Our Story Narrated
Narrated Wild Love Preserve and Idaho Wild Horse Preservation Video
Video filmed and produced by Andrea Maki. ©Andrea Maki 2016
Narration Text:
Wild Love Preserve is a Wild American Legacy Project. The iconic wild mustang is pure Americana, symbolizing unbridled freedom, power, determination, and the Wild West. Our wildness resonates deep within, and is essential to our whole. Wild Love Preserve's preservation of this American icon speaks to our greater good and collective well-being by way of bridging divides and bringing stakeholders together. Wild horses lead the way to cultivating the health and balance of our wild places as an interconnected whole, now and for future generations, with kindness, mutual respect, science and education driving our mission.
My name is Andrea Maki, and in 2010 I founded Wild Love Preserve. I am a contemporary visual artist, and while my art career spans almost 30 years, I have been on a purposeful detour over the last six, after making a commitment to wild horses in central Idaho that I would do what I could to help them remain wild on their home turf. Little did I know at the time, that my offer to help would turn into a monumental size project.
Wild Love Preserve engages public and private lands to address all facets of regional wild horse conservation on home turf in Central Idaho. From our adopted 130 Challis, Idaho wild horses as result of the 2012 helicopter roundup, to our collaborative work on the range and our creation of a permanently protected wild expanse in the heart of Idaho wild horse country. Our mission is to protect and preserve wild horses in their native habitats and nurture the legacy of respective indigenous ecosystems as an interconnected whole, with regional engagement and benefit.
Wild Love Preserve works with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), cattle ranchers, environmentalists, wildlife biologists, wild horse advocates, youth employment groups and regional communities, offering a mutually viable solution to helicopter roundups and removals. There are over 50,000 wild horses in government holding facilities, and an estimated 40,000 remaining wild on public lands in ten western states. Government roundups, removals, transport, and longterm holding cost American taxpayers over $77 million annually, while wild horses pay the ultimate price in capture, loss of freedom, family, and often, life. From the time of the 2012 Challis Roundup, Wild Love Preserve has helped to ensure no Idaho wild horses have been shipped out of state to government facilities, instead they will remain forever wild and together in central Idaho on our permanently protected wild expanse.
As a registered 501(c)3 non-profit, Wild Love Preserve is privately funded by donors and grants. At a government estimate savings to taxpayers of $50,000 per lifetime for each wild horse, our programs, on and off the range, have saved American taxpayers $7.5 million dollars since 2013. By design, we have turned Challis wild horses into an asset for the local community, region and Idaho state. Success has required bridging divides, cultivating fluid co-existence between stakeholders, new methodologies, regional engagement and benefit.
Wild Love Preserve is reflection of our humanity. This legacy project is about all of us, and it is for all of us. Your support benefits the preservation of wild horses in their native habitats, while honoring and nurturing the health and balance of respective indigenous ecosystems. If you believe in the importance of our wild places, now and for future generations, we invite you to walk with us. Your donations help us do what we do, and together, we make a lasting difference on behalf of our greater good and collective well-being. Thank you for joining us today.