Montana FWP wants local anti-bison judge replaced on Gardiner Basin bison case

Judge who singlehandedly stopped years-in-making decision to let bison roam, not acceptable, says FWP-

Finally, after years, state and federal government agencies agreed to let bison begin to roam the Gardiner Basin just north of Yellowstone Park, but Park County district judge Nels Swandal sided with the Park County Stockgrowers Association to put the landmark agreement aside.

The stockgrowers were effective with their tired, but still effective arguments about spread of brucellosis and danger to people (the classic children at the bus stop argument). “Large numbers of bison now regularly congregate at school bus stops and other locations, interacting with children, elderly, and other individuals that live in the area to a degree not previously encountered,” Park County’s lawsuit stated.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and other agencies are asking for a new judge, but the existing judge (Swandal) gets to pick any replacement.

State wants new judge in bison case. By Carly Flandro. Bozeman Chronicle.

Meanwhile, we haven’t heard anything more about Park County prosecuting the man cited for shooting numerous .22 rounds among the houses to kill a bison.

– – – –

Regarding the views and actions of the Park County Commissioners, here is an interesting guest editorial. Guest column: We must rein in fears, attitudes over roaming bison. By Karrie Taggart (co-founder/coordinator of Horse Butte Neighbors of Buffalo in West Yellowstone — HOBNOB)

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

Poll Finds Strong Public Support for Bison Restoration in Montana

Buffalo Bull © Ken Cole

In February the National Wildlife Federation conducted a poll of 400 Montana voters and found that they are strongly in support of bison recovery in Montana.  Particularly, 70% say they support recovery in areas such as the Spotted Dog WMA near Deer Lodge and the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge which covers 1.1 million acres in central Montana.

These results run contrary to the measures that the Montana Legislature has been to trying to push through which would make reintroduction of bison illegal or subject to the approval of county commissioners.

Among other findings, the poll showed that:

• 63% of Montanans believe that it is possible to manage wild bison in much same ways as other wildlife species such as deer and elk.
• 70% of Montanans favor having the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and parks investigate where wild bison populations could be restored.
• 70% of Montanans favor allowing hunters to hunt wild bison
• 72% s of Montanans support establishing a bison population at the 26,000 acre Spotted Dog Wildlife Management Area, near Deerlodge
• 70% of Montanans support establishing a population of wild bison in and around the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in north-central Montana.

Press Release.

Poll Results.

When Elk Fly

Lawmakers vote to keep wild bison off Montana land

…..and do it with a boatload of arrogance

John Brenden R-MT

Not surprisingly, the Montana Senate voted on a bill that would keep Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks from relocating bison anywhere in the state except for the National Bison Range in northwest Montana for the next two years. The Montana House has yet to pass any similar bill but there are many being considered.

Governor Brian Schwietzer has promised to veto any bills of this nature.

Senator Sharon Stewart-Peregoy, D-Crow Agency summed up what could result from this action.

“If the attack on buffalo continues, they will be listed as an endangered species. I don’t think you want to do that.”

To rub it all in with a strong note of arrogance, Sen. John Brenden sang a couple of bars of “Home on the Range” to the protests of Democrats.

If anyone thinks that western states aren’t run by the landed nobility you might want to think again.

– – – – – –

Update. Ralph Maughan on the teabagging Republican Brenden. Brenden Farms got almost $500,000 in farm subsidy payments from 1995-2009. That is about $34,000 a year.
http://farm.ewg.org/persondetail.php?custnumber=A09372868

Over 15 years that would be an average of $33,152/Year.  Some might call this federal government hater a hypocrite, and a mean one at that.

Montana governor blocks shipments of Yellowstone bison to slaughter, suggests Park feed the bison

This is a strange turn of events.

Montana gov blocks shipments of Yellowstone bison to slaughter, suggests park feed animals.
Matthew Brown – Associated Press

Here is the actual executive order signed by Brian Schweitzer:
Governor Schweitzer Stops Importation of Bison into Montana for 90 Days

Feb. 16. Schweitzer halts bison slaughter. Bozeman Chronicle. By Carly Flandro. (added by Maughan)

Judge clears way for Yellowstone bison slaughter

Decision will be appealed
513 bison at risk of being slaughtered

Western Watersheds Project, Buffalo Field Campaign, Tatanka Oyate, Gallatin Wildlife Association, Native Ecosystems Council, Yellowstone Buffalo Foundation filed for a temporary restraining order in hopes of keeping Yellowstone National Park from sending 513 bison being held in the Stephens Creek capture facility to slaughter. Unfortunately, but expectedly, Judge Charles Lovell denied our request.

The decision will be appealed to the 9th Circuit.

Judge clears way for Yellowstone bison slaughter.
By Laura Zuckerman | Reuters

Greater Yellowstone Bison show signs of inbreeding.

Government slaughter could irreparably harm bison species.

Buffalo on Horse Butte © Ken Cole

Recently I referenced unpublished data indicating that bison suffer from compromised mitochondrial DNA which could be exacerbated by government slaughter without any examination as to how it will affect the already genetically compromised herd.  That information has now been released.

Historically, bison have gone through what is known as a bottleneck where the population declined to such a low number that their genetic diversity became severely limited. The Yellowstone herd of bison is derived of only about 50 individuals, half of which were brought in from other areas such as northwest Montana and Texas. In recent years, while conducting repeated culling – where greater than half of the Yellowstone herd could be killed either by slaughter or winter kill – government managers never studied how their actions affected the genetics of the bison. For example, prior to the winter of 2007/2008 the population was estimated to be 5,500. That winter 1,631 buffalo were killed by the government and hunting but an additional 1,500 died from starvation due to the harsh winter that they were unable to escape because their habitat has been so curtailed by the policy of Montana and its greedy livestock industry. This left only 2,300 bison, or less than half of the bison herd, the following spring and possibly irreparably harmed the remaining genetic diversity of the herd.

*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.
______________________________________________________

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

——————————
——————————
* 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

——————————
* 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.

——————————

The impending bison slaughter.

National Park Service hazing buffalo inside Yellowstone National Park © Ken Cole

The snow is deep, in fact it’s 130% of average in Yellowstone this year. That makes for a bad situation if you are a buffalo there. Do you try to stay in the Park where you can’t get to the food that you know is under all of that snow or do you follow your instincts and move to lower elevation where there is less snow? Either way, you’re screwed if you’re a buffalo.

This year, with an estimated population of 3,900 buffalo in Yellowstone, things are reaching a tipping point and a mass exodus of buffalo is likely to ensue.

What will await them when they leave the Park? Well, this year, there have been over 100 bison killed outside the Park, mostly by tribal treaty and sport hunters according to the Buffalo Field Campaign (full disclosure, I am a long time volunteer and board member of BFC), one was hit on the road as a result of being orphaned during the hunt and unable to trudge through the deep snow on its own, and another one was shot by Montana officials after it left the Royal Teton Ranch after being captured, tested and marked in an obscenely expensive program which is vaunted by the government and “conservation” groups for its greater “tolerance” towards bison outside of Yellowstone National Park.

That experiment hasn’t gone too well. The buffalo aren’t behaving the way, or staying where the government wants them to so they have been chasing them around on horseback trying to keep them on the RTR.

Why are the feds paying $3.3 million to graze for 30 years on land worth only about $4 million?

More on the Royal Teton Ranch bison grazing deal

My earlier article about the Church Universal and Triumphant’s $3.3 million deal with the government and some conservation groups for bison grazing has spurred the AnimalTourism blog to do some more investigation into the value of the Royal Teton Ranch itself. What they conclude is pretty interesting. They estimate the value of the ranch to be about $3.9 million.

They ask one question though that I think can be easily answered. Why didn’t the government just buy the RTR rather than pay the exorbitant fee for 30 years of bison grazing? Well, I think that would have been a more reasonable approach too but the CUT didn’t want to sell and the government isn’t buying much anymore these days. The CUT appears to be struggling financially without these payments so they sought the best deal they could and found gullible government agencies and conservationists. It’s a shameful situation.

Why are the feds paying $3.3 million to graze for 30 years on land worth only about $4 million?
AnimalTourism News.

The Royal Teton Ranch deal gets underway.

Church Universal and Triumphant paid about $285 $314 per AUM under the $3 million deal

Buffalo calf at Stephens Creek capture facility, Yellowstone National Park.

Articles about how the perennial saga of hazing, capturing, slaughtering, and hunting bison is starting once again in and around Yellowstone National Park. There is one change this year though that has left me scratching my head. This is the first year where bison leaving Yellowstone from the northern entrance of the Park near Gardiner, Montana are going to be allowed to use the Church Universal and Triumphant’s (CUT) Royal Teton Ranch (RTR) under an agreement with the National Park Service, Montana Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, National Parks Conservation Association, and National Wildlife Federation.

The $3 million $3.3 million deal would initially allow 25 bison to use the RTR but only after they have been captured in the Stephens Creek capture facility just inside the Park boundary. They then would be subjected to squeeze chutes where they would have blood samples, fecal samples, taken from them and pregnant females would have vaginal transmitters placed in them so that biologists would be informed of the location where they give birth. Over time the deal might eventually allow up to 100 untested bison each year.

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.

Northern Arapaho seek to restore historic link to buffalo

Northern Arapaho seek to restore historic link to buffalo.
By TOM MAST Casper Star-Tribune

Hearing on bison hazing set for Tuesday

Grazing and slaughter threaten the viability of bison and other sensitive species-

The US Forest Service and the National Park Service are violating the law by not allowing bison the use of public lands. The grazing allotments provide the excuse the Montana Department of Livestock wants for their annual abuse of buffalo inside and outside of Yellowstone National Park.

Keep in mind, this issue has nothing to do with brucellosis, it is about political control of western lands and wildlife and about who gets to use the grass. It has always been about the noble landed elite showing the rest of us who is boss.

In the winter and spring of 2007-2008, the National Park Service “oversaw and carried out the slaughter of approximately 1,434 bison from (Yellowstone National Park), which represented approximately one third of the existing population of wild bison in the (Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem),” the group wrote in their complaint. “Such management, and ongoing commitment of NPS resources, severely restricts wild bison migrations, impacts their natural behaviors, maintains bison populations at artificially low numbers and negatively influences the evolutionary potential of bison as a wildlife species in the ecosystem.”

Hearing over hazing set for Tuesday.
Eve Byron – Helena Independent Record

Yellowstone National Park – Summer 2010 Bison Population Estimate Released

Bison Population estimated to be 3900

Yellowstone National Park – Summer 2010 Bison Population Estimate Released.
U.S. National Park Service Press Release

Montana Stockgrowers’ Suit Over Bison Management Dismissed

I’d say this is a minor victory. The Stockgrowers wanted even more severe “management” of bison that we already have to witness.

Stockgrowers’ Suit Over Bison Management Dismissed. Matt Gouras. Associated Press Writer

Firsthand witness account of Tuesay’s Buffalo haze

Jim McDonald’s Account of Montana’s DOL pushing bison into Yellowstone Park-

This is the time of year when Montana’s Department of Livestock pushes bison back into the Park for no real reason except to demonstrate that they run things in the area. Activist Jim McDonald has written a long essay on a blog describing the disgusting event from his perspective on the ground.

Buffalo torture 2010: Firsthand witness account of Monday’s haze. Buffalo haze 2010: Firsthand witness account of Tuesday’s haze. by Jim Macdonald. Jim’s Eclectic World

DOL looks at stemming bison migration out of Yellowstone

Montana DOL throws cold water on several years of progress-

This was to be a year when bison could legally migrate freely out of Yellowstone into the area west of the Park, especially Horse Butte where they are welcome.  All the cattle are gone from area.  The Gallatin  National Forest approved of the migration. Now Montana DOL says “no.”  Of course, it is apparent to almost everyone not associated with livestock now that brucellosis is just a smokescreen for retaining the unbridled power of the cattle industry in Montana.

This sad development was reported earlier by the Buffalo Field Campaign.

DOL looks at stemming bison migration. By Daniel Person. Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

Bison after rationality about brucellosis. Restoration?

The decreasing belief that Yellowstone bison are inherently brucellosis spreaders might open way for plains restoration-

Today there is an optimistic article about bison by Daniel Person the Bozeman Chronicle.

The bison cause brucellosis in cattle story has been under attack here and many other places now for a long time, and it is clear that all the actual cases of brucellosis spread in the Greater Yellowstone have come from elk or cattle.

Person talks about restoration of bison to the plains as a real possibility, but with a lot of questions. One of them is will they eat the grass that cows could be eating?  Of course, that is one reason why there are efforts to create a large reserve by purchasing land so the bison can roam free and not compete with cattle.

For over a decade now, my explanation of the hostility of cattle organizations to bison, however, has been that their opposition is really based on the idea that killing bison as they leave the Park (and even trying to kill them in the Park) is really to show the rest of the West who is still boss around here. The problem with bison restoration is not brucellosis; it is the politics of cultural domination.

Homeless on the Range

An article about the ill-conceived bison quarantine program that will likely be turning the majority of the progeny of these bison into privately owned livestock.

Buffalo in quarantine - Kim Acheson

The Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks’ bison quarantine project started several years ago in an attempt to create a brucellosis free heard of Yellowstone bison from captured calves which had been repeatedly tested for the disease. These calves were separated from their mothers who were slaughtered and placed in pastures just north of Gardiner, Montana where they were fed out of troughs. They have no connection to their land and have not been exposed to experienced, older animals so they haven’t learned buffalo social skills. There is a big problem though. The program wasn’t thoroughly thought out, the FWP didn’t have any takers for the bison before the program was started.

The original, and often vaunted, intent was to create herds which would be used to repopulate the western public and tribal lands with genetically pure bison. There is a requirement to keep the bison that leave the quarantined facility fenced away from other animals for an additional 5 years in case brucellosis, a bacterial disease, re-emergerges. That’s expensive and nobody wants to do it so proposals to take the bison have been limited.

Enter Ted Turner. He has offered to keep the bison fenced, at a cost, for five years but he wants 190 of the progeny expected to be produced during those 5 years so that he can improve the genetics of his own commercial buffalo operations. This is the polar opposite of what was originally required of the recipients of the bison. The plans specifically mandated that the bison would not be mixed with hybrid bison and that they would remain in the public trust.

The Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks has said that the other major proposal to take the bison to Fort Belknap is not serious in nature and that they would have to slaughter them if they can’t give them to Ted Turner. They frame the issue as if slaughter is the only other option.

Western Watersheds puts up a bison page

A new resource page for the case Western Watersheds Project, et al. v. Salazar

I hope this new page will prove to be another site for good information on efforts to compell the Park Service and Forest Service to stop cooperating in the bison slaughter and eventually allow a significant number of bison to live on the open range outside Yellowstone Park in Montana.

See Yellowstone Bison. Western Watersheds Project.

Bison Attacks California Tourist at Yellowstone National Park

I think the headline should read “Bison Defends Itself from California Tourist at Yellowstone National Park” as the tourist approached within 10-feet of the bull.  I’m glad the man was not severely injured but every visitor is handed a little flyer with a drawing of a person being thrown through the air by a bison.

Bison Attacks California Tourist at Yellowstone National Park
Local 8 News, Eastern Idaho

Bull bison weigh up to 2000 pounds and they have big pointy things on their head. I’ve seen them walk slowly up to a 5-foot fence and jump over it like a deer.

Don’t walk up to them unless you want a big hole in your leg or groin area which is where most people are gored.  Most people injured by bison approach them too closely.  I’ve never heard of a bison that went out of its way to attack someone.

As my friend Mike Mease always says, “if a buffalo lifts its tail then it is either going to charge or discharge”.

Here are videos of what can happen very quickly to people who approach bison too closely.

Ranch north of Yellowstone meant for migrating bison goes unused this winter

All “the action” was at Horse Butte west of the Park-

They were going to let 25 of what I sarcastically called “cyberbison” use the CUT (Church Universal and Triumphant)  land north of Yellowstone Park, but there was no northward migration this winter.

Ranch land for bison sees no activity first year. By Daniel Person. Bozeman Chronicle Staff Writer

Brutal harassment of bison west of Yellowstone Park

Whatever happened to the vaunted new May 15 tolerance date?

Supposedly it would be different this spring. Bison would allowed to migrate out of the Park and onto Horse Butte free from harassment until at least May 15. The reality is pretty much like recent years. Brutal Montana Department of Livestock agents and Yellowstone Park personnel on horses are chasing bison back into the Park. Helicopters harass them from above. Not just bison, but all Yellowstone wildlife on the west side of the Park are disrupted.

The whole exercise is pointless because there are no cattle in the area to which the bison can theoretically transfer brucellosis. According to the Buffalo Field Campaign, there remains just one small hobby rancher in the area who won’t have cattle on his ranch until mid- to late-June.

In case anyone has missed it, my view is that the entire point of this yearly outrage is simply to show us who really runs things in Montana, and it’s not the citizens of the state or of the United States.

Please contact President Obama. It’s time to see if our new President cares any more about this than George W. did.

Ralph Maughan

__________

Here is the report from the Buffalo Field Campaign.

~Update from the Field

This mama buffalo and her newborn calf have had a very difficult week.

Chaos is reigning along Yellowstone National Park’s western boundary as the thumping of chopper blades and the shouts of government agents repeatedly harass wild buffalo families and all wildlife near the Madison River.  Nearly 200 buffalo – including dozens of newborn calves, yearlings, and pregnant mothers – have been ruthlessly run off of their spring habitat within the Gallatin National Forest.  Agents are out harassing buffalo as this Update is being written.

Newborn buffalo calves and many pregnant buffalo cows have been run for miles through pockets of deep snow, barbed wire fences, thick forests laden with dead-fall, fast moving river currents, mucky wetlands, and steep, sandy bluffs.  For these babies, it is a terrible and sometimes deadly introduction to the world.  The new and developing muscles of these little ones cannot sustain such abuse. Today, mounted Montana Department of Livestock and Yellowstone National Park horsemen have picked up the hazing operation at Yellowstone’s border, after it left Gallatin National Forest land, and are currently pushing the exhausted buffalo deep into Yellowstone National Park’s interior with the assistance of the Montana Department of Livestock’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.

Bison relocation plan deemed ‘too risky’

Again, it’s not about disease, it’s about control over land, wildlife and people.

Bison in quarantine near Gardiner.
Photo © Kim Acheson, Buffalo Field Campaign
Used with permission.

While I think that the quarantine plan is misguided I do believe that those bison in the program should be allowed to roam freely as wildlife.

This bill would make it illegal to transport the bison over Montana’s highways which is done currently when bison are hauled to slaughter. Apparently the transfer of bison to the Eastern Shoshone Wind River Reservation in Wyoming would be permitted.

Another issue that is raised here is the fact that the bison currently at Fort Peck Reservation have been hybridized with another species, cattle. I don’t know what the plan is for managing any bison received from this program would be but I hope that they would be separated from any that are hybridized so that there is no further hybridization. Genetically pure bison are rare and they should be valued for their special nature.

The quarantine facility has other problems not raised in the article too. How does removing calves from the rest of their herd and raising them on alfalfa affect their behavior and social structure? Can that social structure be regained over time? Habituation to humans can cause severe problems in other species such as wolves, bears, and coyotes as well as other species.

What will happen to those bison that don’t get relocated? Will they be slaughtered too? These people seem to be pulling out every reason they can to be irrational about this issue.

Bison relocation plan deemed ‘too risky’
Helena Independent Record.

So far this winter bison remain inside Yellowstone Park

No Montana slaughter yet-

Thus far,bison stick to the park. By Brett French. Billings Gazette.

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

=========================================

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.

Buffalo Allies supports passage of Montana HB 253 – Wild Buffalo Recovery & Conservation Act

This is a direct link to their news release as formated in New West-

Buffalo Allies supports passage . . .

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
– – – – – –

Bison to be hazed off of Horse Butte, despite private property

Montana Department of Livestock is expected to haze the bison off of Horse Butte today, despite the fact that most are on private property, whose owners welcome the bison.

The hard pressed bison have been gaining much needed nutrition from the lush grass and forbs after the winter of starvation and slaughter. The excuse from Montana DOL is that the Montana Stockgrowers Association has filed a lawsuit to get all the bison back inside Yellowstone Park lest brucellosis be spread to all the non-existent cattle in the area (they didn’t mention the later, as they like to pretend there are cattle present).

Of course we known what this is really about — to show us who is boss and that the average Americans’ private property rights are beneath contempt when confronted with the whims of the mighty livestock industry.

It is important to remember this offensive action the next time you hear these welfare ranchers whining about their property rights.

The Schweitzer news release on bison

Here it is. I can’t discern the details from what is in the release. Ralph Maughan

– – – – –

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, April 17, 2008

CONTACTS: Sarah Elliott 406-444-9725

Governor, Park Superintendent, Church President Announce RTR Agreement

(HELENA) – Governor Brian Schweitzer, Church Universal and Triumphant and Royal Teton Ranch (RTR) President Kate Gordon, Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Suzanne Lewis, and several non-government groups today announced completion of a long awaited agreement that moves the Yellowstone-area Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) through a critical step for protection of both Montana’s cattle industry and the Park bison herd.

“For a decade all parties have recognized a critical piece in solving bison, livestock and brucellosis concerns has been the RTR agreement,” said Governor Brian Schweitzer. “This is a good day for bison, livestock, and Montana. I would like to thank all the folks involved in making this happen.”

The IBMP was signed in 2000 by two Montana and three federal agencies: Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Montana Department of Livestock, Yellowstone National Park, the Forest Service, and USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The plan’s two central goals are to maintain Yellowstone’s wild, free-ranging bison population, and to protect Montana’s livestock industry from the risk of transmission of brucellosis.

Governor Schweitzer, Lewis, and Gordon jointly announced a draft agreement that contains the nuts and bolts of the deal. Superintendent Lewis announced a commitment of $1.5 million toward the deal, while the state has committed to working with nonprofits to contribute a similar amount to the 30-year grazing lease of RTR property. The agreement provides for tolerance of bison while removing cattle and reducing the risk of disease transmission.

“Considering where things stood just a few short years ago, this agreement is remarkable and historic,” said Governor Schweitzer. I commend Kate Gordon and FWP Regional Supervisor Pat Flowers, and their hard-working negotiators, for their perseverance. I especially want to thank Park Superintendent Lewis and the National Wildlife Federation, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, National Parks Conservation Association, and Montana Wildlife Federation for their help in bringing folks together, and committing to finding the dollars to seal the deal.”

The announcement comes on the heels of the recently released Government Accountability Office report that severely criticized federal agencies for lack of progress toward implementation of the IBMP. “Some thought just having this plan in place was enough, and that we didn’t need to show progress. They thought we could keep managing bison in the same scenario, year in and out and somehow expect improved results. They touted this plan as adequate protection for the cattle industry, but the discovery of a herd with brucellosis-infected animals last May way out by Bridger made clear the error of that sort of thinking,” said Governor Schweitzer. “Today we have made great progress on the disease-risk front, despite the foot-dragging by naysayers.”

“For three years now I have offered ideas and pointed out problems with the current plan. I’ve been concerned about going down the same road as Wyoming and Idaho, with loss of their disease-free status. Now we have a GAO report that echoes my concerns, and with today’s agreement we have the impetus to improve this plan, and improve it we will. We’ll continue to work in partnership with those who come to the table in a straightforward manner, with practical ideas to offer.”

The IBMP was designed to operate in steps, with each progressive step designed to better secure disease risk management and bison herd protection goals. It was originally thought that step two of the plan, the RTR deal, would be reached by the winter of 2002-2003, but the plan remained stuck in step one until Governor Schweitzer asked Fish, Wildlife, and Parks to rekindle negotiations with RTR in 2005.

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Sarah J. Elliott
Communications Director
Governor Brian Schweitzer
406-444-9725
selliott@mt.gov<mailto:selliott@mt.gov>

Important Bison News release

Maybe Montana’s governor is going to finally do something.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

CONTACT: Sarah Elliott 406-444-9725

MEDIA ADVISORY
Governor, Yellowstone Park Superintendent to Make Announcement about
Interagency Bison Management Plan – Tomorrow at Gallatin Airport

(HELENA) – Governor Brian Schweitzer and Yellowstone Park Superintendent
Suzanne Lewis will make a historic announcement about the Interagency Bison
Management Plan tomorrow, Thursday, April 17th at 1:30PM in the conference
room of the Old Terminal Building, north of the control tower at the
Gallatin Field Airport.

WHO: Governor Brian Schweitzer and Yellowstone National Park
Superintendent Suzanne Lewis

WHAT: Announcement about Interagency Bison Management Plan

WHEN: TOMORROW — Thursday, April 17 – 1:30PM

WHERE: Conference Room, Old Terminal Building- North of Control Tower,
Gallatin Field Airport (Between Commercial Terminal and Arlin’s Aircraft)

Brucellosis plan divides [Montana] state’s cattle groups

The Missoulian has this: Brucellosis plan divides state’s cattle groups. The Montana Stockgrowers Association and the Montana Cattlemen’s Association are split on Schweitzer’s thoughts of breaking the Yellowstone region from the rest of the state with regard to brucellosis-free status. Brucellosis has been used to stir up the annual slaughter of Yellowstone’s wild buffalo by Montana’s Department of Livestock.

One thing everyone seems to agree on is the need for a permanent solution to the Yellowstone Park brucellosis problem. The disease has been purged from Montana’s cattle herd for more than 20 years. The only reason it persists as a threat today is because bison and elk in Yellowstone Park carry the disease.“A lot of folks would like to see ranch practices applied to Yellowstone,” Seidlitz said.

I’d prefer to see wild buffalo and elk in America’s first national park.

Former Controversial Yellowstone Backcountry Ranger Becomes Bison Rancher

Todd Wilkinson conducted a five-part interview of Bob “Action” Jackson, the former Yellowstone Park Ranger who patrolled “the Thorofare,” the most remote part of Yellowstone, which laps over into the equally remote Teton Wilderness area (managed by the Bridger-Teton National Forest). In fact, here, near the Park boundary, is the spot most remote from a road in the lower 48 states of the United States.

As Park Ranger he was tough on poachers and outspoken about the way the Park boundary area was managed, creating friends and enemies within the Park Service, outfitters, and Wyoming politicians. Conservation groups tended to be highly favorable. On my old web page, I posted numerous stories about him.

Since he left the Park Service he has become a full time bison rancher and still has plenty to say, as this 5-part series indicates. He began bison ranching while still a seasonal ranger.

Here is the first interview, which is on-line at New West. Former Controversial Yellowstone Backcountry Ranger Becomes Bison Rancher. By Todd Wilkinson. New West. Here is the last interview. A Bare-Knuckled Poke At Public Bison Herds In the West. Once you go to this link, you will find the links to the rest of the interviews at New West.

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Note: along with Lee Mercer, I wrote a backpacking guide to the Teton Wilderness and the adjacent Washakie Wilderness. It was published in 2000, and is now out of print, but available on-line in places. Getting to the Thorofare is hard 2 days walk for the fittest, but it is plenty crowded during the elk hunt on Teton Wilderness side. . . Ralph Maughan.