All are converging on the northern border as part of “Noble Mustang,” a new program that will patrol Montana's boundary with Canada using native horse power.
The unlikely partnership begins with the Bureau of Land Management's wild horse and burro program, which takes mustangs off public lands for sale to private owners. The animals are known for their strength, intelligence, endurance, sure-footedness - and also for the challenge they present to trainers.
“The BLM began cooperating with the Department of Corrections there in 1986,” said agent Danielle Suarez, public information officer for the U.S. Border Patrol's Spokane Sector.
The Border Patrol recently adopted eight wild horses to patrol that sector, which includes northwestern Montana.
(During fiscal year 2006, the rugged Spokane Sector established a horse patrol unit at each of its seven line stations, becoming the only northern border sector to use horses for patrols.)
“The prisoners work the horses as part of their rehabilitation,” Suarez said, with the original goal of taming mustangs. “But it actually had a reverse effect, too, and kind of ‘tamed' the inmates.”
Everyone learned a bit of patience, she said, and a bit of empathy and a whole lot of respect.
Now, Suarez said, those horses are in Washington state, where Border Patrol agents are taking up the training. Next month, four of the eight adopted mustangs arrive in Whitefish, where they'll be used along a wild stretch of border from north Idaho east into Glacier National Park.
Until now, Suarez said, the Border Patrol has been leasing patrol horses from a private vendor, hitting the trail several times a week when snows are not too deep.
The upside to leasing, she said, is someone else cares for the animals, and agents just pick up the phone when they need a ride into the backcountry.
The downside is that call takes time, and agents chasing smugglers don't always have such a luxury. Also, Suarez said the cost of leasing horses for a year at any given station runs upward of $25,000.
A $125 wild horse, she said, seemed a pretty good bargain. Even after the Border Patrol paid $900 per horse for training, “it was still a huge savings,” she said.
Ongoing care and upkeep shouldn't pose a problem, Suarez said, because “we have some fabulous wranglers in the field.”
They chose the wild horses over domesticated cousins, she said, for their abilities in rough terrain. “They're going to thrive in those rugged mountains.”
In recent years, Suarez said Spokane Sector agents primarily have been conducting “intelligence-based” patrols, riding into the wilds when a tip suggests illegal border activity.
“Now we have a great grasp of what trails we need to monitor, and we have the tools to get there,” which opens up the possibility of more random “maintenance” patrols.
In many of the areas, she said, motorized vehicle access is physically impossible. And in other areas, such as Glacier Park, it's also culturally frowned upon.
“This program allows us to get in there while still preserving and respecting those protected lands,” she said. “It's kind of a pilot program, but we're already looking to expand.”
Reporter Michael Jamison can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at mjamison@missoulian.com
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