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Update from the Field
Dear Buffalo Friends,
Everything is frozen now. This week temperatures dropped
to about twenty below zero. Some snow came with the
cold snap, but not enough for us to get out on skis
and snowshoes. Despite the deep freeze, patrols are
out every day monitoring buffalo migration, but as of
this writing there are still no buffalo inhabiting Montana.
BFC and other buffalo allies attended a Montana Fish,
Wildlife & Parks Commission meeting last week, where
the Royal Teton Ranch land lease was on the agenda.
When the public had opportunity to comment, the vast
majority were in opposition to the lease. Some of the
Commissioners themselves also cautioned against approving
the plan because there was too little information for
too serious a consequence. Other Commissioners were
anxious to expedite the process, regardless of the reality
for wild buffalo and the waste of taxpayer money being
spent on a temporary corridor to nowhere. A vote was
taken and, shockingly, due to the opposition of two
of the Commissioners, the land lease failed! We had
won a victory! The people had prevailed! The Commissioners
called a short break and when they reconvened the news
changed. The Commission decided to revisit the land
lease, even though they had just voted against its approval.
An FWP lawyer in the audience assured them that this
was a legitimate action. Backing away from their original
vote, the Commissioners chose to delay their decision
until they could tour the Royal Teton Ranch lands in
question and would make a decision over conference call.
The next morning, with little public notice, the tour
was given, and late that very afternoon over a conference
call, the FWP Commission agreed to allocate their portion
of funding - $300,000 of Montana Habitat money - and
approved the Royal Teton Land lease.
Though being touted as a "good first step"
by government agencies and misguided conservation groups,
this decision is in reality a devastating blow to wild
bison. It simply maintains the status quo of the Interagency
Bison Management Plan. Our friend and a strong buffalo
ally, Glenn Hockett of the Gallatin Wildlife Association,
describes it best:
"Perhaps the biggest concern with this proposal
is it gives credence to the current Interagency Bison
Management Plan (IBMP), which was designed by livestock
agents with no interest of ever really seeing a wild,
free-ranging year round bison herd in southwest Montana.
The specifics of this deal are quite troubling. Only
25 bison will be allowed to walk a narrow and fenced
two mile corridor through the 640 acre Church Universal
& Triumphant (CUT) Ranch property, on an area where
we already own a public right-of-way. But first they
must be hazed, captured, tested, found to be sero-negative
(to brucellosis exposure) and thus likely separated
from their family members who will be slaughtered for
having been exposed and potentially immune to brucellosis,
then vaccinated, vaginally implanted with a locator
transmitter if they are female, monitored round the
clock, and confined west of the Yellowstone River in
a small basin above Cutler Meadows and south of Yankee
Jim Canyon where they will likely be shot anyway. If
they or additional bison that might enter the area "untested"
don't "behave", which means they must stay
within a small area west of the Yellowstone River and
don't eat too much, the deal reverts back to square
one the next year. Regardless, [under this plan] there
will never be more than 100 bison in Montana and as
of tax time each year (April 15), just before or during
spring bison calving season all the bison must be rounded
up and hazed back into the Park, captured and hauled
back into the Park, or killed on site despite the fact
no cows are in the area and they present virtually no
risk to livestock. Furthermore, whenever the ceiling
of bison numbers is reached, the "corridor"
will be closed and government hazing, capture, confinement
and/or slaughter of wild bison attempting to migrate
to Montana from Yellowstone will continue unabated.
This deal perpetuates the fallacy that wildlife can
and should be "cleansed of disease" and that
brucellosis can somehow reasonably be eradicated from
all the wildlife in the Greater Yellowstone Area. It
is also a very temporary and expensive ($3.33 million
dollars) add-on to an already expensive ($13 million
dollar) conservation easement that has proven to be
a non-solution for buffalo. The deal isolates and continues
to treat native bison as a "diseased exotic animal"
in the State of Montana. FWP proposes to spend $300,000
of Montana Habitat money - taxpayer dollars allocated
to purchase habitat - for this boone-doggle. Yellowstone
National Park is allocating $1.3 million U.S. tax dollars,
and a handful of so-called conservation groups are footing
the rest. This is a very bad deal for Montana wildlife.
Bison need habitat and there are no solutions within
the restricted confines of the failed bison plan."
As you read this, BFC will be in the field with the
buffalo, and also in Bozeman, Montana, attending the
last in a series of Interagency Bison Management Plan
meetings. When it is time for the public to be heard,
we will speak for the herds. We will be there to remind
the agencies what they are doing is wrong, that their
plan is failing, and that there are solutions that don't
involve driving America's last wild bison to near extinction.
As always, we will share with you everything we learn
so you can continue to be an empowered voice for wild
buffalo.
Roam Free!
~ Stephany
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* BFC Badly Needs Snowplow & New Computers!
As the freezing cold weather comes, so does the downfall
of many of our functioning necessities. Just in the
last week, we've lost the one computer that most of
our coordinators use daily to communicate with supporters,
volunteers, and donors. And now that the snow has finally
started to fall, the plow for our plow truck has cracked
and is out of commission. If you have either of these
items and would like to donate them, we promise to put
them to good use defending the bison. And if you don't
but would like to help us acquire them, please DONATE
NOW.
Please help BFC acquire either of these two tax-deductible
items:
* Snowplow for a 4x4 pick up truck
* Apple computers (laptops or desktops) with OSX
We will gladly accept them and provide you with a tax
receipt for your in kind donation, along with many heartfelt
thanks!
BFC is always in need of various items that help keep
our office running, our cabin efficient, and our field
patrols warm, dry and well-fed. Please visit BFC's
Wish List to learn about the tax deductible in kind
donations you can make to help keep BFC functioning
on the front lines! THANK YOU!
------------------------------
* Last Words
"I've said it before, I'll say it again: this is
not about buffalo, it's not about brucellosis, it's
about grazing."
~ Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commissioner Victor
Workman.
Victor was one of two commissioners (Willie Doll being
the other) who originally voted against the Royal Teton
Ranch land lease, causing it to fail passage. He pleasantly
shocked us with this pro-bison statement during the
public meeting last week. Unfortunately, frustrated
with the cattle-based politics surrounding wild bison
management in Montana, Victor is stepping down from
the Commission.
------------------------------
* Kill Tally
AMERICAN BISON ELIMINATED from the last wild population
in the U.S.
2008-2009 Total: 2
2008-2009 Slaughter: 0
2008-2009 Hunt: 1
2008-2009 Quarantine: 0
2008-2009 Shot by Agents: 1
2007-2008 Total: 1,616
Total Since 2000: 3,683*
*includes lethal government action, quarantine, hunts
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