AWHC's Response to Country Natural Beef Regarding Whole Foods
On October 30, 2015, the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) wrote to Whole Foods to notify the company that it was selling beef sourced from Country Natural Beef, a cooperative that includes several of the ranchers behind the massive Beatys Butte wild horse roundup in Oregon. Our letter asked Whole Foods to adopt a policy to exclude the sale of meat from animals grazed on public lands in designated wild horse and burro habitat areas.
In response, Whole Foods urged AWHC to engage in dialogue with Stacy Davies, the marketing director for Country Natural Beef and the head of the Beatys Butte Grazing Association. AWHC also received a response from Mr. Davies asserting his interest in a dialogue with AWHC on wild horse/public lands issues. Last year, AWHC and our coalition partner The Cloud Foundation engaged in a dialogue with Mr. Davies and his fellow ranchers from the grazing association, but they ignored our proposal for reasonable compromise after the BLM agreed to remove 1,400 wild horses from the Beatys Butte Herd Management Area.
AWHC's Response to Stacy Davies/Country Natural Beef
November 13, 2015
Stacy Davies
Roaring Springs Ranch
Country Natural Beef
Dear Stacy,
Thank you for your October 22, 2015 letter to us regarding our correspondence with Whole Foods Market. In that letter, you affirm your support for the wild horse roundups underway in Oregon, and for the management plans that restrict wild horse populations to unnaturally low levels based on the allocation of the vast majority of forage resources in Herd Management Areas to livestock.
The fact that the Beatys Butte roundup underway now is reducing the wild horse population to 100 horses on 624 square miles of public land is testimony to the absurdity and unfairness of this system. You and I both know that the roundup is underway specifically due to the pressure that you and the members of your grazing association put on the Bureau of Land Management to remove horses so that you can graze more cows on the public lands in this area in the future.
Your offer to engage in a dialogue on wild horse management issues is welcomed. However, we do find it ironic, given our history of outreaching to you numerous times previously and your lack of response.
To refresh your memory, I’m attaching our September 9, 2014 letter to you, which affirms our commitment to resolving differences between ranchers and wild horse advocates and finding common ground to address stakeholder concerns for the management of public lands.
Unfortunately, you and your colleagues in the Beatys Butte Grazing Association summarily ignored our reasonable proposal for compromise once the BLM granted your request for a massive wild horse removal in the Beatys Butte Herd Management Area.
We remain willing to meet with you again, as we did last year, to discuss our reasonable proposal for compromise, which includes the following key points:
- A fairer allocation of resources to wild horses and other wildlife within the Beatys Butte HMA.
- The use of the PZP fertility control vaccine to humanely manage Beatys Butte wild horses on the range as an alternative to cruel and costly roundups.
- Compensation to ranchers for reduction in allotted grazing in the HMA in recognition of the economic interests of grazing permittees.
As stated above, we have attempted to engage in a dialogue with you and we are willing to do so again.
Wild horses in Oregon are present on just 19 percent of BLM land available for livestock grazing, and just 3 percent of America’s beef supply is provided by cattle grazed on public land.
It is clear that conflicts between wild horses and livestock are eminently resolvable – if there is a will to resolve them.
We are hopeful that consumer demand for mustang-safe beef will increase the chances of good faith discussions with you and other ranchers who graze their cows and sheep on the small amount of public lands where wild horses and burros are allowed to live. AWHC representatives are in the San Francisco Bay Area and stand ready to meet with you as soon as possible.
We hope that the sentiments expressed in your letter result in action and real progress for collaboration and compromise.
Sincerely,
Suzanne Roy, Director