| BFC Buffalo Field Campaign
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| Voices
from the Community |
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"To
everything there is a season . ."
A time to dispute, and a time just to talk
Column by David Warner, West Yellowstone News, 12/08/06
We regularly receive press releases from the Buffalo Field Campaign
which the BFC calls a "Report from the Field."
In the most recent such report we read a description of an unusual
encounter between two BFC'rs and a man identified as Travis
and Travis's young son.
The encounter occurred near the home of Dale Koelzer, shortly
after Koelzer passed away. Dale and the BFC had long been on
directly opposite sides of the question of what to do with bison
that leave Yellowstone Park. A well known, widely publicized,
bison trap is located on Koelzer's property.
We quickly recognized the "Travis" in the report as
Travis Uehling, Dale's grandson, Mary and Ken Davis's oldest
son, a 1992 graduate of West Yellowstone High School. We were
able to get in touch with Uehling and asked for his thoughts
on what the BFC writer had provided.
He'd read the Report from the Field, and it told the story pretty
much exactly the way he remembered it, he told us.
"We walked on up to where they were," he said, "and
just before we got there, I warned my boy, 'These people might
say some bad things about Grandpa.' But they didn't."
We explained to Uehling that, especially considering the season,
we thought it would be a nice thing to share with our readers.
"I think so too," he responded.
Last week, as Dale's family was in town, Laura and I were watching
a group of bulls that were just within Yellowstone's borders.
We were camped on a strip of National Forest land between Yellowstone
and Dale Koelzer's property.
A man and a boy approached us from the Koelzer property. The
man asked if they could come into our camp, and we welcomed
them. He said, "Your 'favorite' person in the world just
died - he was my grandfather."
He introduced himself as Travis. His son was with him and they
wanted to talk about the buffalo - not about the politics -
but about the buffalo themselves. We had good conversation.
We shared stories. We joked with each other. We learned things
from one another.
It was such a refreshing and human moment and it gave us a lot
of hope for the future. Travis and his son were so friendly
and genuine; new generations with, perhaps, different ideas
on how things should be. Laura and I were moved by our interaction
with them, we later regretted we hadn't shaken their hands.
We don't know what will happen next, but we can't help but be
a little optimistic. Earlier that morning, those four bulls
had been on Koelzer's property, and Travis and his son spoke
to us about them and seemed pleased by their presence. It gives
us strong hope for the future.
Thank you, Travis and son, for coming and talking with us. We
look forward to building relationship, open dialogue, and a
new direction. |
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