DLD completes Wild Horse Fencing ahead of Schedule

After meeting with members of the Wild Horse Preservation League as well as Mike Holmes of the Department of Agriculture in January of 2007, DLD has began construction ahead of the earlier provided schedule which put the finished fencing in the third week of June 2007. DLD continued to work on the final completion of the fencing program discussed in January through the months of April and May. Construction of the fencing began 1 month early (March 28th) thanks to some quick schedule rearranging by fencing contractor Tracy Hinton of Finest Fence Co., which has allowed DLD to finish the entire fencing project 3 weeks ahead of schedule(Completed May 29th). The following is a timeline of DLD's progress on fencing at the Santa Maria Ranch:

1/19/2007 – DLD meets with WHPL at the Santa Maria Ranch and mutually comes up with a fencing plan for DLD property. The Wild Horse Preservation League will begin working with Lyon County on its fencing as well as NDOT on an encroachment permit for the NDOT right of way along Highway 50.

1/24/2007 – DLD begins preparing budget revisions to include money for the proposed fencing and starts to allocate money towards this project.

1/26/2007 – DLD meets with Finest Fence Company at the Santa Maria Ranch to walk the areas that require fencing. Finest Fence promises a bid within one week.

1/31/2007 – DLD receives bid and calls Finest Fence Company to discuss scheduling for construction. DLD also calls Bonnie Matton (WHPL President) to advise her of DLD's progress.

1/31/2007 to 2/20/2007 – DLD receives Finest Fence Schedule for possible construction and orders material from Finest Fence. Bonnie Matton contacts Matt Denio and asks for a progress report. Matt Denio tells Bonnie Matton that materials for the initial stage of fencing have been ordered and a start date in May 2007 is the projected start date for construction.

2/21/2007 – DLD receives a call from Ed Rector (WHPL Vice President) asking to meet at the Santa Maria Ranch to discus his progress with the Nevada Department of Transportation on getting a permit. Ed Rector had been unable to complete the application for the permit and asked that DLD help him complete the application. Ed Rector gives the application to DLD.

2/22/2007 – DLD fills out the application and has Western Engineering fill out the Engineers section. DLD further commissions Western Engineering to provide engineering drawings at DLD's expense for the application.

2/26/2007 – Western Engineering completes drawings needed for the NDOT application.

3/2/2007 – DLD delivers the completed NDOT application to Ed Rector so that he can continue working on the NDOT permit as previously discussed. Ed Rector discusses the $100.00 NDOT application fee and DLD assures Mr. Rector that if the WHPL does not have the funds then DLD will donate them. Mr. Rector takes the completed application and says he will continue to work on the issue.

3/28/2007 – Finest Fence begins construction ahead of schedule. They begin marking and drilling post holes for the north side of the Santa Maria Ranch.

4/13/2007 – Finest Fence starts setting fence posts and pouring concrete to keep them in place along the north side of the Santa Maria Ranch.

4/26/2007 – Finest Fence completes the fencing on the north side of the Santa Maria Ranch.

4/30/2007 – DLD receives materials for the temporary fencing on the south side ( Carson River side) of the Santa Maria Ranch.

5/2/2007 – DLD begins constructing the fence along the south side of the Santa Maria Ranch. This fencing stage begins at the edge of the existing fencing that ties into Lyon County 's fencing.

5/16/2007 – All posts for the fencing on the south side of the Santa Maria Ranch are set.

5/17/2007 - Three strands of barbless wire begins to be installed on the south side of the Santa Maria Ranch.

5/21/2007 – All wire for the developed portion of temporary fencing along the south side of the Santa Maria Ranch has been connected to the posts and is complete.

5/22/2007 – All wire for the undeveloped portion of the temporary fencing along the south side of the Santa Maria Ranch has been connected to the posts and is complete. This completes the second stage of fencing and the entire south side of the Santa Maria Ranch is now fenced.

5/23/2007 - The third phase of fencing at the Santa Maria Ranch begins to connect the north and south fencing together using the existing fencing. Sections of the existing fence will be repaired and sections of new fence will be installed.

5/29/07 - The last of the barbless wire was installed and the westerly portion of the fencing is tied into the North and South protions.

5/30/07 - DLD representative Matt Denio meets with Mike Holmes (Nevada Dept. of Agriculture) to inspect the entire fencing installation. Mike Holmes states that DLD has done as much as DLD can do and now lets hope the WHPL can get with the county to finish repair their fences.

DLD and the Santa Maria Ranch have now completed the Wild Horse Fencing.

5/31/07 - Wild Horse Preservation League Ed Rector was onsite to inspect the fencing placed by DLD and declined to comment on what progress the WHPL was making on repairing the sections of fencing on the neighboring Lyon County property where the horses are continuously grazing.