collection.

Given the constraints of private ownership, open-range realities, finite resources, and the dual goals of genetic integrity and humane care, WHFB’s hybrid plan represents the highest practical standard currently achievable—science-informed, transparent, and focused on long-term vigor rather than short-term aesthetics or zero-intervention purity.

References
Collin, Yvette Running Horse. (2017). The Relationship Between the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas and the Horse: Deconstructing a Eurocentric Myth. PhD Dissertation, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
https://archive.org/details/collin-y-2017
Imsland, F., McGowan, K., Rubin, C. J., et al. (2016). Regulatory mutations in TBX3 disrupt asymmetric hair pigmentation that underlies Dun camouflage color in horses. Nature Genetics, 48, 152–158.
https://www.nature.com/articles/ng.3475
Bureau of Land Management. (2010). Wild Horses and Burros Management Handbook (H-4700-1). U.S. Department of the Interior.
https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/uploads/Media_Library_BLM_Policy_H-4700-1.pdf
National Research Council. (2013). Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward. National Academies Press.
https://www.nap.edu/catalog/13511/using-science-to-improve-the-blm-wild-horse-and-burro-program
IUCN SSC Equid Specialist Group. (Ongoing). Conservation guidance and action plans for wild equids.
https://iucn.org/our-union/commissions/group/iucn-ssc-equid-specialist-group
(See also: Moehlman, P.D., ed. (2002). Equids: Zebras, Asses and Horses. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN.)
Cothran, E.G., and related BLM genetic monitoring summaries referenced in the Handbook and NAS report (heterozygosity targets and minimum effective population size recommendations of ~50 breeding animals / ~150–200 total for acceptable diversity).
Supporting population and selection literature includes long-term free-ranging horse studies (e.g., Sable Island demographic and genetic work) documenting weather, density, and resource effects on survival and reproduction, and reviews of gastrointestinal parasite dynamics in free-ranging equids under nutritional stress.

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10/24/2026

SHARE-SHARE-SHARE: Wild Horse EcoTourism Works! It's Proven!

"There is no substitute for ecotourism programs that uniquely provide actual immersion into nature and the experience of the wonders that exist therein, first hand.” ~ William E Simpson II

https://ecotourism.org/news/ecotourism-a-path-towards-better-conservation/

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Ecotourism offers an important tool for both mankind and nature.

10/23/2026

𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞: 𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐥𝐩𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐈

William is cautious about speaking on BioField Healing and Energetics because the quantum physics involved is over the heads of most people, so they think it's just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. However, even the Dept. of Defense is now funding 'Equine Healing' for Veterans suffering from PTSD and other other neurological maladies.

This 'energetic simulation' is regarding the actual video posted a couple days ago with William and Alphy:

In the close, affectionate interaction captured between the black wild stallion Alphy and researcher William E. Simpson II (see post down this feed), something is occurring that the unaided human eye cannot fully register due to the narrow frequency band that the human eye can detect:

The human eye detects electromagnetic radiation in the visible light range.

Wavelength: approximately 400–700 nanometers (nm)
Frequency: approximately 430–750 terahertz (THz)

This band is what we perceive as the colors of the spectrum (violet through red). Outside this range, the eye does not respond:

Below ~400 nm (higher frequency) is ultraviolet — generally invisible.
Above ~700 nm (lower frequency) is infrared — also invisible.

Individual sensitivity can vary slightly (some people detect a bit further into the near-UV or near-IR under certain conditions), but the standard functional range for human vision is the 400–700 nm / ~430–750 THz band.

All living organisms generate electromagnetic fields as a byproduct of the electrical activity of cells, nerves, and the heart.

These fields—collectively studied under the term “biofield”—extend beyond the body and are measurable with instruments such as magnetometers, field-strength meters, and superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs).

The equine heart produces a particularly large electromagnetic field, extending several feet from the body—roughly five times the range of the human cardiac field. When a human and horse are in close proximity, these fields overlap.

Research has documented cardiac-field interactions and heart-rate synchrony between people and horses, providing a biophysical basis for the sense of calm connection often reported in human–equine relationships. In the moments when Alphy presses his head against William and William responds with relaxed contact, their fields are in direct spatial overlap, creating the conditions for mutual influence.Biofield research further explores whether these fields can carry information and, under conditions of focused intention, support coherence and potential healing effects. Controlled studies have recorded low-frequency magnetic-field oscillations (in the milligauss range) near practitioners during healing sessions, detectable with DC magnetometers.

Other work has shown changes in electroencephalographic (EEG) activity, heart-rate variability, and even cellular markers when intentional biofield interaction occurs. While mechanisms remain under investigation and results vary, the literature indicates that living fields are real, measurable, and capable of interacting across short distances.

The animation depicting field lines between Alphy and William is therefore not mere artistic metaphor. It visualizes a process that scientific instruments can detect: the continuous generation and overlap of electromagnetic fields from two living beings in calm, reciprocal contact. Whether this exchange contributes to the observed mutual trust and any subtle physiological benefits is a question for further measurement.

What is already established is that such fields exist, can be recorded with magnetometers and related equipment, and form part of the growing scientific examination of biofield interactions in both human and interspecies contexts.

Supporting References

*Rubik, B., Muehsam, D., Hammerschlag, R., & Jain, S. (2015). Biofield Science and Healing: History, Terminology, and Concepts. Global Advances in Health and Medicine. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4654789/
*Bengston, W. F., et al. (observations summarized in subsequent reviews). Magnetic field oscillations during healing sessions, recorded with DC magnetometers. See related discussion in Journal of Scientific Exploration and later reviews of bio-emissions.
Perspectives, Measurability and Effects of Non-Contact Biofield-Based Practices: A Narrative Review of Quantitative Research (2021). Documents use of magnetometers and related instruments to detect field changes during intentional practices. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8296239/
*Cohen, L., Delorme, A., et al. (2024). Examining the effects of biofield therapy through simultaneous assessment of electrophysiological and cellular outcomes. Scientific Reports. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-79617-3
*Oregon State University-related discussion of equine cardiac electromagnetic fields and human–horse physiological attunement (cardiac field overlap and heart-rate synchrony). Referenced in equine bioelectromagnetic literature building on earlier measurements of equine heart fields.
HeartMath Institute research on cardiac electromagnetic fields and inter-individual coherence (foundational work on measurable heart fields extending beyond the body).

These sources establish that living electromagnetic fields are measurable and that intentional or close-proximity interactions can produce detectable changes. The Alphy–William exchange sits within this emerging framework of biofield science.

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