| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
|
| News
Article 11/22/06 |
 |
| |
|
|
OUR
OPINION
Viability of all wildlife depends on all hunters cooperating
Nobody is suggesting that state government meddle in
tribal hunting rights
Bozeman Daily Chronicle 11/22/06
|
Changes
during the past decade in the way Montana manages Yellowstone
National Park's bison - and the way the animals behave
- have renewed interest by the region's Indian tribes
in hunting.
Members of the Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes of Northwestern Montana plan to hunt bison
around the park this winter under the terms of a 19th-century
treaty. That, by itself, is welcome by many. With the
exception of a few animal-rights extremists, there is
a general perception that the region is overrun with buffalo
and the current means of managing the burgeoning herd
are not working. Tribal hunting helps get rid of some
bison.
Last winter non-Indian hunters, licensed
by Montana, killed a few bison, but dozens more were rounded
up and sent to slaughter. Idaho's Nez Perce tribal elders
brought a group of youths to the region to shoot half
a dozen bison outside of the state-sanctioned hunt. As
the park herd grows and pushes further into the surrounding
forests and ranchlands, there is not much argument for
restrictions - or even restraint - on tribal bison harvests.
But Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
officials said this month that the tribal hunters also
are allowed to kill elk, bighorn sheep, moose and other
species outside of state restrictions, licensing and quotas.
That constitutes a different argument.
The state heavily manages hunting of those animals, primarily
to ensure that herds remain at healthy levels and that
individual animals are protected during their most vulnerable
seasons. In some districts, harvests are limited to half
a dozen animals and even a few additional kills could
jeopardize the population.
Many hunters wait a lifetime for one
opportunity to hunt sheep, goats or moose. Any unrestricted
killing of those species could severely limit - or end
- state hunting seasons.
Meanwhile, mechanization and technology
that could not be imagined when treaties were drafted
in the 19th century put wildlife within easy reach of
hunters all year around. The ability to decimate populations
now exists - thus we have state-initiated seasons and
quotas based on biological data.
Nobody disputes the right of the tribes
to pursue their treaty rights to hunting. Nor is anyone
suggesting that state government should meddle in tribal
affairs, including when and where members chose to hunt.
The tribes each have their own management rules, including
how many tags to issue and who may hunt when.
The bottom line for all of the groups,
however, must be long-term health and viability of the
Yellowstone-region wildlife populations - whether they
include bison, elk, sheep, goats, moose, deer or any other
species.
The tribes, their members and all Montanans
would be served well by cooperation and communication
between the various wildlife hunting groups - Indian and
non-Indian and between tribes. The balance between hunter
and hunted - between treaty rights, state and tribal regulation
and biological reality - is too fragile to leave to chance.
Top
of Page |
|
|
|
|
|
|
