| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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Article 1/05/09 |
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Op-ed
- Montana Stockgrowers: Time to share with buffalo
By LOUISA WILLCOX
Guest columnist 1/05/09
Bozeman Daily Chronicle |
On
Dec. 17, an interagency agreement was approved that would
let buffalo roam on the Horse Butte area outside Yellowstone
Park near Hebgen Lake. Although far form perfect, this
deal would allow hundreds of buffalo to graze peacefully
in this area, rather than being hazed, captured and sent
to slaughter as they were last winter. Within days, the
Montana Stockgrowers Association moved to block the agreement
in court - despite the fact the deal posed no risk to
cattle because cattle no longer graze on Horse Butte.
The Stockgrowers' position also stands in opposition to
the view of 69 Horse Butte landowners, who earlier this
year wrote that the state Department of Livestock's harassment
of buffalo on their land violated their private property
rights. Does this suit by the Stockgrowers mean that they
are now an anti-private property rights group? And why
are the Stockgrowers involved in this debate anyway, since
there are no cows on Horse Butte?
The debate over Yellowstone's buffalo has never been about
what is reasonable, or fair, or respectful, or compassionate:
It has always been about hardball symbolic politics. Scratch
below the surface, and you will find little about the
actual animal - how they behave or the habitat they need.
But you will find a lot about an age-old battle over park
wildlife. The buffalo debate is about who controls wildlife
outside the park, and to what ends. It is telling that
buffalo is the region's only wildlife species not managed
by a professional wildlife agency, but by the Department
of Livestock.
But Montana and the West are changing. The traditional
frontier values that called for taming the wilderness
and killing wildlife to advance agriculture, logging and
mining are being replaced by values that cherish natural
landscapes and wild animals. More and more, people within
and outside the region want to protect the Greater Yellowstone
Ecosystem's world-class landscapes and the wild creatures
that have been extirpated elsewhere.
In Yellowstone, we are lucky to still have the last free-roaming
wild buffalo herd in the country. After being reduced
to just 23 animals a little over a century ago, Yellowstone
buffalo miraculously rebounded, numbering some 3,000 individuals
today. What's more, scientists have shown that buffalo
enhance the functioning of the ecosystem, helping to recycle
nutrients by breaking up the soil with their hooves. And
they are an important food source for a host of other
wildlife, including the imperiled wolf and grizzly. The
millions of people who flock to Yellowstone each year
to see wildlife may not know about the latest ecological
studies, but that does not diminish their appreciation
for a magnificent animal that represents the essence of
the Wild West.
Stockgrowers, it is time to catch up to the present. These
times call for sharing the land where we can with Yellowstone's
unique wildlife, such as buffalo, and for respecting the
wishes of a growing number of Montanans who want healthy
wildlife. And they call for rationality and restraint:
And there is nothing rational about harassing and killing
hundreds of buffalo on Horse Butte.
Buffalo need places like Horse Butte to survive winters
like last year, when deep snows forced more than 1,600
animals outside the park to seek grass at lower elevations.
Under Montana's "no tolerance" policy, these
animals were shot in a slaughter larger than any since
the 1800s. The new Horse Butte agreement is a long overdue
first step towards a policy that honors our important
connections to buffalo.
We at the Natural Resources Defense Council will battle
the Stockgrowers in court in order to turn back its attempt
to scotch the new Horse Butte approach. Because this is
not just about giving back some space for buffalo to roam,
after having taken away so much. This is a defining moment:
will we acknowledge the many values of Yellowstone's buffalo
in society today, or look backward to the intolerant views
that almost eliminated buffalo from the West?
Louisa Willcox is the senior wildlife advocate for the
Natural Resources Defense Council in Livingston.
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