Is Gardiner, Montana, the Selma, Alabama, of Wildlife Conservation?

“On bigotry and bison management at Yellowstone National Park”-

It think this is a fine opinion piece in New West. Is Gardiner, Montana, the Selma, Alabama, of Wildlife Conservation? By Michael Leach, Guest Writer.

I kind of feel the same way as Leach.

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Note that Leach, who used to work for the Park Service, but longer does, has started Yellowstone Country Guardians. It is in our blogroll. He seems to attract enthusiastic young people to learn about Yellowstone.

Stockgrowers sue to protect non-existent cattle from a non-existent threat

Ridiculous lawsuit to show who is boss over everything and everyone in Montana is being heard today.

Montana Stockgrowers Association is suing to make sure bison are removed from the Horse Butte, which is devoid of cattle, by May 15th of each year. They would force the State of Montana to violate private property rights of those who live on the peninsula each and every year.

Cattle are no longer grazed on Horse Butte and there are few cattle grazed in the entire Hebgen Valley.  Even those cattle don’t arrive until late June long after there is any threat of brucellosis transmission.  Even so, bison are hazed, captured, and slaughtered by State and Federal Agencies at taxpayer expense at the cost of $1.5 million dollars per year to protect a few operators from a non-existent threat.

Stockgrowers sue over Horse Butte bison
Bozeman Daily Chronicle

A reminder of the consequences of this policy:

Open Letter to Gov. Brian Schweitzer:

Take Back Our Public Lands

Bison on Horse Butte © Ken Cole

By Tom Woodbury, Western Watersheds Project,

Addition by Ralph Maughan. This is also in New West. You can comment there as well as on this blog.

2008 should be remembered as the year of the buffalo. Over 1600 bison were slaughtered in Montana that year, about half of the last wild bison left in the world. This liquidation of wild bison is totally at odds with Montana’s strong conservation ethic, and is against our economic interest as well. In spite of this massive slaughter, Montana lost its “brucellosis-free” status due to repeated transmissions from wild elk to cattle. Also in 2008, the Government Accountability Office released a blistering report on bison management, finding no increased tolerance for bison, as intended by the management plan, and no accountability to those with a stake in how bison are managed, including Montana citizens and the many tribes that hold bison sacred.

The Bison Management Plan was adopted in 2000 “to ensure domestic cattle in portions of Montana adjacent to Yellowstone National Park are protected from brucellosis… and to ensure the wild and free-ranging nature of the bison herd.” It has failed on both counts.

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

Helicopters continue harassing all kinds of wildlife inside Yellowstone National Park

Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
May 28, 2009

In this issue:
* Update from the Field
* Help BFC Help the Buffalo
* Ground the DOL’s Helicopter: Contact the FAA
* Traditional Prayer Ceremony on Horse Butte May 31
* Support the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act
* BFC Needs Summer Volunteers in Yellowstone
* Last Words
* Kill Tally

NOTE: This will be the last weekly Update from the Field of this season. Updates will come every other week or as often as necessary to convey urgent news. Thanks for being with us for the buffalo!
~ Buffalo Field Campaign

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* Update from the Field

These buffalo calves, hazed yesterday inside Yellowstone, are struggling to make it across the Madison River's strong spring currents. Some barely made it. Photo by BFC volunteer Lake.

Since our last update, agents have been harassing bison every day. As I write, bison are once again being chased off of cattle-free Horse Butte, forced off of private lands where they are welcome, and off of public lands habitat where there will never be any cattle. Today, DOL agents again violated the private property rights of the Galanis family, using their helicopter, flying extremely low, to haze bison off the 800-acre buffalo safe zone. Buffalo have even been repeatedly shoved off of grassy meadows within Yellowstone National Park, deeper into the park’s interior to “make room” for the bison being hazed off of surrounding Gallatin National Forest lands.

Using U.S. tax dollars, Montana livestock inspectors bask in their assumed taxpayer-funded power while all the involved agencies cooperate, betraying the public trust and the wildlife and wild lands in their care, as they terrorize this unique facet of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Neither buffalo-friendly private lands, Gallatin National Forest, nor Yellowstone National Park are safe places for buffalo – livestock interests, including Yellowstone National Park, are seeing to it that buffalo have no sanctuary.

BFC documents Yellowstone National Park rangers hazing wild bison within the park. Photo by BFC volunteer Lake.

Yellowstone National Park willingly plays into the DOL’s hands, ignoring their mission “to protect park resources unimpaired,” and allowing these atrocities to occur within park boundaries. Yellowstone allows agents on horseback and the DOL’s helicopter to force wild bison off the ground they choose to be on, right in front of the eyes of park visitors. They create hours-long traffic jams, and when questioned by park visitors they misrepresent the issue and act as if they are doing the buffalo a favor, claiming that if hazing didn’t occur, the DOL would kill the buffalo. But Yellowstone participates in slaughter as well as hazing, and last year, of the 1,600 killed, they were responsible for the death of 1,400 wild bison. Hazing can also kill, and it certainly causes intense stress and injury to the buffalo. Injuries have been numerous, and the overall condition of the buffalo we have seen has been deteriorating since hazing activities began.

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.*

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/

Bill in Montana Senate would prohibit bison relocation.

What would happen to all of the bison presently in quarantine?  Would they be killed?

Senator John Brenden (R-Scobey) has introduced Senate Bill 337. It “Prohibits FWP from relocating wild buffalo or bison as a result of the state/federal bison quarantine feasibility study.” The Senate Hearing is next week on 2/17/09 in Helena.

The true colors of the livestock industry are showing with the introduction of this bill into the Montana State Senate. This makes it painfully obvious that the issue is not about brucellosis but about control over people, wildlife and public lands.

The recent defeat of HB 253 also made it clear that the issue isn’t about brucellosis. The bill would have protected the private property rights of people living on Horse Butte and other areas who welcome the presence of bison and would have handed over the management of bison to Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks.

Today’s statement by Buffalo Field Campaign on the hazing

PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS VIOLATED BY LIVESTOCK AGENTS HAZING WILD BISON: Property Owners Welcome Bison, Not DOL, on Cattle-Free Horse Butte

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 29, 2008
Press Contacts:
Janae & Rob Galanis, 406-646-4848
Ed & Vicky Millspaugh, Hebgen Lake Estates, 406-646-9176, (cell) 406-580-0321
Stephany Seay, Buffalo Field Campaign, 406-646-0070

WEST YELLOWSTONE, MT – With horses, a helicopter, state and federal law enforcement, and U.S tax dollars to spend, Montana Department of Livestock agents have descended upon the cattle-free Horse Butte Peninsula, violating private property rights and upsetting human and wildlife residents in an attempt to chase wild American bison out of Montana and into Yellowstone National Park.

Harper’s gets it right on Buffalo

For those of you with a Harper’s Magazine subscription, you’re in for a treat with Christopher Ketcham’s article They shoot buffalo, don’t they: Hazing America’s last wild herd in Harper’s most recent edition. Ketcham gets it right again.

For those of you, like myself, who don’t have a subscription to the publication, get on down to your local newstand and pick up a copy. It’s the June 2008 edition.

The article hearkens back to Harper’s Bernard DeVoto days in it’s candid willingness to take Livestock to task for their crimes against wildlife and the absurd hold this special interest has on management – on its ability to mangle the truth. It’s a stark depiction of just how little this cultural identity – this mentality, has changed.

It’s a good read, let’s hope Ketcham keeps following this path ~ Livestock’s contribution to the subsidized War on Wildlife with other species and co-opted agencies – there are plenty to choose from.

Here’s a work of Christopher Ketcham published in the recent past :

The Cowboy’s Carnage: Ranching and the War on Wildlife in the American West (Men’s Journal, Jan. 2008 ..)

Where the bison could roam

JB suggested I make a map based on Google Earth showing the topographic boundaries that would be natural choke points to keep free ranging outside-Yellowstone-Park bison confined so that they don’t keep continually expanding their range.

Within this area, outside the Park, there would be a bison hunt to keep the population approximately stable. Additional bison would be able to leave the Park into these areas to escape harsh winter conditions (such as frozen ground after rain which is more common with warming climate) and to seek early spring greenery.

Here is the map

Buffalo Field Campaign Update. Things OK for now. Awful DOL slaughter expected in March

Here is the latest alert/update from the Buffalo Field Campaign. I usually post them to help this hard working and group of brave volunteers. In the winter they have to confront daily the brutal Montana Department of Livestock, but in recent years also the Bushified Forest Service, and the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Department. Sometimes they get beaten or arrested for non-violent observation, video, and documentation of the harassment and pointless slaughter of Yellowstone’s bison which are confined to Yellowstone Park’s artificial boundary under the myth that they are a brucellosis disease threat to cattle which are now almost non-existent in the areas the bison try to leave the Park to roam. Ralph Maughan

First here is a story from New West on Park bison this winter. State and Federal Agencies Predict Busy Winter for Bison Management. By David Nolt.
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Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field

December 6, 2007

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View BFC Video Footage-
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
Make a Secure Online Donation to BFC-
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/bisonmerchandise/bisonmerchandise.html
Why are they killing the last wild buffalo?
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/issueinbrief.html

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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NUMBER OF AMERICAN BISON ELIMINATED from the last wild population in the U.S.
2007-2008: 10
Total Since 2000: 2,028
*includes lethal government action, quarantine, state and treaty hunts

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In this issue:

• Update from the Field
• Lots of BuffaLove and Praises
• BFC Newsletters and Notecards Available Soon!
• Ski, Shop, and Surf to Save the Buffalo and Support BFC
• Last Words

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* Update from the Field

Dear Buffalo Friends,

We are very happy to report that no wild buffalo have been harassed or killed since we wrote to you last week.

Last Friday BFC met with Yellowstone National Park administrators and on Tuesday we attended the Interagency Bison Management Plan open house. At both meetings the news from the agencies wasn’t good. They told us that it will likely be a very bad winter for our friends the buffalo.

One of the reasons given by the government agencies is the increased paranoia instilled in Montana’s cattle producers since brucellosis was detected in a Montana cattle herd last spring. While it is widely known that wild buffalo were not responsible for this transmission, and while there is no substantial evidence that the source wasn’t domestic cattle, the cattle industry is looking to blame Yellowstone wildlife, in particular the elk and buffalo. The industry fails to take responsibility for bringing brucellosis to this continent and infecting native wildlife.