* Update From the Field
Friends of the Buffalo,
On Monday we travelled to Gardiner, Montana, on Yellowstone's north boundary, to attend an open house on the Park Service's plans to shoot buffalo in Yellowstone National Park with "bio-bullets" and darts containing RB51, an ineffective brucellosis vaccine designed for use in cattle. Undeterred by concerns raised by scientists whose studies revealed that the vaccine doesn't work, the Park Service is moving ahead with its vaccination plans. Rick Wallen, Yellowstone's bison biologist, was there to answer questions and discuss the plan. Rick admitted that he doesn't believe brucellosis can ever be eliminated from the Yellowstone ecosystem. Why then, does the Park insist on going forward with its vaccination plan?

For more information on the Park's vaccination plans and talking points to make in your scoping comments, please see last week's update:
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/media/update0405/090204.html

On Tuesday we paid a visit to the Gardiner District offices of the Gallatin National Forest, where we looked through files pertaining to livestock grazing in the Gardiner basin, one of the most wildlife-rich valleys in the contiguous 48 states. In April, after capturing hundreds of buffalo and sending 266 to slaughter, the Park Service justified its actions by saying that it has to protect cattle grazing on nearby lands belonging to the Royal Teton Ranch (RTR). And we thought they were there to protect the Park and its creatures.

What the Park failed to mention is that more than 13 million tax dollars were given to the RTR in exchange for 6,770 acres of land and to provide for a conservation easement for wildlife habitat on an additional 1,508 acres, supposedly to benefit wildlife. As last year's buffalo slaughter so clearly illustrates, all this money was wasted. Cattle still graze the RTR lands and buffalo are still being slaughtered inside the park for the crime of approaching the boundary. What did our 13 million dollars buy?

On Tuesday night we reunited with friends at the BFC cabin near West Yellowstone, and prepared for a day of cutting, carrying, and stacking firewood. We spent all of Wednesday in the woods, loading our truck and trailer with eight-foot lengths of wood and piling it around the cabin. Winters here are some of the coldest in the country, and it takes a great deal of wood to keep our volunteers warm. My sore muscles and aching back are nothing compared to the satisfaction I'll reap in February as I warm myself with another log tossed into the woodstove. If you live close by or want to travel to help us put up this year's wood, contact Katie at buffalo@wildrockies.org. We're hosting our annual Woodcut Weekend on October 2nd and 3rd and hope to see you here.
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* BFC Heading East in October - Announces East Coast Presentation Dates
The Buffalo Field Campaign has been underway with our annual West Coast Road Show since late August, and we're making our way up the coast, and still going strong. But, what if you live back East? Don't worry, you're not being left out; starting in October BFC will be heading your way, and we can't wait! Below are some confirmed East Coast dates that we hope you can attend (and tell your friends about them, too). Please check our web site in the coming days for a more complete calendar as we confirm event details. If you want to bring BFC to your East Coast town, please send an email to bfc-media@wildrockies.org.
FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA:
Wednesday, October 13, 7:00-9:00 pm, The Wounded Book/Athenaeum
WASHINGTON, DC:
Thursday, October 14, 7:00-8:00 pm, Georgetown Patagonia,
BALTIMORE, MD:
Friday, October 15, 6:00-8:00 pm, Johns Hopkins University-Baltimore Campus,
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA:
Saturday, October 16, 12:00-6:00 pm, Clarendon Day
PURCHASE, NY:
Thursday, October 21, 7:00 pm, SUNY-Purchase College
BOSTON, MA:
Saturday, October 23, 10:00-6:00, Boston Vegetarian Food Festival

BRING BFC TO YOUR TOWN! If you live on the East Coast and would like BFC to come to your town, please send an email to Dan at: bfc-media@wildrockies.org or Stephany stephany@wildrockies.org. It is easy to organize a presentation, fundraiser, informative gathering, or other type of event to help the buffalo. Your help is needed in securing a place/date/time, and working with us on getting the word out and people there. Don't be afraid to be creative!
The Road Show is a super-critical, highly effective outreach and education tool that allows BFC volunteers to connect with the people who care about America's last wild buffalo. They allow us to bring the buffalo's message directly to those who want to learn more and they empower you to help stop the slaughter. For each of the Road Show events, buffalo advocates in the regions we visit play a critical role in determining where the buffalo's message will be heard. They help to organize and publicize these shows where we present our video footage from the field, discuss pressing issues, answer questions, learn your thoughts, ideas and concerns, distribute our colorful and highly informative newsletter, and empower the people we meet with to help stop the slaughter. Each presentation helps to strengthen our network of buffalo champions everywhere. These face-to-face communications are building a stronger, more powerful voice: a voice that will stop the slaughter of America's last wild buffalo.
* Contact bfc-media@wildrockies.org now to organize a presentation, fundraising event, or outreach event of any kind in your East Coast town!
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* International Treaty Council Takes Stand Against Buffalo Slaughter
Thanks to the tireless work of BFC volunteer and Vallejo Inter-Tribal Council member Dagmar Riddle, the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) passed the following resolution on the Yellowstone buffalo. The resolution will be submitted to the United Nations for inclusion in the UN draft Declaration on Indigenous Human Rights.

"THE INTERNATIONAL INDIAN TREATY COUNCIL takes a stand against the US and state of Montana governments' hazing, capturing, torturing and slaughter of the Yellowstone Bison herd, the direct descendents of the 60 million buffalo slaughtered by the US in the previous century, as a current example of the destruction of Indigenous Peoples' traditional food resources and cultural relationships with the natural world;"

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