Fading Opportunities
By Steven Didier, Chairman Back Country Horsemen of America
Did you know that, according to the American Horse Council, the recreation component of the horse industry is 2,970,000 strong? And did you also know that the recreational component of the industry contributes more than 25% to the total value of the goods and services produced by the industry? That is more than 25% of $25.3 billion of directly produced goods and services; more than 25% of a total impact of $112.1 billion on the U.S. gross domestic product.
The use of equines for recreational purposes is the fastest growing segment in the entire horse industry! But that is something I suspect most horse owners have known for some time. One only needs to take a Sunday drive around the urban fringes and rural areas and start counting the number of homes with equines in the backyard. Certainly not scientific, but it will confirm subjectively that there certainly seems to be more horse owners!
Why should that matter to you and I? Isn’t that a good thing for the industry? Well yes, it is good for the industry, but there is a potential… no, a very real downside to all of those new equine owners. Most equine owners will at some point take their animals on a trail; they may even ride trails regularly. On the face of it that is a good thing, right?
There are people who object to the use of large animals on trails. Some do so out of concern for the environment, others do so because they think that equines are not an appropriate use of trails. Still others object out of misunderstanding and ignorance about the potential effects that equines may or may not have on the trail environment. In every case the detractors to equine use make statements such as these:
1. Those equines leave manure, and that manure will pollute the watershed. People will
contract Giardia and Cryptosporidium because of horses.
2. Horses cause unacceptable resource damage. They caused or will cause “X” trail to
become eroded.
3. Equines will spread noxious weeds.
4. Equines will out-compete wildlife for forage.
5. I shouldn’t have to share my trail with horses.
The list goes on but you get the picture, there are a lot of individuals and some organizations that would deny you the right to access and ride a trail in your particular area. The kind and location of trail is secondary to the denial, you may have access and the skills to ride a local trail for a day or you may be prepared to set off on a multi day pack trip in a wilderness area two states away from home. Left unchallenged, those denials will result in fading opportunities for you to ride your mount on public land.
More often than not, the objections to and reasons for denial of use by equines in an area or on a trail have less to do with science and substantive data. They have more to do with misconception, philosophy and political pressure (individual and group).
All of this illustrates the absolute need to become and stay active and informed in two major areas---the political arena and the planning process. Asking which comes first and which is more important is kind of like asking about the chicken and the egg. If we want to preserve our access and our children’s grandchildren’s access to public lands and the trails therein, we need to become proficient in both the Land Management Planning Process and the political arena.
Back Country Horsemen of America and our member state organizations are becoming knowledgeable and have varying degrees of proficiency in both areas. We have learned a few things in our quest to become more effective advocates for the continued use of equines on public lands:
- Relationships---the most important thing that you can do to have a positive effect with any land management agency is to develop and nurture a working relationship with the land manager who makes the decisions for the public land that you recreate on.
- Volunteer---the second most important thing you can do to insure your use will continue is to volunteer your time and expertise on projects that have a positive affect on the resource. Trail and trailhead projects such as logging and brushing, drainage work, and educational projects are worthwhile. In short, any service project that will give back to the resource and stretch agency funding dollars further will make a positive impact.
- Land Use Planning—the third most effective thing you can do is to become familiar with and active in land use planning. Know when your local Forest plan is being revised, know when that section of DNR land is up for use review and then become knowledgeable in the NEPA process for those reviews and comment on them! Under the new planning rules unless you comment on an EIS, EA or draft plan at the start of the public scoping process you will not have legal standing to disagree if you find out part of the plan has a provision that you think will affect your use of equines.
- Organize—the fourth most effective thing you can do to insure your use of equines on public lands will persist, is to join an organization such as Back Country Horsemen of America so as to multiply your voice and your effectiveness nation wide.
We live in a complex world today with threats to our avocation at every turn. The average horse owner has the power to make a difference in whether or not their grandchildren have the same opportunities to ride their own horse or mule on public land as we now do. But in order to preserve that opportunity each of us has to become an effective advocate. The choice is ours to make.
For more information on Back Country Horsemen of America visit http://www.backcountryhorse.com
