Madeleine A. Pickens

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Madeleine Pickens
Pickens (4th from left) at a ribbon-cutting for a 2008 grand opening at the Naval Medical Center San Diego
Born
Madeleine Baker

(1947-03-05) March 5, 1947 (age 77)
Kirkuk, Iraq
Other namesMadeleine Farris, Madeleine Richter, Madeleine Paulson
Occupation(s)Business Owner, philanthropist
Spouse(s)include Allen E. Paulson (1988-2000) and T. Boone Pickens (2005-2012)
ChildrenDominique Richter
Honors

Madeleine Anne Pickens is an American businesswoman and philanthropist. She is a developer of and stockholder in the Del Mar Country Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California, and the owner of the Mustang Monument: Wild Horse Eco-Resort near Wells, Nevada and the founder of Saving America's Mustangs. She is also a thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder. She is the widow of American businessman Allen E. Paulson and former wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens.

Background

Madeleine Pickens was born Madeleine Baker on March 5, 1947[1] in Kirkuk, Iraq[2] where her father, Bill Baker, was a British oil executive.[3] He was also a golf course designer, who built a golf course in Kirkuk and cut down his golf clubs to teach the five-year old Madeleine to play.[4] After her family left Iraq, Pickens grew up in France and England,[3] where Baker designed several courses.[5] Pickens and her twin sister Christine, both British citizens, moved from England to the Bahamas in 1965.[6] At some point she started using the name Madeleine Farris.[7]

Pickens modeled and worked as a flight attendant for Pan American Airlines in her twenties. She moved to Marina Del Rey, California in 1969 and went into business for herself, providing cabin service crews for corporate jets and special charter flights.[8] In 1976, she was featured in an article in Black Belt magazine.[9] She was married to Dr. Robert Richter,[8] with whom she had a daughter, Dominique, in 1980.[10][11]

She met Allen Paulson, the founder of Gulfstream Aerospace in 1983,[7] and married him in 1988. In 1993 they bought the Del Mar Country Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California, where she drew upon her background to design and build the golf course.[12] Upon Paulson's death in 2000, she and his children from his previous marriages disputed over the estate until 2003, at which time she was awarded in the settlement, among other assets, stock in the Country Club. In September 2015, the IRS filed suit against beneficiaries of Paulson's estate, including Pickens, for unpaid estate taxes.[13] As of January 5, 2017, a number of procedural matters had been decided, but the case remains unsettled.[14]

In 2005, she married Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens. Not long after their marriage, the couple traveled to New Orleans to rescue pets stranded during the evacuation from Hurricane Katrina and flew them to California and Colorado on a chartered cargo jet.[6] They divorced early in 2013.[15]

In 2007, Pickens paid $35 million for a home on the beach in Del Mar; in 2010 she sued the city for ordering her to prune plants that were obstructing her neighbors' view.[16] Pickens has sponsored several events at the Del Mar Country Club benefiting military organizations.[10][12] In July 2016, Pickens, Jenny Craig, and Doug Manchester co-chaired a fundraiser for Donald Trump at the Del Mar Country Club in Rancho Santa Fe.[17]

Equine interests

Pickens has stated that she is a lifelong equestrian.[18] She developed an interest in thoroughbred flat racing and with Allen Paulson, she owned several race horses, including U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Cigar,[19] which she traded to husband Allen for the filly, Eliza, the 1992 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and that year's Eclipse Award winner as American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly.[20] Pickens' other horses included Fraise, who won the 1992 Breeders' Cup Turf;[21] Yokohama winner of the 1997 Prix Foy at Longchamp Racecourse;[citation needed] and Rock Hard Ten, winner of the 2005 Santa Anita Handicap.[22] Pickens and Jenny Craig owned Rock and Roll who won the 1998 Pennsylvania Derby and ran in the Kentucky Derby.[23] Pickens also raced Miss Dominique, named for her daughter.[24]

After the settlement of Paulson's estate, Pickens no longer had colors to race,[8] although she was still part owner of Rock Hard Ten and a few broodmares. She announced in June 2005 that, upon her marriage to T. Boone Pickens, her involvement with racing would be reduced.[25] At the same time, she took up equine welfare causes when Old Friends Equine purchased Fraise and multiple Grade One winner Ogygian from their Japanese owners and she paid the $65,000 to bring them back to retirement at the Old Friends facility in Georgetown, Kentucky.[21] About a year after the marriage, the couple led the fight to close the last horse slaughterhouse in the United States.[8] They worked to lobby Congress to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which passed in the United States House of Representatives,[26] but not in the Senate. In 2015, the legislation was folded into the proposed Safeguard American Food Exports Act.[27]) In recognition of their efforts, in 2007 Madeleine and Boone Pickens received the Equine Advocates' Safe Home Equine Protection Award.[26]

In the summer of 2008, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), was faced with a budget crisis in its free-roaming horse program due to the cost of maintaining excess (unadopted) horses captured on public lands in holding facilities. The agency was considering implementing the options that Congress had provided for in amendments to the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, to either euthanize or sell the horses “without limitation" to any willing buyer[28] Since "any willing buyer" included those that would send the horses to slaughter in foreign countries,[29] Pickens established “The National Wild Horse Foundation"[30] and November 17, 2008, at a public meeting held by the BLM to discuss the issue,[31] announced her plans to buy a one million acre (4,000 km²) tract at an undisclosed location "in the West" and establish a sanctuary for the horses. On November 21, 2008, Pickens was named Person of the Week by ABC News due to her plans to adopt and maintain, at her own expense, all 33,000 horses at the sanctuary.[29] Shortly thereafter, Pickens made an alternative plan and offered to the BLM to, instead of adopting the horses, take care of them at the sanctuary for an annual stipend of $500 per horse. The BLM evaluated the Pickens' proposal and the property she was considering, which was later identified as the Winecup Gamble Ranch in northeastern Elko County in Nevada[32] which was listed for sale for $50,000,000 in 2010.[33] In spite of Pickens' testimony before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands promoting her proposal earlier in the month, trying to convince the legislature that her idea of a sanctuary could save the Federal government money,[18] the BLM told her in March, 2009 the plan was not feasible.[34]

In January, 2010, Pickens hired three helicopters to view and photograph a BLM horse gather, and at one point they flew across the flight path of other helicopters being used to herd animals, leading to the accusation she had interfered with the gather.[8] Later that year, Pickens purchased an alternate property further south of the Winecup Gamble Ranch, the 14,000 acre Spruce Ranch in the remote Goshute Valley for $2,570,000[35] and submitted a prospectus to the BLM to establish an "eco-sanctuary" for 10,000 BLM horses currently being held in "in holding facilities in various locations across the United States."[36] She also requested that the BLM postpone a planned gather of a nearby herd until she could build a facility to hold them. On September 29, 2010, the Elko County Natural Resource Management Advisory Commission discussed Pickens's proposal, and whether or not to recommend to the Elko County Commission to support it.[32] On November 3, 2010, the Elko County Commission declined to support the sanctuary.[37] In spite of this, Pickens declared her intent to buy more ranches, with enough grazing rights to sustain the 10,000 horses she had requested to care for in the prospectus.[38] On December 17, 2010, the BLM declined her request to postpone the gather, and on January 24, 2011, published a statement outlining the actions needed to move forward with permitting the eco-sanctuary.[39]

A week after the BLM declined Pickens' request to postpone the gather, on December 24, 2010, she purchased 235 horses which had been rounded up by the Paiute tribe on the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation,[40] and some 250 horses from other non-BLM sources,[41] all of which were destined for slaughter[42] from a Nevada auction yard.[41] A week later, a $500,000 float she sponsored for the Tournament of Roses Parade[43] depicted a Native American on a horse watching over several galloping horses. The day before the parade, the National Tribal Horse Coalition issued a news release objecting to the float for using "the symbolism of the North American Indians and horses to promote agendas in direct opposition to the tribes’ position."[44]

Pickens eventually took the horses she purchased to the 4000 acre Warm Creek Ranch, which she had purchased shortly after purchasing the Spruce Ranch.[30] The Warm Creek Ranch is located about 25 miles south of Wells, Nevada[45] on Highway 93, adjacent to the northwest boundary of the 508,000 acre BLM Spruce Mountain grazing allotment.[46] There the horses are referred to as mustangs[30] and are mostly fed hay grown on irrigated fields on the ranch.[11] As of August, 2016, there were 700 horses on the ranch.[47]

In September 2011, the Spruce Ranch, which has a grazing permit for the Spruce Mountain allotment, was deeded over to Saving America's Mustangs.[48] the 501(c)(3) organization that had originally been named the National Wild Horse Foundation.[30] Saving America's Mustangs holds the view that the grazing acreage granted under the permit for Spruce Mountain allotment is enough to sustain 1,000 horses that would otherwise be held in holding facilities,[49] but the BLM calculated the permit allows the use of enough forage for only 505 horses.[48] Negotiations between Pickens and the BLM to enter use the Spruce Ranch as an eco-sanctuary continued,[45] and on August 15, 2012, the BLM published a Federal Register Notice announcing it was considering entering into a partnership with Pickens to maintain 900 horses on the Spruce Ranch private land and the Spruce Mountain allotment.[50] Although Pickens owned the water rights and developments that supported the grazing on the allotment, the proposal did not contemplate the BLM paying Pickens to graze Federally-owned horses on Federally-owned lands, which it no legal authority to do,[34] but which had been proposed under the 2010 prospectus, but would instead give her a stipend for "care" of the horses.[51] The proposal would also require modifying the boundaries of three Herd Management Areas to remove all free-roaming horses from the Spuce Mountain allotment in order to free up adequate forage for 900 horses. Processing of the proposal, which would require the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)[50] stalled after the scoping report for the EIS was completed, due to the fact that the water rights for the allotment could only be used for grazing livestock, and feral horses were not considered livestock under Nevada law. Pickens would either have to take ownership of the horses and graze them as her personal livestock, paying the BLM grazing fees, or apply to the Nevada Division of Water Resources to change the purpose of the water use. As of June 12, 2014, around the time the EIS had been projected for completion[52] she had not made the necessary application[51] and in 2015, Pickens approached the BLM about how to move the plans for the eco-sanctuary forward. Her representative stated she was told that if she relinquished the grazing permit and gave up her water rights, the project might be able to proceed.[53] As of August 20, 2016, cattle were being grazed on the allotment[54] as well as the several hundred free-roaming horses that would have had to be removed for the eco-sanctuary.

A small herd of Pickens' horses graze on 12,000 acres of the remote private property of the Spruce Ranch,[42] about an hour's drive 30 miles east of the Warm Creek Ranch headquarters on an unimproved road.[55] The road passes through the private land, and had provided access to recreationalists to the public lands on the other side, but despite that the BLM had installed cattle guards on the fences to allow continued public access, Pickens had gated and locked it.[51] Over the weekend of August 13–14, 2016, it was discovered vandals had tampered with water sources on property and cut the fences, resulting in the death of at least 11 horses[47] and the escape of at least 54 more, which were recovered.[56] Investigating officials stated the horses appeared to have been "been dead for weeks" indicating the vandalism had occurred in July, 2016 or earlier. Pickens offered a $100,000 reward for information on the vandals.[55]

Mustang Monument Eco-Resort

Initially the Warm Creek Ranch headquarters was slated to be used as the "base of operations" for the eco-sanctuary.[48] However, on September 11, 2012, a month after the BLM published the Federal Register Notice with no provision for paying Pickens to maintain the horses on the allotment, she made reference to plans for a luxury resort called the Mustang Monument: Wild Horse Eco-Resort.[57] Pickens began converting the headquarters for the resort,[11] and began renovating the old ranchhouse there to become a dining hall and kitchen.[58] On April 3, 2013, the Elko County Commission approved a liquor license for venture,[59] and Pickens spent a million dollars on "Safari Tents" or Tee Pees for the guests. The eco-resort was open for business in the summer of 2014 and, among other things, offered horseback rides on BLM-administered public lands[60][61] and using the fore-mentioned road to the private property in Goshute Valley to take guests to see the horses kept there.[51] Pickens states she was informed by the BLM in December of that year that she would need a permit to use the road and public lands for her commercial ventures and that she filed the application for the permit. Pickens claims that in October 2015 the BLM told her the paperwork had been misplaced,[62] and her representative claims that the BLM requested trivial information to process the application.[53] Also, Elko County officials determined that the food preparation facilities she planned did not meet the County health and safety codes, and required her to install a commercial kitchen.[58] By February, 2016 the BLM had not finished processing the permit application and the County's safety codes had not yet been met. The County required Pickens to, in case of fire, to put sprinkler systems[58] in the lavishly furnished teepees,[63] and because the town of Wells had, in 2008, suffered a major earthquake,[64] she was required to modify the walk-in cooler in the kitchen to be earthquake proof.[58] Pickens issued a press release on February 10, 2016, stating the resort would not open for 2016,[62] but although the Mustang Monument website stated she hoped to open in 2017[65] and having spent $25 million on the venture,[62] she stated on September 1, 2016, she was "out of it" and would sell the Tee Pees. George Knapp, an investigative reporter for a Las Vegas television station, states she said that she had made a bad decision and she would not spend more money on the venture.[58] As of March 11, 2017, the reservations webpage on the Mustang Monument website had not been changed to invite reservations for the 2017 season.[65]

Pickens stated that her problems with acquiring the BLM permit are due to her being "a tall tree" that "catch(es) the wind."[62] Pickens' representative suggested the real reasons for Elko County's safety requirements were due to local hostility to a wild horse sanctuary and because Pickens was from California, and Knapp, a Coast to Coast AM host that had Pickens' representative on as a guest in 2012,[66] expanded upon that to imply that they were imposed because Pickens was "rich, blonde, female, and...from California."[58] Adding to the conflicts in 2016, a lawsuit against Saving America's Mustangs and the Del Mar Country Club was filed for an alleged racially motivated hostile work environment at the Country Club and Mustang Monument in 2014.[67] As of January 2017, that lawsuit was pending.[68]

References

  1. ^ "Madeleine A. Pickens". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  2. ^ "A Conversation with T. Boone Pickens". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Sound Horse Conference - Conference Proceedings". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  4. ^ "Hire Veterans - Jobs for Veterans - Job Board Hiring U.S. Military Veterans Employment Careers: Del Mar Country Club". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  5. ^ "Bill Baker - golf course architect - golf courses built, articles, related information". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  6. ^ a b Pickens, T. Boone (2008). The First Billion Is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America's Energy Future. Crown Publishing Group. pp. 185–6. ISBN 9780307449818.
  7. ^ a b Hovdey, Jay (1999). Cigar: America's Horse. Eclipse Press. p. 38.
  8. ^ a b c d e Finley, Tom. "Special Report: MUSTANG Legends and Myths. Faith, Hope and Charity" (PDF). Range Magazine Winter, 2011.
  9. ^ November 1976 feature article on Madeleine Farris in Black Belt magazine
  10. ^ a b Staff. "Golf and gala fundraiser for Navy SEALs set for March 22 at Del Mar Country Club". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  11. ^ a b c "Mustang Maddy" (PDF). Range Magazine.
  12. ^ a b "Del Mar Country Club View Library Document: History". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  13. ^ "Who's Liable for Unpaid Estate Taxes?". 15 September 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  14. ^ "Casetext". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  15. ^ Sonia Smith, "T. Boone and Madeleine Pickens’ Super Sad True Divorce Story", Texas Monthly, January 21, 2013.
  16. ^ Mannes, Tanya. "Del Mar settles with billionaire over hedges". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  17. ^ Joshua Stewart (July 13, 2016). "Trump attends Rancho Santa Fe fundraiser". San Diego Union-Tribune.
  18. ^ a b Burton, Paul. "Madeleine Pickens Testimony - Articles - The Vile Plutocrat". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  19. ^ Hovdey
  20. ^ Finn, Robin (3 November 1996). "Garden Roars This Time for a Four-Footed Hero: Cigar". Retrieved 11 February 2017 – via NYTimes.com.
  21. ^ a b Dunham, Jillian (1 May 2009). "Former Owner of Racehorses Now Works to Save Them". The New York Times.
  22. ^ Equibase.com. "Equibase - Horse Racing - Horse Racing Entries - Horse Racing Results - Past Performances - Mobile - Statistics". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  23. ^ Equibase.com. "Equibase - Horse Racing - Horse Racing Entries - Horse Racing Results - Past Performances - Mobile - Statistics". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  24. ^ Hovdey, op. cit. p. 109
  25. ^ "Madeleine Paulson to Wed T. Boone Pickens; Scaling Back on Horse Business". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  26. ^ a b "T. Boone Pickens, Madeleine Pickens to Receive Equine Advocates Award". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  27. ^ "The Safeguard American Food Exports Act of 2015 - American Horse Council". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  28. ^ https://www.avma.org/News/JAVMANews/Pages/081101e.aspx
  29. ^ a b News, A. B. C. (21 November 2008). "Oil Billionaire's Wife Drafts Horse Rescue Plan". Retrieved 11 February 2017. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  30. ^ a b c d "Madeleine Pickens - Mustang Monument Eco-Resort". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  31. ^ Layton, Lyndsey (18 November 2008). "A Dramatic Rescue for Doomed Wild Horses of the West". Retrieved 11 February 2017 – via washingtonpost.com.
  32. ^ a b http://www.elkocountynv.net/September_29_2010_Minutes.pdf
  33. ^ http://elkodaily.com/news/local/historic-winecup-gamble-ranch-for-sale/article_81ff02ea-3468-504c-89dc-2e582ca3f9da.html
  34. ^ a b "BLM Statement regarding Madeleine Pickens' Wild Horse Sanctuary Proposal". 20 October 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  35. ^ Writer, MARTIN GRIFFITH Associated Press. "Horse sanctuary in Elko County? Pickens buys Spruce Ranch". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  36. ^ Saving America's Mustangs. "A Prospectus" (PDF).
  37. ^ Press, Julie Wootton - Elko Daily Free. "Elko County opposes Pickens' horse sanctuary plan". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  38. ^ https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703471904576003682955486302
  39. ^ "BLM Statement Regarding the Prospectus Submitted by Saving America's Mustangs Foundation to Build and Establish an Eco-Sanctuary for Wild Horses". 14 February 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  40. ^ VGrF (6 June 2011). "First horses arrive at Madeleine Pickens Mustang Monument ecosanctuary". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  41. ^ a b "Mustangs: Myth & Manipulation in the American West". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  42. ^ a b "State investigating vandalism, dead horses owned by Pickens". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  43. ^ Bell, Diane. "Madeleine Pickens' Rose Parade message hits home". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  44. ^ "Rose Bowl Parade Controversy - Canadian Cowboy Country Magazine". 31 December 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  45. ^ a b "NENVWH EcoSanctuary photos". 7 January 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  46. ^ https://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/nv/field_offices/elko_field_office/information/nepa/eiss/archives/nenvwh_ecosanctuary.Par.23699.File.dat/spruce_2%20(2).pdf
  47. ^ a b LAKANA (2 September 2016). "I-Team: Wild horses found dead at Madeleine Pickens' Sanctuary". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  48. ^ a b c https://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/nv/field_offices/elko_field_office/information/nepa/eiss/archives/nenvwh_ecosanctuary.Par.21472.File.dat/EcoSanctuaryScopingBrief.pdf
  49. ^ "About the Sanctuary - Saving America's Mustangs". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  50. ^ a b "Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for Proposed Wild Horse Eco-Sanctuary in Elko County, Nevada, and an Associated Resource Management Plan Amendment for the Wells Field Office". 15 August 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  51. ^ a b c d Harris, Dylan Harris. "Wild horse eco-sanctuary up in the air". Ag Weekly. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
  52. ^ Harris, Dylan Harris. "Wild horse eco sanctuary proposed to alleviates horse holding problem". The Prairie Star. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
  53. ^ a b LAKANA (2 September 2016). "I-Team: Madeleine Pickens' losing battle with the BLM". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  54. ^ Correspondent, ADELLA HARDING Free Press. "Keeping ranches in the family". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  55. ^ a b LAKANA (26 August 2016). "I-Team: Few tips in deaths of wild mustangs". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  56. ^ "Nevada: Over 50 Horses Reported Missing From Mustang Sanctuary Found - Horse Racing News - Paulick Report". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  57. ^ "Madeleine Pickens' Eco-RESORT?". 12 September 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  58. ^ a b c d e f LAKANA (5 September 2016). "I-Team: Elko County's strict building codes raise questions". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  59. ^ http://www.elkocountynv.net/4_3_4_13.pdf
  60. ^ "The fight over America's wild horses". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  61. ^ https://www.ft.com/content/8bba616c-ed87-11e3-abf3-00144feabdc0
  62. ^ a b c d http://mustangmonument.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Mustang-Monument-Prevented-from-Opening-for-2016-Season-Feb-2016.pdf
  63. ^ "Glamping Vacation Luxury Camping - Mustang Monument". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  64. ^ REVIEWJOURNAL.COM, STEPHANIE GRIMES (31 March 2014). "8 biggest earthquakes in Nevada history". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  65. ^ a b "Reservations". Mustang Monument Wild Horse eco-resort. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  66. ^ http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2012/03/18/
  67. ^ Correspondent, ADELLA HARDING Free Press. "Pickens ranch target of discrimination lawsuit". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  68. ^ Correspondent, ADELLA HARDING Free Press. "Pickens discrimination lawsuit is back in court". Retrieved 11 February 2017.

External links

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