Considering more than half of the 2.3 million acres of U.S. Forest Service land does not have roads or easily accessible land for cars and trucks to get our Forest Service representatives where they need to go, the next best option is also one of the oldest.
Horses and mules.
“We have 2.3 million acres of land that we manage for the White River National Forest… 55% of it is wilderness and roadless,” said Scott Woodall, livestock program manager for the White River National Forest. “We need these animals to get where we are going.”
Hence why a dozen or so U.S. Forest Service employees joined together in Rifle for a 3-day training course where they can hone their skills on horse/mule back and make sure when they’re called into the roadless wilds of Colorado to maintain our public lands, they can get there quickly and effortlessly (to some extent). If you think this is just learning how to pull reigns, you’re sorely mistaken.