Wild Horse Education v. United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 6 * * * 7 WILD HORSE EDUCATION, a non-profit Case No. 3:23-cv-00372-LRH-CLB corporation; and LAURA LEIGH, 8 individually, SUPPLEMENTAL ORDER 9 Plaintiffs, 10 v. 11 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR, BUREAU OF LAND 12 MANAGEMENT, and JON RABY, Nevada State Director of the Bureau of Land 13 Management, 14 Defendants. 15 16 Plaintiffs Wild Horse Education and Laura Leigh (collectively, “Wild Horse”) have 17 filed a Request for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction. ECF No. 10. In its 18 first order dated August 4, 2023 (ECF No. 15), the Court reserved ruling on Wild Horse’s Request 19 for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction until an evidentiary hearing is held 20 on the matter. The Court scheduled the evidentiary hearing for Wednesday, August 9, 2023, at 21 9:00 a.m. in Reno Courtroom 4 before District Court Judge Larry R. Hicks. See ECF No. 15. In 22 that order, the Court also granted Defendants United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Land 23 Management, and Jon Darby’s (collectively, “BLM”) requests for (1) a responsive filing deadline 24 to Wild Horse’s request of Monday, August 7, 2023, by 4:00 p.m., and (2) BLM’s Washington 25 D.C. counsel to appear at the evidentiary hearing using videoconferencing software. Id. The Court 26 afforded Wild Horse the same opportunity to appear via videoconferencing software for the 27 evidentiary hearing. Id. ] In scheduling the evidentiary hearing, the Court cleared its calendar because of the urgent 2 || nature of this matter. It is likely BLM will continue the Antelope Complex horse gathers over the 3 || next few days until the evidentiary hearing occurs, even in light of the Court’s immediate 4 || scheduling efforts. Currently before the Court are unanswered assertions and claims from Wild 5 || Horse that BLM has repeatedly denied Wild Horse the right to access and view the horse gather 6 || traps, specifically the second trap on the Antelope Complex. See ECF No. 10 at 13, 14; see also 7 || ECF No. 10-1 at 7, 8; ECF No. 10-4 at 5-8. For example, Wild Horse asserts that on July 27, 2023, 8 || its welfare team member Colette Kaluza (“Kaluza”) asked BLM whether she could access and 9 || view both horse gather traps on the Antelope Complex. ECF No. 10-1 at 7; ECF No. 10-4 at 5. In 10 || response to her question, the on-site Incident Commander stated, “We do not have enough Public 11 || Affairs staff offer that.” /d. Furthermore, on July 31, 2023, Kaluza was allegedly denied access 12 |} to and observation of the second trap location because the road to the trap was a private road. ECF 13 |} No. 10-1 at 8; ECF No. 10-4 at 6. 14 The Court cautions BLM that if it should continue to gather wild horses and burros on the 15 || Antelope Complex during the remaining days before the scheduled evidentiary hearing, it must do 16 |} so in accordance with applicable Constitutional standards as to right of access. See Press- 17 || Enterprise Co. v. Superior Ct. of California for Riverside Cnty. (Press Enterprise II), 478 U.S. 1, 18 |} 8-15 (1986); see also Leigh v. Salazar, 677 F.3d 892, 898-900 (9th Cir.2012). Failure to provide 19 |} such access will be dealt with upon the evidentiary hearing scheduled for August 9, 2023, at 9:00 20 || a.m. in Reno Courtroom 4 before District Court Judge Larry R. Hicks. 21 - 22 DATED this 4th day of August, 2023. Wheihe 23 LARRYR.HICKS 34 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 25 26 27 28