Wild horses at RTF’s San Luis Obispo, Calif., satellite sanctuary. Photo by Cathy Wallace.

For the second year in a row, Return to Freedom founder Neda DeMayo has assembled a small panel at the Environmental Media Association’s Impact Summit to highlight the value and success of equines as part of regenerative holistic land management … both on the sanctuary land and as a solution to sensitive ecosystems on private and public lands.

Neda will be presenting at the event on Friday in West Hollywood, Calif., alongside renowned expert Rodger Savory. This year, global authority Alejandro Carrillo will be joining them!

Actor, director and activist Sosie Bacon will moderate the panel.

“What Neda has created with Return to Freedom moves me deeply—the way she protects wild horses, honors their bonds, and fights for their freedom is everything I believe in,” Bacon said. “Preserving genetic diversity, respecting wild behaviors, and advocating for minimally intrusive management fosters regenerative agriculture, restoring balance, resilience, and long-term health to our shared ecosystems.

“RTF is a large part of what our future could look like on public lands —a future that would mutually benefit humans and animals.”

Under the guidance of Savory and Carrillo, we have implemented new grazing practices at our San Luis Obispo, Calif., satellite sanctuary, revitalizing nearly 1,000 acres of grassland.

We carefully herd the horses across the land to emulate what would happen when there were endless grasslands and diverse grazing mammals and predators that kept those herds moving. We also partner with California Polytechnic State University rangeland management students to help with projects on the sanctuary including tracking, soil testing, checking fences and dispersing 3,000 pounds of native grass seed, allowing the ecosystem to recover from the impacts of both under- and overgrazing.

Additionally, in 2024, we began teaming with Carrillo on a regenerative grazing pilot project. Burros that we rescued from a Texas auction at which they would likely have been sold to slaughter instead joined cattle in a pilot program at a military base in Arizona to model the benefit of integrating burros and soon other equines for regenerating the soil. The burros were later placed in a safe new home in New Mexico and at our sanctuary.

This year, we are implementing regenerative grazing at our headquarters in Lompoc, Calif.,thanks to a generous pollinator grant from the Cochuma Resource Conservation District.

We are inspired by the relationships that continue to grow within the regenerative community and the opportunities we have fostered through our Mustang Conservator Program to work with other sanctuaries. When we invest in each other’s success, so much can be accomplished!

The Environmental Media Association is the entertainment industry’s foremost environmental nonprofit. For more about the event, click here.