Time and time again, ranchers have shown they are versatile and multifaceted in their skills and abilities.
Siskiyou County ranchers, Michelle Gough and William Simpson at Wild Horse Ranch locally filmed and produced a music video that has been honored by several film and music festivals by being ‘Officially Selected’ and even winning the top honor at one Film Festival.
This music video celebrates the natural beauty and history of our County.
According to the doctoral *dissertation by Dr. Yvette ‘Running Horse’ Collin, in 1580, British explorer Sir Francis Drake explored the Pacific coast along the Oregon-California border and inland regions.
*https://scholarworks.alaska.edu/handle/11122/7592
Drake and his team recorded seeing the local indigenous peoples living alongside wild horses along the OR-CA border.
To put that into proper historic perspective, Christopher Columbus had first discovered North America in 1492, just 88-years earlier.
There is no plausible way that in just 88-years, the Spaniards could have imported enough horses, and then of those, having enough escape, to then breed into tens of thousands and then be distributed across the entire North American continent with enough distribution to be living on the OR-CA border. That is a fiction.
According to a discussion that William Simpson had with Professor and geneticist Gus Cothran at Texas A&M University, it is not an unreasonable assumption that splinter populations of wild horses survived the Ice Age and were located in isolated herds in our region. In fact, there are horse fossils found in Oregon and Northern California.
The award-winning music video ‘We Are the Wild Horses’ celebrates our local natural history, which was further documented by the local famous cowboy, George F. Wright who was born in Hornbrook, CA in 1897, was a BLM range rider and Jackson County Deputy Sheriff… George’s parents, Thomas Jefferson Wright and his indigenous bride settled in Hornbrook, CA in 1851. Thomas had several sons, including George who settled along the tributaries of the Klamath River, along Scotch Creek, Camp Creek and Jenny Creek. George Wright maintained a diary that frequently mentions ‘wild horses’ living naturally in the region.
More about George F. Wright here: https://sierranevadaally.org/2022/04/04/the-american-heritage-of-wild-horses/
- Fairchild Medical Center Launches $42M Expansion to Transform Rural Healthcare in Siskiyou County
Yreka, CA – Fairchild Medical Center (FMC) is excited to announce the groundbreaking for its major hospital expansion, a $42 million investment dedicated to transforming healthcare access in underserved rural Siskiyou County communities. This dynamic project delivers 25,000 square feet of new, state-of-the-art medical space, designed to address the critical needs of a region that… Read more: Fairchild Medical Center Launches $42M Expansion to Transform Rural Healthcare in Siskiyou County - Klamath & Shasta-Trinity Prescribed Fire Project: public meeting
YREKA, Calif., May 14, 2025— The Klamath and Shasta-Trinity national forests are proposing the Klamath and Shasta-Trinity Prescribed Fire Project, a long-term effort to implement prescribed fire and associated fuels reduction across National Forest System lands within the boundaries of the national forests. The primary goals of the proposed project are to improve ecosystem integrity and resilience… Read more: Klamath & Shasta-Trinity Prescribed Fire Project: public meeting - Shasta-Trinity National Forest Announces Road Closure on Wild Mad Road
Sinkhole forces closure of road near community of Payne Redding, Calif., May 14, 2025 — The U.S. Forest Service issued a closure order for Wild Mad Road near the community of Payne within the boundaries of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The closure is in effect from Saturday, May 15, 2025, until May 15, 2027, or… Read more: Shasta-Trinity National Forest Announces Road Closure on Wild Mad Road - CalMatters: CA Democrats save face on sex trafficking billFrom CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu: In the state Legislature, an open rebellion sometimes does wonders. Two weeks ago, Assemblymember Maggy Krell, a first-year Sacramento Democrat, publicly defied Democratic leaders in attempting to pass harsher penalties for soliciting sex from 16- and 17-year-olds. Joined by some moderate Democrats and Republicans, the fight laid bare the… Read more: CalMatters: CA Democrats save face on sex trafficking bill
- KWUA APPLAUDS RELEASE OF UPDATED ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT GUIDANCE FOR THE KLAMATH PROJECT
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – May 14th, 2025 The U.S. Department of the Interior released a memorandum providing updated legal guidance regarding the application of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s (Reclamation) Klamath Project (Project). (See attached) The updated guidance is provided in a May 14, 2025, “Briefing Memorandum for the… Read more: KWUA APPLAUDS RELEASE OF UPDATED ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT GUIDANCE FOR THE KLAMATH PROJECT
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