The Fence We Oppose

The Forest Service intends to build a metal fence right along the last four miles of the Lower Salt River -- including across the river itself! The fence will block the wild horses from accessing their critical river and historic habitats on both sides of the river. Horses on one side of the fence will be trapped on the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community and horses on the other side in the Tonto National Forest will be blocked from their water source, potentially causing dehydration and death! Worse, the Forest Service announced today that it will begin to build this deadly fence this week!

The fence will have terrible consequences not only for the horses but also for recreationalists who will now have to pass through a gate/fence when tubing or kayaking down the lower Salt River. Additionally, by cutting the Salt River horses off from half of their habitat, the fence violates state law that protects the horses “where they have historically lived.”

Despite the fence’s impacts, the Forest Service never performed required environmental analysis or gave the public an opportunity to weigh in on the controversial project by participating in the approval process.

Additional fencing along Bush Hwy will, when closed, will cut off horses from the entire south side of Bush Hwy, almost half of their historic habitat. While we share the goal of keeping horses out of the roadway, we believe this is a bad plan. It will result in severe concentration of horses exactly where most people are, putting people and horses on a course to collision, making future wild horse removals highly likely. We have advocated for a wildlife overpass (below) over Bush Hwy as a solution, but this is NOT currently included in the fencing plan.

We believe both fences that cut off the Salt River wild horses off from half of their historic habitat are not consistent with the state law that protects the Salt River wild horses, which mandates that they are protected “where they have historically lived.”