BLM, FOM partner to manage vital resource for horses, wildlife

What do you get when range management staff and volunteers dedicated to protecting mustangs meet on the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range? A repaired watering station for wildlife, a respect for each other’s work ethic, and a partnership solidified in mud.

Bureau of Land Management staff and volunteers from the Friends of the Mustangs worked as a team Aug. 30 to overhaul a crumbling watering station with a clogged drain and leaky tanks on the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range.

After making several trips to haul tools, large plastic tubs, and 50-lb railroad ties – while dodging pinyon-juniper branches and zigzagging through sagebrush – the team got to digging. They replaced old pipes; added new plastic liners for better drainage; and installed new stock tanks to provide a safe area for animals to hydrate.

The watering stations are vital to life on the range and require regular monitoring.

“Judy [Cady] let me know a couple of months ago she had another spring she needed to repair,” said Isaac “Ike” Pittman, Assistant Field Manager for the BLM Grand Junction Field Office and liaison with the FOM. “We don’t have a full-time horse management specialist on staff to manage the horses, so we rely on FOM volunteers to help inspect the springs and let us know when they need work.”

Water, a vital resource in the arid region, flows from several small natural springs to small ponds and constructed watering stations located throughout the range.

“In the drought years, these springs are pretty much it for water for the animals,” said Judy Cady, current FOM president and group member in her 38th year. “It is essential we do this, but it is a constant battle to upkeep; we are grateful for the help we receive.”

The team’s sweat equity involved digging up and replacing a French drain to help funnel water from the spring to a pipe, which then drains into a pair of 100-gallon stock tanks.

“The work was backbreaking and tough, but good. Work like this is such a good time to foster the relationship with the FOM team – they are an invaluable resource and help in the stewardship of this land and the animals that call it home.”

Isaac “Ike” Pittman, Assistant Field Manager for the BLM Grand Junction Field Office and liaison with the FOM

With limited staff and resources, it makes sense that the BLM leans on the experience of FOM members to track horses and other animal movement and to help monitor the status of water supplies and changes to the ecosystem.

“I come out to the range area at least a couple of times each week and watch the horses. I note their conditions – if any look injured, if there are new foals – and I keep track of their locations and the movement of the bands,” said FOM member Sue Drake. “I’m an avid hiker, lover of the outdoors, and lover of all animals. …This is the best job I’ve ever had, and I love to come out here and do projects like this.”

At the end of the day, the team agreed that they accomplished what they set out to do: repaired a much-needed resource, solidified a valuable partnership, and shared appreciation of each other’s hard work.

The Bureau of Land Management is tasked with ensuring the 36,113 acres of the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range are managed to preserve wild horses and their habitat, other wildlife like elk and deer, and protect natural resources including soil and water quality.

Friends of the Mustangs is an organization with roughly 90 members – animal lovers, nature enthusiasts, devoted hikers – who do their part to help maintain trails and water resources for horses and other animal life that survive in the high desert landscape of the Little Book Cliffs.

The team consisted of BLM staff Isaac Pittman, Brody Pollard and Jacob Brown, and BLM volunteer Chuck Marsh. The FOM team brought Judy Cady; Dora Bensch; Tom Reznicek, Sue Drake, and their newest member Delta County Commissioner Mike Lane.