Revisiting the Feral Horse Issue at Theordore Roosevelt National Park
Should feral animals be protected in national parks or is the mission of the NPS to promote native species? That's the issue at TRNP
Approximately a year ago, I wrote the commentary below on the proposal to remove feral horses from Theodore Roosevelt National Park. A new editorial in the Washington Post was published today arguing that these domestic animals, now feral, should be permitted to dwell in a national park dedicated to protecting and enhancing the landscape for native species.
As much as horse advocates may wish to ignore the science of the origins of these horses (they are descendants of domesticated animals), the science is clear. These feral horses have no place in our national park system for reasons I have articulated below.
There are several things that one must consider. First, the mission of the NPS is to promote native species.
The second comment I need to make because many horse advocates who have previously written their responses to my column assume I am ignorant of domestic livestock impacts on public lands. I have been seeking to remove domestic animals from the public lands for nearly 50 years.
Before anyone lectures me on the damage done by domestic cows and sheep, you should google my name and public lands grazing or livestock damage, and other searches. I have probably written and published more articles, commentaries and LTE on the damage done by domestic livestock than anyone I know. I have written book chapters, scientific papers, and even entire books on the topic of livestock damage, including Welfare Ranching–the subsidized destruction of the American West. I don’t need lectures from anyone about how domestic livestock are a blight on our public lands.
The NPS should follow its mandate to manage for native species and gradually eliminate these horses. The NPS has said horse lovers can adopt these animals. Horse lovers should step up and provide a home for these animals on private lands where they belong.
The wild beauty of the Little Missouri badlands within Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota. Photo George Wuerthner
Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) has proposed eliminating feral horses and domestic livestock from the Park. Unlike the fiasco at Point Reyes National Seashore, where the NPS appears to support maintaining domestic livestock within the park unit, the staff at TRNP recommends reducing the number of domestic animals to zero. Management of feral horses and domestic cattle across the West has been contentious for decades.
TRNP has a small herd of domestic cattle which it plans to eliminate. Photo George Wuerthner
Opposition to the proposal comes from the Governor Burgum of North Dakota, the state legislature, and the United Tribes of North Dakota. Burgum, speaking on behalf of the hospitality industry, suggests that horses and cattle are a draw for tourists and are part of the ranching “heritage” of the state.
The state legislature is also considering a resolution that would oppose the removal of livestock from the Park. But, of course, this would only be advisory since federal authority trumps state laws.
The United Tribes of North Dakota consider feral horses as “sacred” and oppose their removal from TRNP. Photo George Wuerthner
The tribes, for their part, argue that horses are “sacred” and part of their cultural heritage.
New genetic testing demonstrates that the horses in TRNP underwent genetic bottlenecks and founder effects, but are related to the domestic horses of Europe and Asia, which supports the historical evidence they are the result of European introduction.
Although the Park described the horses for decades as “wild horses” or “feral horses,” park officials recently classified them as livestock and maintain they have “no basis” to keep livestock in the Park under laws and regulations.
Park officials, including Angie Richman, the park superintendent, have said the Park’s enabling legislation and other federal laws don’t allow them to keep livestock in the Park. The Park’s mission, Richman has said, is to preserve native species and ecosystems.
TRNP’s mission is to manage for prevation of natural values and biodivesity. Tiger swallowtail on thistle Theodore Roosevelt NP ND. Photo George Wuerthner
The cattle management within the Park relies on a 1970s plan, while the feral horse plan was adopted in 1978. The 1978 plan called for 35-60 horses. Today there are more than 200, well above the original plan.
The Park has tried to limit the number of horses through periodic roundups and even birth control. But the horses, say the NPS, are “efficient breeders.”
The NPS says that based on new science, and ecological insights, the removal of horses and domestic cattle should be the priority of park management.
A new cattle borne disease poses a risk to the park bison herd. Photo George Wuerthner
A further issue is that TRNP is home to bison, and in 2022 a bacterial disease of cattle, Mycoplasma bovis, was discovered in the Park. Mycoplasma bovis poses a threat to the Park’s bison.
Three preliminary alternatives are under consideration by the NPS. Alternative A (No Action Alternative: continued herd management under the 1978 EA and 1970 Management Plan), Alternative B (Action Alternative: expedited reduction of herds to no livestock), and Alternative C (Proposed Action Alternative: phased reduction of herds to no livestock).
Bison at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Photo George Wuerthner
The expedited alternative would eliminate all horses and cattle within two years. Part of the reason for the quick removal of livestock is the risk of disease transfer they pose to the park’s bison herds.
However, since releasing a plan draft, feral horse and cattle advocates have rallied to flood the NPS with letters denouncing the move.
HISTORY OF THEODORE ROOVELT NATIONAL PARK
Teddy Roosvelt cabin Theodore Roosevelt NP ND. Photo George Wuerthner
Theodore Roosevelt first came to ranch among the beautiful badlands along the Little Missouri River in North Dakota in 1884 after his mother died from typhoid fever and within hours his wife, Alice, also died from kidney disease.
Roosevelt was distraught; some say, he went west seeking solace over the loss of his family.
Prairie flowers in Theordore Roosevelt National Park. Photo George Wuerthner
He established two ranches—the Maltese Cross Ranch near Medora and the Elkhorn some 35 miles north of Medora. After the devastating winter of 1886-87 that killed tens of thousands of cattle on the northern plains, Roosevelt decided to get out of the ranching business and focus on politics. He sold his last interests in the Elkhorn Ranch in 1898.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park was first proposed in 1919 shortly after TR died to honor the former President. However, it went nowhere until Franklin Roosevelt proposed in 1942 to add the area to the national park system.
In 1945 North Dakota Congressman William Lemke introduced a bill for a Little Missouri Badlands. But, unfortunately, it failed to get President Truman’s signature. So Lemke tried again in 1947 and got a Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park managed mainly as a historical site.
Feral horses were present when the memorial Park was established in 1947.
The NPS mission is to preserve the natural environment. Little Missouri River, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND. Photo George Wuerthner
In 1978, the area was upgraded to full national park status, and the NPS began to manage the site more for its natural values. The presence of exotic feral horses has never met the overriding principle of managing native species.
DO FERAL HORSES BELONG IN A NATIONAL PARK?
National Park Historian Robert Utley suggested that the horses have historical value and may be descendants of horses once bred by Sitting Bull and other native people.
A feral horse grazes in the Pryor Mountains of Montana. Photo George Wuerthner
Of course, all horses are descendants of domestic livestock, whether ridden by Roosevelt or Sitting Bull.
Feral horses are found on other national park units, such as Assateague Island National Seashore. And domestic cattle and horses are currently the subject of a controversial plan to maintain private farms within Point Reyes National Park. In addition, there are about 300,000 feral horses on the Bureau of Land Management and National Forest lands and state, private and tribal lands across the West.
Many scientists believe feral horses pose a threat to native ecosystem, plants and wildlife. However, feral horse advocates believe that domestic livestock pose a greater threat to the West’s ecosystems.
However, the national park service has a different mandate than these other federal land management agencies. As noted by the TRNP Superintendent, the Park Service’s mission is to preserve native species and ecosystems.
FERAL HORSES RELICTS OF SPANISH COLONIZATION
The cultural appropriation of the horse by Native Americans provided greater mobility, leading to more warfare, and the adoption of the bison hunting culture of the Great Plains. Photo George Wuerthner
Horses are not native to North America and were introduced by the Spanish in 1519. Cultural appropriation by the tribes began in the 1600s. Horses reached tribes in the northern plains by 1750-1780, setting the era of mobile bison hunting tradition in motion. The adoption of the horse by Native Americans had both positive and negative influences for them. It also had severe consequences for bison herds, and tribal hunting for the hide trade may have contributed to the demise of the once vast bison herds.
Map showing the movement of horses northward from the Southwest, reaching the area around TRNP about 1750.
This debate gets to the heart of the matter. Do we need to “preserve” domestic animals in our national parks?
Approximately 300,000 feral horses roam the West, do we need to have them in our national parks as well? Photo George Wuerthner
Given that there are hundreds of thousands of feral horses, not to mention about 95 million domestic cattle in the United States, there is no need to keep either cattle or horses in any national park unit.
Kids view on prairie dog town Theodore Roosevelt NP ND. The NPS goal is to preserve native wildlife like bison and prairie dogs. Photo George Wuerthner
I commend Superintendent Richman and the TRNP staff for having the courage to recommend removal of domestic animals from the park.
However, with the pressure exerted on the TRNP from North Dakota politicians, wild horse advocates, and the United Tribes of North Dakota who suggest feral horses are “sacred” animals, I suspect the NPS will bow to the political influence.
TRNP livestock management plan will be open for public comment later this spring and summer when it comes out with a finalized proposal.