*
Help BFC Help the Buffalo
The government agencies carrying out the Bison Management
Plan want us to believe that hazing is a sane and humane
way to treat buffalo. The events described below, and
those captured in still and video images by BFC patrols
every day, tell a very different story. Over the course
of the past two weeks, BFC field volunteers have witnessed
and documented the hazing of newborn calves with broken
legs; calves separated from their mothers; DOL helicopters
intruding upon private lands against the wishes of the
landowners; intensive industrial-strength hazing operations
occurring miles within the borders of the world's first
National Park and on Forest Service lands outside the
Park; and grizzly bears, moose, sandhill cranes and
other sensitive species being disrupted. Perhaps worst
of all, hazing keeps the buffalo from their critical
winter and spring habitat and violently interrupts their
birthing season.
Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group documenting
these operations on the front lines. If we weren't here
to tell the story, you would only be hearing the livestock
industry's sugar-coated spin, if anything at all. With
your help we will remain with the buffalo, in the field
and in the policy arena, until they and their migration
are adequately protected.
Please make a tax-deductible contribution today and
ensure that we remain a strong presence in the field
and on the policy front. Together we can bring these
actions against America's only continuously wild population
of bison to a halt and earn the bison the protection
they need and deserve.
Keep
BFC on the Frontlines with a tax-deductible Contribution
Today.
For the Buffalo,
Dan Brister
Executive Director
Buffalo Field Campaign
------------------------------
* Update from the Field
(click on image for full size version.)
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.
(click on image for full size version.)
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.
BFC has been documenting numerous injuries to newborn
buffalo, as well as all other age groups. Buffalo have
been run for miles without rest, water, or time to nurse;
chased across swollen rivers, through thick mud flats,
fallen timber, paved roads, and dusty trails. While
the DOL denies knowing whether they are the cause of
injuries, they are without a doubt aggravating existing
injuries as well as causing new ones. It is heartbreaking
to witness. Yesterday, this
little calf barely escaped the river as Park Rangers
hazed it and its family for more than twelve miles inside
Yellowstone National Park. Park rangers attempted
to prevent BFC from documenting these actions against
buffalo, but patrols persist so that people will know
how Yellowstone and Montana cattle interests are wasting
federal tax dollars to squander our natural heritage
and placate the livestock industry. BFC has also been
documenting the DOL's helicopter flying extremely close
to the ground, sometimes lower than 20 feet, hovering
over buffalo in rivers, endangering residents and BFC
patrols, and terrorizing all the creatures in the ecosystem.
It is a centuries-old, cattle industry driven war against
wildlife.
Buffalo belong on the landscape. They are attempting
to restore themselves and heal the injuries that more
than a hundred years of intense livestock production
has caused. One example has been playing out on the
south side of the Madison River, where agents have been
repeatedly harassing and harming the buffalo; since
the wildfires that burned the area two summers ago,
this area has become favored habitat. The bison are
coming to do their ancient work; they are taking advantage
of the new areas of green, nutritious grass the fire
has helped produce, and by gently grazing, tilling and
fertilizing the area with their critical presence, the
buffalo will help restore this section of forest, making
it a healthier place for all creatures. The buffalo
are trying to heal the wounded land, and we must press
on to ensure that they are able to fulfill this critical
role.
ROAM FREE!
------------------------------
* Ground the DOL's Helicopters: Contact the
FAA
The Federal Aviation Administration has been hearing
your calls. Please continue to make your voice heard
to the FAA and file a complaint about how two FAA-registered
helicopters are being used by the Montana Department
of Livestock to harass and harm members of America's
last wild population of bison. The helicopter disrupts
the entire ecosystem and all its inhabitants, including
wild bison, grizzly bears, wolves, nesting birds such
as Sand Hill cranes, bald and golden eagles, and white
pelicans. Human residents on the western edge of Yellowstone
National Park are also disturbed by the use of the helicopter,
which flies extremely low through neighborhoods to scare
up bison, hazing them towards Yellowstone. Yellowstone
National Park has shamefully allowed the DOL's helicopter
to intrude within the boundaries of the world's first
national park.
TAKE ACTION! Please contact the FAA to complain about
the use of these two helicopters used by the Montana
Department of Livestock DOL during bison hazing operations:
N7770X and N1095T. The co-pilot is DOL agent Rob Tierney.
Mention that the helicopter has been flying low (20
feet or lower at times) on May 14, 15, 27 and 28. If
you have personally witnessed the helicopter hazing
bison, your voice is especially needed, but all voices
are critical and will make a difference. The DOL is,
after all, using federal tax dollars to fly the helicopter
to harass America's last wild bison on National Forest
and National Park lands. If enough complaints are received,
we may be able to ground the DOL's chopper.
FAA Hotline:
http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/field_offices/fsdo/hln/contact/
------------------------------
* Traditional Prayer Ceremony on Horse Butte
May 31
Click on the image to download a full size poster. Special
thanks to BFC volunteer Cindy for this beautiful design!
We are honored to announce that on Sunday, May 31, beginning
at 11am, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th generation
keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe, will come to
Montana to hold a traditional ceremony on Horse Butte
in honor of the buffalo. The event is co-sponsored by
Buffalo Field Campaign, Horse Butte Neighbors of Buffalo,
and Seventh Generation Fund's Tatanka Oyate Project.
All are welcome. Following the ceremony there will be
a pot luck community meal in the town of West Yellowstone.
Please RSVP with Stephany at bfc-media@wildockies.org.
For more information and directions click here.
------------------------------
* Support the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection
Act
H.R. 980, the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection
Act is being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives
Subcommittee on National Parks, Forest and Public Lands.
NREPA designates tens of millions of acres of roadless
areas as wilderness in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, eastern
Oregon, and Washington. NREPA also includes the designation
of over 3 million acres of backcountry wilderness in
Yellowstone, Glacier and Grand Teton National Parks.
The only place in the lower-48 where all native species
and wildlife remain is in the Northern Rockies. NREPA
connects natural, biological corridors, ensuring the
continued existence of native plants and animals and
mitigating the effects of global warming and it restores
public lands severely damaged from roads built into
critical wildlife habitat. It is the most important
single action that Congress can take to protect wildlife
and wildlands in the Northern Rockies. Finally, NREPA
specifically mentions the last wild population of American
bison in Yellowstone!
Read an informative and compelling opinion-editorial
by our friend Paul Richards.
Then take
action to help ensure that NREPA becomes law!
------------------------------
* BFC Needs Summer Volunteers in Yellowstone!
BFC is looking for summer volunteers to help with outreach
in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Talking
to park visitors who are in the company of the buffalo
we are trying to protect is a great way to raise awareness
and make more friends for the buffalo. If you would
like to spend some or all of your summer with BFC, please
contact Chris at volunteer@buffalofeildcampaign.org
or call 406-646-0070.
See you in West Yellowstone in the land of the last
wild buffalo!
------------------------------
*
Last Words
"These are some of the greatest citizens the state
of Montana or the nation have produced--citizens willing
to risk their lives to protect our wildlife and our
buffalo heritage. I am speaking of the men and women
of the Buffalo Field Campaign of West Yellowstone, Montana.
These men and women need to be supported by our national
and state governments, not tormented. And they need
to be heard. These people have ideas that can be of
help to everyone concerned."
Marian Rose, West Chesterfield, NH
------------------------------
* Kill Tally
AMERICAN BISON ELIMINATED from
the last wild population in the U.S.
2008-2009 Total: 18
2008-2009 Slaughter: 0
2008-2009 Hunt: 1
2008-2009 Quarantine: 0
2008-2009 Shot by Agents: 1
2008-2009 Highway Mortality: 16
2007-2008 Total: 1,631
Total Since 2000: 3,698*
*includes lethal government action, quarantine, hunts,
highway mortalities
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