Buffalo Field Campaign: On-the-ground activism

Here are a couple of articles about the Buffalo Field Campaign and how they, and other groups are funded.  Contrary to popular belief BFC’s top paid people don’t make much money (trust me, I know this because I am on their Board of Directors).  BFC is also very efficient with its money and has very resourceful people working to maintain and improve its cars and property.  Most of its funds are spent on keeping people out in the field to document what happens to the buffalo and educating visitors to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park during the summer months.

Buffalo Field Campaign: On-the-ground activism.
By CARLY FLANDRO, Bozeman Daily Chronicle Staff Writer

The Donor Dance: How green groups stay funded.
By CARLY FLANDRO, Bozeman Daily Chronicle Staff Writer

When Elk Fly

*NEWS: Conservationists Seek Emergency Injunction To Prevent Yellowstone Bison Slaughter

Conservationists Seek Emergency Injunction To

Prevent Slaughter of Yellowstone Bison

Harsh Winter Conditions May Lead to Repeat of 2008 Slaughter

Contacts:

Tom Woodbury, Western Watersheds Project: (406) 830-3099
Dan Brister, Buffalo Field Campaign: (406) 726-5555
Mike Mease, Buffalo Field Campaign: (406) 646-0071
Glenn Hockett, Gallatin Wildlife Association: (406) 581-6352

Bison in deep snow © Ken Cole

HELENA, MONTANA – A coalition of conservation groups, Native Americans, and Montanans filed an urgent motion for injunctive relief in federal court today to prevent a repeat of the 2008 slaughter of over 1400 wild bison captured on public wildlands near the border of Yellowstone National Park in Montana.

Many of the same factors that contributed to the mass slaughter in 2008, including heavy snowpack, bison population size, and the continuing agency intolerance for migrating bison, are in place this year as well.

With the Stephens Creek bison trap inside the Park already near capacity, and more bison migrating toward their natural winter range in Montana to forage at lower elevations, Park Service Spokesperson Al Nash indicated that the agencies may begin sending hundreds of bison off to slaughter whether they carry the disease brucellosis or not.  While it is concern over the possible transmission of brucellosis to cattle that is the justification offered for preventing bison from utilizing their winter range in Montana, at the present time there are no cattle present in the bison’s winter range corridor, and no risk of transmission.  And that, according to the Plaintiffs challenging the bison management plan in federal court, perfectly illustrates why the plan needs to be scrapped.

“One of the twin goals of the bison management plan is ‘to ensure the wild and free-ranging nature of American bison’,” said Tom Woodbury, Montana Director for Western Watersheds Project, “but ten years into the plan, there is still zero tolerance for bison being bison on our public wildlands.”

300 Buffalo Captured at Yellowstone National Park’s Northern Boundary

Those that test positive for brucellosis exposure to be slaughtered

The slaughter of bison in Yellowstone has begun in earnest. Today Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers witnessed the capture of at least 300 buffalo in the Stephens Creek capture facility.

It appears that 13 of the bison captured were from the group of 25 allowed to leave the Park under a $3.3 million deal between conservation groups, the government, and the Church Universal and Triumphant. Those bison were captured and taken back to the Park on Friday and another one was shot because agents said she refused to go where they wanted her to. This leaves 10 out of the Park on those lands with another one whose whereabouts are unknown. The captured bison also probably include the 62 which were released from the Stephens Creek trap on Thursday.

This deal was touted as a “major breakthrough” by the groups who supported it but so far it has been an expensive fiasco.

Generally around 50% of bison test positive for exposure to brucellosis and Al Nash, spokesman for Yellowstone National Park, told the Buffalo Field Campaign that all of the bison that test positive for brucellosis exposure will be slaughtered. The test does not conclusively show that the bison actually have brucellosis and culture tests done in the past, which look for the actual bacteria rather than antibodies expressed by the buffalo, show that the rate of infection is actually much lower.

Yellowstone Releases 62 bison from Stephens Creek capture facility

Good news is hard to come by in this issue.
Here is today’s Buffalo Field Campaign weekly update.
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Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field
and in the policy arena to protect America’s last wild buffalo.

Buffalo Field Campaign

Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
January 27, 2011

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* ACTION REWARDED! Yellowstone Releases 62 Bison!
* ‘Corridor to Nowhere’ Continues to Harm Wild Bison
* Update from the Field–Bison ‘Hunt’ Continues Along Yellowstone Boundary
* VOLUNTEER!  Please Join BFC on the Front Lines!
* Just $10 for Wild Bison 2011 Calendars! Accepting Photos for 2012 Calendar
* Last Words
* By the Numbers
* Helpful Links

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* ACTION REWARDED! Yellowstone Releases 62 Bison!

Buffalo Supporters,

Thank you for contacting Yellowstone’s Acting Superintendent Colin Campbell to urge him not to slaughter the 62 bison currently confined in the Stephen’s Creek trap.   After receiving hundreds of phone calls and emails on behalf of these bison, the Park announced this afternoon that all the bison will be released!  Please give yourselves a pat on the back and take a moment to contact acting Superintendent Campbell and thank him for doing the right thing.

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Montana looking to create state sanctioned canned buffalo hunts

You too can hunt bison in fenced wildlife management areas.

The Montana Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks is floating a plan to move the last remaining quarantined bison to State owned wildlife management areas. Good thing right? Not so fast, they would be fenced in and not allowed to roam freely on the landscape. On top of that they would be hunted as well just like at those canned hunting places in Idaho and other states.

It sounds like a sick joke to me and I’m not the only one.

“FWP’s plan would further the disrespectful livestock model while adding the sickening twist of hunting buffalo on fenced-in public land after they have been raised in prison since they were calves stolen from the wild,” – Stephany Seay, Buffalo Field Campaign.

via FWP eyes state land for bison – The Bozeman Daily Chronicle: News.

“Putting them behind a fence and shooting them dead is too low of a bar. That’s not how we manage our wildlife species,” – Glenn Hockett – Gallatin Wildlife Association.

via State may put at least 50 bison on Spotted Dog land
Eve Byron – Helena Independent Record.

Buffalo Field Campaign – A Buffalo’s Trail Of Tears

Here is a presentation on the annual hazing of the last wild and free buffalo.

Buffalo Field Campaign – A Buffalo’s Trail Of Tears.

Last Wild Buffalo Tormented by DOL, Park Service

The myth continues. You can show the livestock thugs all the evidence in the world that they are wrong and inhumane but they will forever lie.

Here is this week’s update from the Buffalo Field Campaign. There is a very interesting video showing the birth of a buffalo calf where the mother consumes the entire afterbirth. This seems to contradict the myth that livestock industry perpetrates on the taxpayer. They want you to believe that the risk is so high as to justify this B.S.

For the third year in a row the Montana Department of Livestock has violated the private property rights of the Galanis’ on Horse Butte with their helicopters. The arrogance and the hypocrisy of the livestock industry is astounding. They continually cry that private property is sacred but it must only mean their private property.

Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
May 20, 2010

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* Update from the Field
* New! Two Video Clips from BFC
* BFC Looking for Summer Outreach Volunteers
* Buffalo in the News
* Last Words
* Kill Tally
* Useful Links

Yellowstone bison drive planned through this week

To hell with private property rights, to hell with wildlife, we must protect cattle that aren’t even here.

Hazing bison inside Yellowstone National Park on Madison River ©Ken Cole

The ridiculous annual event of hazing bison during their calving season is underway even though this year the bison are likely to come back out of the Park because the green-up of grass hasn’t started there due to late season snowstorms.

Each year the residents of the West Yellowstone area have to endure this fiasco on behalf of a few ranchers who whine and cry that their cattle might get brucellosis from bison when they don’t even bring them to the area a until after the buffalo have all calved. This year, due to the late green-up, it will likely be even later.

On numerous occasions I have witnessed Montana’s helicopters chasing buffalo deep into the Park even beyond the border of Wyoming in front of bewildered tourists. Last year, while hazing herds of newborn calves and their mothers off of private property where there never will be cattle again, Buffalo Field Campaign filmed a calf that had broken its leg in the malay of the hazing operation. These kinds of incidents are a common occurrence and there is no justification for it.

Update 5/6/10: Two Bulls Shot, Hazing Begins in Earnest

2 bulls shot after being agitated by drugs used in “study”

Below is today’s Buffalo Field Campaign weekly update. Of note is the shooting deaths of two bull bison that were involved in the recent APHIS tests which involved using a vibrating anal probe so that they can test their ejaculate for brucellosis. The bulls had been drugged to immobilize them then once the samples had been taken they were given a drug to wake them up again. The drug caused them to be very agitated and they started moving north of the Park towards Yankee Jim Canyon along the Yellowstone River. Because the Park Service was unable to haze them back towards the Park agents from the Montana Department of Livestock shot them.

I’ll say it again, this study is useless and has put people at risk. They are just trying to rationalize hazing and killing bull buffalo which will not transmit brucellosis to cattle.

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Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
May 6, 2010

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* Perseverance Despite Overwhelming Odds ~ Roman Sanchez
* Update from the Field: Two Bulls Shot, Hazing Begins
* NEW VIDEO & TAKE ACTION:  APHIS Torture Testing Bull Bison
* BFC Looking for Summer Education Volunteers
* Last Words
* Kill Tally
* Useful Links
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APHIS on Horse Butte

APHIS putting residents of Horse Butte at risk for a pointless study

From yesterday’s Buffalo Field Campaign Weekly Update [emphasis is mine]:

Along Yellowstone’s western boundary, the Duck Creek, Cougar Creek and Madison River corridors are flowing with the migration of the country’s last wild buffalo.  Buffalo families, solitary bulls, and bachelor bull groups beautifully ignore the ecologically meaningless man-made boundaries between Yellowstone and Montana as they spiral through this tiny fraction of their native homeland.  As they gently graze the new spring grasses, they are taking a lead role in healing the wounded land that suffers in their absence.  And in so doing, they also lift our spirits.  Volunteers have been engaged in a total celebration of buffalo, and this week, we were gifted with the sightings of two newborn calves.

Patrols have also been blessed with the sightings of a grizzly bear, Sandhill cranes, white pelicans, otters, ospreys, bluebirds, great blue herons, bald eagles, moose, flickers, and many of the area’s animal inhabitants.  This region, while sadly just a wee dot on the map, is huge in its wild majesty.

The buffalo’s spring migration has been keeping BFC quite busy along Highway 191, which cuts through the buffalo’s migration corridors.  Patrols have been out at all hours, into the early morning darkness, warning traffic and helping buffalo (and motorists) survive this aspect of their journey.  BFC’s night patrols are a huge boon to the buffalo and the community, and while it’s truly the responsibility of the State, Montana looks to BFC and we are honored to offer this service that has a direct and positive impact.  BFC will continue to call on Montana to do more, including construct safe-passage projects that allow wildlife to cross the highway without setting foot on the asphalt.

Bull buffalo near Duck Creek. BFC file photo by Stephany.

For bull buffalo, the celebration has turned into a confusing nightmare.  After molesting 8 bull buffalo along Yellowstone’s northern boundary, the USDA-Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has arrived in West Yellowstone.  Beginning yesterday on Horse Butte, APHIS drugged and collected semen from five bulls – some as young as two and a half years old like this young fella – in their “study” to determine what is already known: that bull buffalo pose no measurable risk of transmitting brucellosis to cattle.  Under this extremely invasive study APHIS first darts the bulls to inject a drug to knock them out, then collects their semen by inserting a large vibrating probe in their anus.  Before injecting the downed bulls with the reversal agent that wakes them, they spray-paint a thick blue line across their magnificent hind quarters.  There will be no benefit for wild buffalo coming from this totally unnecessary and shameful study.

While BFC was documenting the first bull that went down, one of the APHIS technicians rudely and purposefully stepped in front of our camera multiple times, trying to prevent BFC from filming, causing a confrontation. He failed to stop us.  Later in the day, patrols reported that APHIS agents were cracking jokes about the invasive work they were doing, making a mockery of how they were “handling” the bulls.  In another instance, after APHIS darted a mature bull out of a bachelor group, one of the buffalo’s buddies got extremely upset and wanted to investigate what had happened to his friend, much like we witness during the buffalo hunt.  He approached APHIS with his tail up, ready to charge and defend his comrade.  APHIS responded by pepper-spraying the bull with bear-spray.  A brief discussion with APHIS after they were done with their “data collection” yesterday revealed to us that the drugs they use on the bulls can cause them to overheat, disturb gastrointestinal functions, and cause anxiety and anger.  They then monitor the bulls for a mere 30 minutes and then set their sights on another.  The young bull who was targeted yesterday was so confused and visibly humiliated he left his family group and ended up walking through a near-by neighborhood on Horse Butte.  We wonder if APHIS is warning Horse Butte residents that they are injecting bull bison with anger-inducing drugs?

Today, APHIS is again in our backyard, on the buffalo’s home turf.  At the time of this writing, patrols report that no bulls have yet been molested by APHIS.  They are being escorted around the area by a MT Department of Livestock agent, looking for “test subjects.”  APHIS let us know that they will continue to target bull buffalo until the DOL gives them the heads up that hazing operations will begin.   BFC will be with the buffalo, as we always are, ready to document all actions made against them, so we can share their story and turn the tide – with your help – towards a future where wild buffalo take precedence over the economic interests of the cattle industry.  Together, we will realize our vision of self-willed buffalo walking the earth as they please, with honor and respect bestowed upon them and their sacred relationship to the Earth.

For the buffalo, for all things wild and free, celebrate Earth Day everyday!

ROAM FREE!

Secret Meetings, Good-Bye Tolerance, Hello Turner

Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
February 4, 2010

Buffalo Field Campaign relies on donations from people like you to fund our work to protect the bison. Please contribute today to keep us strong in the field and on the policy front.

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* Update from the Field
* IBMP Agencies Hold Secret “Public” Meeting
* Good-Bye Tolerance: DOL & Park Service Battle Over Adaptive Management
* Quarantine: FWP Decides to Send 88 Yellowstone Buffalo to Ted Turner
* Wild Buffalo: What Does this Mean to You?
* Last Words
* Kill Tally
* Important Links

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Activists call for bison on state land

State of Montana wants to give them to Ted Turner

Buffalo in quarantine - Kim Acheson

As is typical with this issue, the State of Montana has set up a false dichotomy with the bison in the quarantine program. They say that the bison need to be given to billionaire Ted Turner or slaughtered because they have no other options. This is nonsense.

As I have discussed before, there are other options including working with the Fort Belknap Reservation to locate the quarantined buffalo there, placing them back into the Park, or placing them on a state wildlife refuge, all of which would keep these bison in the public domain which was required under the plan. If Ted Turner receives these 78 buffalo he wants 190 of their progeny in return for his own commercial operations which also violates the agreement with the National Park Service to keep them in the public domain.

“There’s land in Montana,” said Stephany Seay with the Buffalo Field Campaign. “The alternatives are not Turner or slaughter. But that’s what we are being fed.”

Activists call for bison on state land
By DANIEL PERSON Chronicle Staff Writer

Buffalo Battle Airs Again Tonight & Thursday, Jan. 7

In case you missed the original airing of the documentary about the buffalo and the Buffalo Field Campaign

Here is a little shameless promotion for the Buffalo Field Campaign

From the BFC Weekly Update:

Tune in because it’s on again! Late tonight and on Thursday, January 7th, Discovery’s Planet Green will once again air Buffalo Battle. This Planet Green program, produced by Matthew Testa, tells the continuing story about the plight of the Yellowstone bison population and work of Buffalo Field Campaign. Buffalo Battle has been getting tremendously positive feedback, so Planet Green is giving the public more viewing opportunities. The more viewers they get, the more likely it is they’ll want to make a series and this will certainly help tell the world about what is happening to the last wild buffalo. Please check your local listings for showtimes and invite your friends and colleagues to watch Buffalo Battle with you late tonight and again on Thursday, January 7th. For more information visit Planet Green.

Buffalo Battle: BFC Will Be on TV’s Planet Green!

Below is this week’s Buffalo Field Campaign Update from the Field. I’ve been holding my tongue about “Buffalo Battle” which is a pilot episode for a possible new series about the bison issue and the Buffalo Field Campaign. The episode will air on December 5th on Planet Green.

I’ve seen two early cuts of the episode and I think it does a great job of explaining the issue and showing how the Buffalo Field Campaign conducts its field operations. It was filmed this past spring during the big hazing operations which moved the buffalo off of Horse Butte back into Yellowstone National Park.

Buffalo Battle is directed by Matt Testa who produced The Buffalo War, another documentary about the buffalo issue and the Buffalo Field Campaign, in 2000.

We are excited and hoping that this will become a series so that the light of day will shine on this issue and the plight of the buffalo. I hope you can watch.

Ken Cole,
BFC Board Member

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Buffalo Field Campaign

Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
November 19, 2009

BFC Klean Kanteen Water Bottles Make Perfect Gifts. Order Yours Today While They Last!

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In this issue:
* Update from the Field
* TAKE ACTION: Help the Buffalo with Your Comments to APHIS
* Buffalo Battle: BFC Will Be on TV’s Planet Green!
* Do You Like to Cook? BFC Needs You!
* Buffalo Field Campaign Wish List
* Last Words
* Kill Tally
* Important Links

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Mourning the Loss of Our Friends

Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
June 18, 2009

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In this issue:
* Update from the Field – Four Bulls Killed by Agents
* Our Friend Frog: BFC Celebrates His Life, Mourns His Passing
* Last Words
* Kill Tally

Montana Department of Livestock Captures and Slaughters Three Wild Bull Bison

Buffalo Bull © Ken Cole

Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org

Montana Department of Livestock Captures and Slaughters Three Wild Bull Bison

* PRESS RELEASE *

For Immediate Release: June 17, 2009
Press Contact: Mike Mease, 406-646-0070

West Yellowstone, MT: Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) agents captured three bull bison this morning in the Duck Creek bison trap located on private land less than 200 yards from the western border of Yellowstone National Park. The bison were loaded onto a livestock trailer and shipped to a slaughterhouse. They had been grazing peacefully near the Park border for the past several weeks on and around National Forest lands purchased for wildlife habitat.

Hazing Continues, More Calves Injured.

Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
May 21, 2009

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In this issue:
* Update from the Field
* Complain to FAA About the DOL’s Helicopter Use
* Traditional Prayer Ceremony on Horse Butte May 31
* Join BFC on the Front Lines
* Thank You! BFC’s Media Crew Receives Laptops
* Last Words
* Kill Tally

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* Update from the Field

DOL helicopter hazing bison. Photo courtsey of Lance Koudele

The Montana Department of Livestock and Yellowstone National Park continue to aggressively haze any wild bison in Montana. The sounds of the rotating blades of the Department of Livestock’s helicopter can be heard outside the media cabin this morning as I write. Just a few miles from here, on cattle-free Horse Butte and other areas of Gallatin National Forest, the buffalo are currently under attack by livestock interests. BFC patrols are with the buffalo, documenting all actions made against them. The scenes we’ve been witnessing are the stuff of nightmares.

Newborn bison calf. Photo courtesy of Lyle and Sue Wood

Within a single week, at least four newborn buffalo have suffered broken legs or debilitating leg injuries as a result of government hazing activities. All injuries have been documented by Buffalo Field Campaign. You can view footage of last week’s injured calf. Be advised that these images are difficult to watch, but take inspiration from the mother bison defending her calf. We don’t know the fate of this calf, though the calf that was separated from it’s mother during last week’s hazing operations was reunited with her the following day. Unfortunately, during today’s hazing operation, another mother and calf were separated, and patrols are currently monitoring the mother as she searches for her lost baby.

On Friday the DOL chased all of the bull bison that had been grazing in the Duck Creek area, deep into Yellowstone National Park. By Monday, eleven bulls had returned to their chosen ground, and the DOL resumed their harassment operations forcing them into Yellowstone, through the Park’s grizzly bear closure area. Patrols documented bulls being shot with paint balls by the agents. This is a way the DOL marks the

Bison on Horse Butte Mercilessly Hazed out of Montana

Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
May 14, 2009

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In this issue:
* Update from the Field
* The Wild in Us
* Join the Front Lines
* BFC Media Crew Needs a Laptop
* Last Words
* Kill Tally

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Montana Department of Livestock Helicopter violating private property rights. Photo by Lance Koudele

* Update from the Field

Though a day early, the dreaded time has come: All the buffalo have been cruelly forced off of Horse Butte.

All week patrols have been documenting the Montana Department of Livestock, Yellowstone National Park, Gallatin National Forest and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks agents carry out massive and relentless hazing operations, harassing and harming America’s last wild bison population.

Helicopter Hazing on Horse Butte. Photo by Lance Koudele

On Tuesday, agents were set to haze bison within Yellowstone National Park to “make room” for the bison that would be hazed off of Horse Butte. But Mother Nature had different plans: one group of bison the agents planned to target consisted of forty bulls who would follow none of the agents’ orders. An incredible hail storm assisted and the haze was called off for the day. But such luck was momentary.

Every day this week agents chased bison family groups, including newborn calves and pregnant mothers, off of the south side of the Madison River, and today they set their sights on cattle-free Horse Butte. In fact, all of the Gallatin National Forest lands where the buffalo roam are cattle free, yet livestock interests insist on assaulting them with mounted cowboys*, ATVs, local and federal law enforcement and the DOL’s helicopter.*

Wild buffalo have returned with the Spring!

Buffalo Field Campaign: Buffalo have returned to Horse Butte Peninsula

Here is an excerpt of today’s Buffalo Field Campaign Update from the Field. You can read the entire update here

Dear Buffalo Friends,

Wild buffalo have returned with the Spring!

Buffalo grazing on Horse Butte ©Buffalo Field Campaign

The song of mountain bluebirds is in the air, and tracks of the mighty bison are upon the land once again. After a long winter without the buffalo in Montana, the unspoken question hung in the air: would the buffalo return this year? Wild forces prevail, and on the Vernal Equinox the steady, determined footsteps of approximately fifty buffalo made their way down the Madison River corridor, out to their calving grounds on Horse Butte, heralding the season of rebirth. The buffalo’s return has raised the spirits of everyone at camp. The energy is palpable, and we are once again running full patrols and basking in the presence of these prehistoric wonders.

What it was like to volunteer with Buffalo Field Campaign

Now is the time of year to volunteer.

Buffalo being chased by the DoL © Ken Cole

Jim MacDonald, who is a regular commenter here, has written an article to familiarize people about what to expect before volunteering for the Buffalo Field Campaign.

I’ve spent many winters there and now I am a board member of BFC. I would encourage anyone who is interested to volunteer for them. Over the seven winters that I have spent there I have witnessed many terrible and wonderful things. From witnessing the capture of hundreds of buffalo and their abusive treatment in the Stephens Creek capture facility to the incredible diversity of wildlife, and beautiful scenery, I have been privileged to spend so much time there and become a part of the Campaign.

Buffalo usually start to leave the western part of the Park towards Horse Butte near West Yellowstone to calve during the beginning of March.

What it was like to volunteer with Buffalo Field Campaign

New West Network

You can find the Buffalo Field Campaign on the web.

http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/

Buffalo Field Campaign Supports Montana Bison Bill

HB253 Will Remove Department of Livestock’s Management Authority

The Buffalo Field Campaign just sent out this press release. For full disclosure, I am a board member of BFC.

KC

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Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
(P) 406-646-0070
(F) 406-646-0071
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org

Press Release

BUFFALO FIELD CAMPAIGN SUPPORTS MONTANA BISON BILL
HB253 Will Remove Department of Livestock’s Management Authority

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 27, 2009
Press Contact: Stephany Seay, Buffalo Field Campaign, 406-646-0070

WEST YELLOWSTONE, MONTANA: The front lines wild bison advocacy group, Buffalo Field Campaign, announces support of HB253, the Wild Buffalo Recovery & Conservation Act of 2009. BFC joins with a diverse group of conservationists, private property owners, hunters, bison advocates and others in support of HB253.

Bison management riles folks, again

25- 100 bison to be allowed to wander north of YNP this winter-

Most folks will remember this, but if not, last winter a very expensive deal with made to allow a limited number of bison to leave Yellowstone near Gardiner to wander northward.

The female bison will be fitted with vaginal transmitters to warm us of conditions there (“cyberbison? !!”).

Then, to recap, bison will allowed to migrate west of the Park to Horse Butte for the first time.

The deadenders in the Montana Stockgrowers Assn. are suing to try to stop these modest reforms.

Story in the Bozeman Chronicle. Bison management riles folks, again. By Jessica Mayrer staff writer

Buffalo Field Campaign Update. July 24, 2008

I’ve haven’t posted a BFC update for a while, and it’s time.

RM

Update: related. State vet: Brucellosis came from elk. By Jennifer McKee. Helena Independent Review State Bureau
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Buffalo Field Campaign. Update from the field. Oct. 18, 2007

Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison

Update from the Field

October 18, 2007

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View BFC Video Footage:
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
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Make a Secure Online Donation to BFC:
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/bisonmerchandise/bisonmerchandise.html
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Why are they killing the last wild buffalo?
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/issueinbrief.html
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Receive BFC’s updates or press releases.
Send your email address to bfc-media@wildrockies.org with “sub updates” or “sub press release” in the subject line.

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In this issue:

* Update from the Field
* BFC Project Director Convicted in Montana “Justice” Court
* TAKE ACTION! Two Ways to Protect Wild Buffalo Now!
* Volunteers Needed for 07-08 Season
* Buffalo in the News
* Last Words ~ Roman Sanchez

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Bison advocate convicted of obstructing peace officer while filming hazing

Folks might recall when Dan Brister was injured and arrested last winter while videoing the Montana DOL haze bison north of West Yellowstone, Montana. He is project director for the Buffalo Field Campaign.

He had a jury trial and was convicted of obstructing a peace officer after a one-day trial in Gallatin County Justice Court. He was fined $585 and sentenced to six months probation after the jury found him guilty. I guess that will keep him safely away while the DOL does its dirty work this winter.

Story in the Bozeman Chronicle.