Meet the Plantiffs
Charlene Tobin
Cherie Tobin is a Family Medicine/Integrative Medicine Physician and Wildlife Photographer. Over the last 3 years she has spent over 200 hours photographing the Wild Horses of Montgomery Pass. She is in the middle of writing a Photo Essay book about the Herd. Her photos show their refined communication and the priority they place on harmony. “I am in awe of the social etiquette these horses practice with one another. It would be such an enormous loss for us all if this precious herd, from whom we could learn so much, is decimated. It is the last large herd of wild horses we have in California."She wants to get water ON Territory for them, put up road signs on Hwy 120E to slow the traffic which now goes upwards of 70-75 mph where horses cross, and put up fences to provide protection for all. She wants to get this herd designated as an Official Study Herd to learn more of their social etiquette and preserve the unusual genetics she has seen in them.
Carl Mrozek
Carl Mrozek is wildlife filmmaker and writer based near Buffalo, NY whose work has appeared in many TV series on many channels and networks around the world. He's been a nature video contributor to CBS Sunday Morning for 30 years and filmed a short on the Montgomery Pass mustangs for it which was broadcast on Father's Day 2025. That short was simply a warmup for a documentary he's now filming, featuring them."These are the most colorful and engaging mustangs I've filmed in over 20 years, and the High Sierra landscape is magnificent. This is one of the few herds in America whose population is naturally regulated, mainly by mountain lions. What fascinates me is how their entire herd structure and behavior has evolved in response to mountain lions, That's a big focal point of my film, plus their ongoing battle to get a fair share of the water and grazing rights on their own territory. But first we have to stop the unjust roundup and removal of the last undisturbed herd of wild mustangs in the Sierras."
Craig Downer
I grew up in the Sierras and Great Basin, dividing my time between Nevada, where I was born, and California. I grew up riding an amazing horse Poco with whom I shared many wonderful adventures in both states, including doing the High Sierra Trail Ride where we took a trophy. One of the most memorable encounters while riding was seeing how my companion Poco reacted when we encountered wild horses. He was electrified in the presence of these very "turned on" and naturally adapted fellow horses and had an irrepressible urge to run up and greet them. My earliest contact with the Montgomery Pass wild horses occurred in my teenage years while visiting this scenic east Sierran area while working summers for my father's civil engineering business. The survey crew, including my brother and often my father as well as local Paiutes, would thrill to catch sight of these beautifully spirited mustangs as they went about their daily rounds, giving a special animation to this spectacular area. These horses along with Poco had a major hand in my decision to become an ecologist by studying at Cal-Berkeley for my B.A. and later at the University of Nevada-Reno for my M.S. At both of these, I did field studies of the wild horses, including in the Pine Nut Mountains east of Carson Valley where my family lived. My family were friends and collaborators with the famous Wild Horse Annie, who spearheaded the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act passage. During the 1970s, I did field inspections of a number of wild horse and burro herds, public education talks, public relations interviews, and litigation while working off and on under her direction. Later I worked as the Director of Research Services for the Animal Protection Institute of America, where I continued this work including winning some cases. Defending and appreciating all of America's great wild horses and burros throughout the West in all of their legal areas on BLM and USFS lands has become a guiding passion fueled by a first-hand as well as in-depth scholarly knowledge of just why they should be considered deeply rooted natives in North America and real Keystone species who enhance ecosystems They lend much needed balance, including in relation to the cloven-hoofed ruminants who are promoted in large numbers by people. During my career I have specialized in the mammalian Order Perissodactyla. This contains the Horse, Tapir and Rhino families. Having an early familiarity with horses helped me become a leading conservationist of the Endangered Andean Tapir, which has many similarities. My nonprofit, the Andean Tapir Fund / Wild Horse and Burro fund has worked since 1996 to defend wild horses and burros as well as Andean Tapirs both in and together with their natural habitats. I am a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and wrote the Action Plan and Species Description for the Endangered Andean/Mountain Tapir for the Tapir Specialist Group and have given input to the Equid Specialist Group. I shall continue to work to save these beleaguered animals in the wild for as long as I live, because to me they are like family. Indeed, they truly are.