Remembering Robert Redford: an irreplaceable friend, RTF board member

It was with great sadness that Return to Freedom learned of the death of our friend and board member Robert Redford on Sept. 19 in Sundance, Utah, at age 89.

“We are heartbroken. We have all lost an irreplaceable artist, activist and environmentalist,” said Neda DeMayo, RTF’s founder and president. “Robert Redford was an iconic and inspiring human being forever interwoven with the beauty and majesty of the West. I feel very grateful to have known him and to have had his support.”

Redford joined RTF’s board of directors in 2014. Prior to that Redford had signed onto RTF letters advocacy letters to Congress, allowing RTF to leverage his name to help gain lawmakers’ attention.

“He called me and just completely shocked me,” DeMayo recalled on a podcast hosted by journalist and animal activist Jill Rappaport. “It was just such an uplifting experience to actually come into his orbit and really be welcomed and him saying, ‘Look, I want to help, I want to help more.'”

Early that year, he took part in a fundraiser for RTF in Montecito, Calif., at which he passionately described wild horses as a symbol of American freedom and about fighting the horse slaughter industry.

In May of 2014, an organization Redford that co-founded with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the Foundation to Protect New Mexico Wildlife, reached an agreement with the Navajo Nation to develop a management program to humanely manage wild horses on the reservation as part of an effort to combat the opening of a proposed slaughterhouse in Roswell, N.M.

RTF joined other regional and national animal-protection groups in crafting and building support for the management plan.

Redford also published an op-ed in USA Today (see below), calling for Americans to work together to the preserve the habitat for wild horses and other wildlife.

In 2016 and 2017, Redford spoke out as part of a successful effort by RTF and others to stop a push by special interests and lawmakers to euthanize tens of thousands of healthy wild horses and burros captured in government roundups.

“Americans have an unwavering bond with the descendants of the horses and burros that have helped build our country and shape our culture – a bond enshrined in The Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act…,” Redford said in a press release.

“After decades of investing millions of tax dollars for the protection of wild horses after their capture and removal from the range, destroying them would be the ultimate betrayal, especially when humane alternatives have long been available.”

Redford later executive produced “The Mustang,” a critically acclaimed 2019 film that told the story of a convict taking part in a wild horse training program. The promotional push for the film helped RTF tell the story of America’s wild horses, and Redford appeared in a public service announcement about the plight of wild horses and about RTF’s work.

Redford also co-executive produced “The Mustangs: America’s Wild Horses.” The 2020 documentary features the efforts of different groups to help wild horses in their own ways, including RTF’s sanctuary.

Redford strongly supported RTF’s ongoing work to pass a law ending the slaughter of thousands of American horses, domestic and wild, each year. The bipartisan Save America’s Forgotten Equines Act would both ban the export of American horses for slaughter and place a lasting ban on domestic horse slaughter.

“America is the home of the horse,” Redford said in a press release on the subject. “People come to America to find freedom, and the horse helped us build this free nation. We are not a horse-eating culture. To kill the horse is simply un-American.

“We as a horse nation are able to implement solutions for the challenges facing our iconic wild mustangs, and provide education and sanctuaries which can support respect and a good life for all of America’s horses.”

By Robert Redford
USA Today
Nov. 3, 2014

Horses and I have had a shared existence, personal and professional, for as long as I can remember. And while I carry a strong passion for all horses, my tenacious support for the preservation of habitat for wildlife and the American mustangs derives from their symbolic representation of our national heritage and freedom.

Any infringement on their legally protected right to live freely is an assault on America’s principles. The varied and subjective interpretation of laws intended to protect these animals on our public lands, continues to leave wild horses under attack.

Recent “stand-offs” between ranchers and the federal government are reminiscent of old westerns. But this American tragedy does not have a hero riding in to save the day, and wild horses have become the victim in the controversies over our public land resources.

In 1971, as a result of concern for America’s dwindling wild horse populations, the US Congress passed the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act. . The Act mandated that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), protect free roaming wild horses and burros, under a multiple use management policy, on designated areas of our public lands.

The BLM manages 245 million acres of our public lands, with livestock grazing permits on 155 million acres. Wild horses are designated to share a mere 26.9 million acres. That means only 17% of BLM-managed public land are made available to wild horses. Wild horse populations vary between 32,000 and 50,000 while livestock grazing allocations accommodate numbers in the millions. Yes, in the millions.

Advocates are only asking that the horses be treated fairly. Wild horses are consistently targeted as the primary cause of negative impact to grazing lands resulting from decades of propaganda that ignores math, science and solutions that can be implemented today.

Ranchers hold nearly 18,000 grazing lease permits on BLM land alone. Grazing costs on BLM land goes for $1.35 per cow and calf pair, well below the market rate of $16. This price disparity derived from BLM’s current permit policy establishes an uneven playing field on grazing economies. Understandably ranchers have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.

Although less than 3% of America’s beef is produced on federal land, this subsidized grazing program costs the taxpayer more than $123 million dollars a year, and more than $500 million when indirect costs are accounted for.

The long-term economic success of public lands lies in maintaining a bio diverse ecosystem within its boundaries. However, understanding the need for a preservation balance in thriving agricultural communities often becomes sidelined.

The BLM needs to comply with its original “multiple use” principle in managing wild horses and burros. In light of the inequitable share of livestock on BLM land, the on going persecution of wild horses and those that value them is unacceptable and threatens the very spirit of the American West. I urge Congress to stand up for much needed reform of the BLM’s wild horse and burro program and livestock grazing on federal lands.

Now is not the time to repudiate environmental balance, but rather it is the time for all of us to work together — politician, advocate, rancher, scientist, and citizen. Only by doing this will the United States move forward and be a leader in environmental issues and ensure sustainability to our delicate ecosystem.