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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JULY 13, 2015
Group claims BLM is breeding special mustangs in Oregon
By JEFF BARNARD
Associated Press
GRANTS PASS — Wild-
horse advocates are challeng-
ing U.S. Bureau of Land Man-
agement plans this summer to
round up the famous Kiger
and Riddle Mountain mustang
herds in eastern Oregon, argu-
ing the agency is developing a
“master breed” of wild horses
exhibiting characteristics of
old Spanish bloodlines that
are popular with the public,
rather than maintaining wild
horses in natural conditions,
as the law requires.
The Colorado-based group
Front Range Equine Rescue
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plan Wednesday with the In-
terior Board of Land Appeals.
The appeal argues that the
BLM returns to the range only
horses exhibiting Kiger char-
acteristics, effectively breed-
ing for those characteristics
and depleting the gene pool,
endangering the ability of the
herds to survive in the wild.
“We just believe the Wild
Horse Act was intended to
protect wild horses in their
natural state, not to turn herd
management areas into breed-
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of horses,” said attorney
Bruce Wagman, who rep-
resents the wild horse group.
The next roundup is ex-
pected in mid-August, with
adoptions at the wild horse
corrals in Hines in October,
the BLM said. Plans call for
keeping off the range up to
105 Kigers out of a herd of
141, and 48 Riddle Mountains
out of a herd of 73, according
to BLM documents.
BLM spokesman Jeff
Campbell said bureau law-
yers were still examining the
appeal, but the bureau keeps
close track of the herds’ ge-
netic diversity, bringing in
outside horses to the herd
Jamie Francis/The Oregonian via AP, file
Kiger Mustangs from the Kiger Management Area near Diamond in southeast Oregon are shown in 2007. Wild horse
advocates are challenging U.S. Bureau of Land Management plans to round up the famous Kiger and Riddle Mountain
mustang herds in eastern Oregon, arguing that the roundup is designed to breed a master race of wild horses exhibit-
ing old Spanish bloodlines, violating the intent of the law protecting wild horses.
Anthony Dimaano/The Bulletin via AP, File
A mustang and her calf run at the Forever Free Mustang
refuge near Bend in 2006.
have been followed. Some
wild-horse advocates also ob-
ject to the use of contraceptive
to control herd numbers.
Wagman said the appeal
was not seeking an order im-
mediately stopping the gath-
er, but they hoped the BLM
would hold off until the ap-
peal was settled.
AP Photo/Don Ryan, file
A wild weanling Kiger mustang horse reacts to a nip on
the cheek from another horse at the Bureau of Land Man-
agement wild horse pen in Hines in 1999.
when needed, and returns to
the range horses less likely to
be adopted.
Wagman said the appeal
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a BLM wild horse round-
up based on genetic issues.
Other challenges have been
based on claims of cruelty and
whether environmental laws
The BLM has put on
hold plans to round up 300
wild horses in Nevada after
a federal judge temporarily
blocked it earlier this year for
fear of harm to the mustangs.
The BLM gathers the Ki-
ger and Riddle Mountain
herds every four years to con-
trol their effect on the range.
While other wild horse herds
rounded up around the West of-
ten go begging, the BLM web-
site says that nearly every one of
the Kiger and Riddle Mountain
horses brought in is adopted,
some in competitive bidding.
Meanwhile, nearly 50,000 wild
horses are held by the BLM at
a cost of $43 million a year be-
cause no one wants them.
Located about 50 miles
south of Burns, the Kigers are
known for being strong com-
pact horses that bond closely
with people. They come with
distinctive markings, such as
a stripe down the back, zebra
stripes on the lower legs, long
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muzzles. The most common
colors are dun, but a slate gray
known as grulla, and a light
buckskin known as claybank,
are highly prized.
At one auction in 1999,
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$19,000. Another served as
the model for a 2002 animat-
ed movie about wild horses
called “Spirit: Stallion of the
Cimarron.”
“By capitalizing on the
fame and desirability of the
Kiger Mustang to the detri-
ment of other horses presently
found in the Kiger and Rid-
dle Mountain (herds), BLM
is participating in the unlaw-
ful commercial exploitation
of wild horses that the Wild
Horse Act sought to prohibit,”
the appeal argues.
“By reducing the genetic
diversity in the (herds) to only
those horses with Kiger Mus-
tang characteristics, and then
conducting gathers every four
years to round up these valu-
able Kiger horses to sell them
for adoption, BLM effectively
creates a breeding facility that
injures the wild horses’ sur-
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only BLM and private actors
desirous of purchasing this
‘breed,”’ the appeal said.
Guided hikes on Mount St. Helens offer up-close views
By ERIC FLORIP
The Columbian
WINDY RIDGE, Wash.
(AP) — Looking into the crater
of Mount St. Helens, it can be
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massive geologic amphitheater.
That’s true even from the
closest vantage points. Peter
Frenzen, the Mount St. Helens
monument scientist, helps put
things in perspective.
Frenzen points out that the
older lava dome inside the crater
dwarfs Seattle’s Space needle.
The volcano’s newer lava dome,
formed between 2004 and 2008,
reaches higher than the Empire
State Building. And the entire mile-
wide crater is large enough to en-
circle all of downtown Portland.
There’s another feature in-
side the crater that’s often over-
looked in this active volcano.
It’s also a relative rarity: a gla-
cier that’s growing in size, not
shrinking. The Crater Glacier,
which forms a ring around both
lava domes, continues to slowly
lurch northward toward the cra-
ter’s mouth.
The young ice formation un-
derscores the ever-changing na-
ture of Mount St. Helens and its
surrounding landscape.
“The world is not stable. It’s
a temporary thing,” Frenzen
said. “This is a place where it’s
really kind of in your face.”
Later this summer, the
Mount St. Helens Institute will
offer guided hikes featuring up-
close views of the glacier and
the inside of the crater. The Cra-
ter Glacier View Climb takes
participants close to the crater
rim on the mountain’s north
side, a destination no public trail
reaches.
The institute has offered the
guided hike as part of an over-
night trip in 2013 and 2014. But
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can see the Crater Glacier up
close on a single-day hike.
The cost of the daylong trip
— $195 per person — isn’t
cheap. But paid excursions
such as the Crater Glacier View
Climb help pay for other pro-
grams and activities the Mount
St. Helens Institute offers, said
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director of operations.
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catastrophic 1980 eruption,
Mount St. Helens remains
a strong hook for people,
Yurkewycz said. Providing
access to new areas helps gen-
erate new interest, he said. It
helps teach participants about
IF YOU GO
• What: Crater Glacier
View Climb.
• When: Select dates be-
tween July 26 and Sept. 12.
• Where: The hike begins
and ends at Windy Ridge
Viewpoint, traveling to and
from the Mount St. Helens
crater rim.
• How much: $195 per
person.
• More info: Spots can be
reserved through the Mount
St. Helens Institute online at
www.mshinstitute.org
Natalie Behring/The Columbian via AP
A stream along the way during an uphill hike on Mount St. Helens in Washington June
25. A group of local media were invited to take part in a new hike that later in the summer
the Mount St. Helens Institute will offer, guided hikes featuring up-close views of the
glacier and the inside of the crater.
the volcano and the science
behind it.
“There’s so many things to
talk about and think about while
you’re walking,” Yurkewycz said.
The Mount St. Helens In-
stitute and U.S. Forest Service
recently offered a preview of
the Crater Glacier View Climb
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out on July 26.
The hike
The glacier view hike starts
and ends at Windy Ridge View-
point, northeast of the mountain.
The 9-mile round-trip follows
sections of the Truman Trail,
Windy Trail and Loowit Trail
before venturing off trail up to
the crater rim.
At times, it’s not a gentle
stroll.
The hike climbs about 1,800
feet to a peak elevation of 5,300
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navigating a loose mixture of
ash, pumice and other volca-
nic rock on a steep incline. The
moon-like terrain sinks and
shifts underfoot. Each step feels
like two or three.
Much of the hike is unshel-
tered across a mostly treeless
landscape. But the trek includes
stellar views — including
Mount Adams, Mount Rainier
and Mount Hood in the distance
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As the Truman Trail de-
scends from Windy Ridge, the
trail follows an old forest road
that was used for logging oper-
ations and public access before
1980.
By the time the hike reaches
the Windy Trail, the earthy smell
of prairie lupine faintly hangs in
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Natalie Behring/The Columbian via AP
A field of Lupin grows along the way on Mount St. Helens
in Washington.
taken hold here, particularly on
the Pumice Plain directly north
of the volcano — the area com-
pletely scrubbed clean and bur-
ied by the lateral blast of May
18, 1980.
“It is a place where nothing
survived,” Frenzen said. “It is tru-
ly primary succession — ground
zero for a new ecosystem.”
That’s why scientists have
taken such a keen interest in the
area, Frenzen said. The eruption
created a unique opportunity to
see life start over from the begin-
ning, he said. A 30,000-acre area
mostly north of the mountain is
considered the most valuable for
research, and public access there
is restricted to designated trails.
Thriving lupine has already
changed the landscape. In full
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plain like streaks of purple paint-
ed across an empty canvas. The
plants add nutrients to the soil
that will pave the way for new
life to follow, Yurkewycz said.
Eventually, he added, a forest
will return.
Some trees have already re-
turned to the area. A grove of
willow trees follows the path of
a creek down the north slope of
the mountain. The creek is fed
by a natural spring near Loowit
Trail, creating a welcome oasis
of shade and cold, drinkable wa-
ter along the hike.
From the Loowit Trail, the
trek ventures off trail toward
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1,000 feet of elevation in just
half a mile. It ends at the crater’s
mouth, next to the Sugar Bowl
rock formation.
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Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A
Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500
Forest Service, which manages
the Mount St. Helens Nation-
al Volcanic Monument. And
North Country EMS will likely
accompany many of this year’s
trips, Yurkewycz said.
Lawetlat’la
Mount St. Helens rests in
a state of relative slumber for
now. But it remains an active
volcano less than a decade re-
moved from its last eruptive
phase that ended in 2008.
For many, the mountain is
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EODVWWKDWÀDWWHQHGPLOHVRIIRU-
The crater
est, darkened skies and killed
While the Crater Glacier View 57 people. Mount St. Helens
Climb ventures right up to the cra- is now among the most close-
ter’s edge, people aren’t allowed ly monitored volcanoes in the
into the caldera itself. And for world, Frenzen said. And sci-
good reason, Frenzen said.
entists know it will erupt again,
“The crater is an incredibly he added.
dangerous place,” Frenzen said.
The volcano’s explosive
From the outside looking history started long before
in, the area appears rugged but 1980. Native people have long
relatively peaceful. The steady recognized that history as part
VRXQG RI /RRZLW &UHHN ÀRZ- of the mountain’s identity, said
ing through the crater’s mouth Nathan Reynolds, an ecologist
with the Cowlitz Indian Tribe.
stands out.
Inside the crater, it’s a differ- The Cowlitz name for Mount
St. Helens, Lawetlat’la (“The
ent story.
Paul Pepper of Yacolt-based 6PRNHU´HYRNHVLWV¿HU\SDVW
North Country EMS is among Reynolds said.
Mount St. Helens’ cultur-
the agency’s Volcano Rescue
Team members who have hiked DO VLJQL¿FDQFH WR WKH &RZOLW]
and even camped inside the cra- Tribe and the Yakama Nation
ter. Pepper described hearing helped it earn special recogni-
water rushing under the glacier tion in 2013. The mountain was
as he stood on it. Steam vents designated a Traditional Cul-
release pressure. Rocks occa- tural Property and listed on the
National Register of Historic
sionally fall nearby.
“It is live in there,” Pepper Places. It’s one of just 23 Tra-
ditional Cultural Properties in
said. “Everything moves.”
The terrain presents a lot of the country, and one of two in
challenges for even the most Washington.
“As you climb the moun-
experienced outdoor enthusi-
ast, which is why it would be tain, you enter a place that’s of
LQFUHGLEO\ GLI¿FXOW WR UHVFXH stronger spiritual power for the
someone who became injured indigenous people,” Reynolds
said.
or stuck, Pepper said.
The same can be true for
That’s largely why the Cra-
ter Glacier View Climb exists any visitor, Frenzen said.
“There’s a whole world out
only as a guided trip, Frenzen
here that people can connect
said.
The Mount St. Helens Insti- with and spend time with and
tute is allowed to offer the hike form their own relationships
under a permit from the U.S. with,” he said.
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