Gayle Hunt

Originally from rural Western Oregon, Gayle has spent the last 30 years in Central Oregon––a world apart. The desert and pine forest ecosystems of the drier climes east of the Cascades were the logical landscape for a career in the U.S. Forest Service and a commitment to the preservation of America’s wild horses and burros.

As witness to the weak approach of Federal Agencies to the management of wild equines, Gayle founded the Central Oregon Wild Horse Coalition to consolidate the random interests of area citizens into a more formidable, solution-based advocacy front. Particular areas of emphasis, in addition to protection of the Forest Service-managed Big Summit herd, are the Native Species status of the Horse in North America; the potential contributions of equines to the restoration of Western rangelands; the strengthening of legal protections of wild equines and universal adherence to those protections; and the creation of partnerships with Veterans and underserved communities to accomplish on-range work which keeps wild herds intact on their homelands.