In response to “Better management of local wild horses could mean better outcomes when a wildfire breaks out” (Aug. 28), Anza, the last of the four stallions from the 2003 Coyote Canyon Herd Area capture, is almost 30 years old, lives with us. The other three are buried under our old oak tree overlooking their homeland at Warner Springs Valley in San Diego County.
San Diego is excluding restoration of this living native heritage in the Multiple Species Conservation Plan without sufficient mandated tribal consultation and despite previous support of prior Boards of Supervisors, state Sen. Bill Morrow, Congressman Darryl Issa, and 50,000 members of various multiple user groups.
The devastation of California wild horse herds is a result of fatally flawed Resource Management Plans by exclusion of American native historic and cultural resources.
The Coyote Canyon horses are descendants of ancient herds, brought by Spanish expeditions on or before 1769. The exclusion of America’s heritage herds has resulted in their extinction in the wild, despite four major congressional acts.
A remedy: Amend Resource Management Plans to include wild horses and historic trails, a boilerplate process under NEPA and CEQA. California should be leading the nation in rewilding its heritage. U.S. states and territories develop state Wildlife Action Plans for conserving wildlife and habitat before they become too rare or costly to restore.
Kathleen Hayden
Santa Ysabel
This article appears in Sept 4-14, 2025.