Our Purpose The purpose of this organization shall be:
The Back Country Horsemen is a unique organization. We work with the United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and other agencies to preserve and maintain the back country so that everyone has the freedom to enjoy it. As a service organization, we are able to offer our expertise to assist public agencies to manage continuing recreational livestock use on public lands. We also offer our time and equipment to government agencies for such tasks a packing out trash, clearing trails, building trailhead facilities and other projects which will benefit both horsemen and nonhorsemen. One of our primary purposes is to educate horsemen, and other trail users in the low impact use of the backcountry environment. The horse has earned a noble place in our Western heritage; it usefulness and devotion have been second to none. It is our duty to see that horse use is preserved in its rightful place. This can best be accomplished by our individual, responsible efforts to use our horses and pack stock wisely on public lands.
The actual formation of the Back Country Horsemen took place in Montana's Flathead Valley in January of 1973. Growth of the BCH as an organization continued with the formation of additional clubs in Montana. In 1977, the Back Country Horsemen of Washington was incorporated and developed an informal liason with the Montana and newly formed Idaho Back Country Horsemen. In 1981, a California organization known as the High Sierra Stock Users was formed and after several years of discussion, the four groups decided to merge. They would call themselves the Back Country Horsmen of America. A constitution was drafted in 1985 and accepted in 1986. A board of directors elected from each of the four units became the governing body of the new organization, thus uniting the Montana, Idaho, California, and Washington Back Country Horsemen into one organization, the Back Country Horsemen of America. Since that time, there has been steady growth within the four founding state organizations. In addition, new Back Country Horsmen units have also formed in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. There are also affiliated units in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. History of Back Country Horsemen of New Mexico By: Arlene Walsh, Founder of the BCHNM In the fall of 1990, several horsemen (all of which would later become members of the BCH of NM) had planned to camp at Holy Ghost Campground, a popular entry into the Pecos Wilderness of northern New Mexico. Fully loaded with horses, mules, the usual gear and enough food for a month, we arrived just as USFS workmen began pounding a sign at the entrance of the small parking lot, “NO LIVESTOCK ALLOWED. $100 fine for violation”. The workmen knew enough about this new rule to tell us that this campground was off limits to livestock because it was now a designated handicap use area and we could ride across the newly paved parking lot but could not camp or hold our animals in this area. We packed up and moved our gear to the Jack’s Creek horse camp at a higher elevation but with livestock pens and good access. We were probably some of the last horsemen to use Jack’s Creek because the following week it was also closed. The area is usually closed after hunting season since it is a elk wintering spot but when local newspapers informed us about a possible permanent closure of the Jack’s Creek trailhead by the EPA due to mine tailings contamination we were alarmed and unable to get good information from the USFS at Pecos. Something had to be done! “Somebody” had to do something....then I remembered an article I had read on the Back Country Horsmen of America in the magazine “Equus”....it had a great article about a service organization that did good things on horseback and worked with the Forest Service and BLM....maybe they had a chapter here? Maybe they could help? So I wrote Lloyd Fagerland a letter and then.... CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS
President: Arlene Walsh Vice-President: Pat Coleman Secretary: Susan Steel Treasurer: Joann Clark |
