| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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| Weekly
Update from the Field November 19, 2009 |
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Update from the Field
* TAKE ACTION: Help the Buffalo with Your Comments to
APHIS
* Buffalo Battle: BFC Will Be on TV's Planet Green!
* Do You Like to Cook? BFC Needs You!
* Buffalo Field Campaign Wish List
* Last Words
* Kill Tally
* Important Links
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* Update from the Field
The first five days of Montana's buffalo hunt have so
far been uneventful. We expect it will remain so until
buffalo actually begin migrating into Montana.
The state and federal government agencies responsible
for the Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) met this
week in Livingston, Montana. For the first time ever,
Native American representatives were allowed a seat at
the decision-making table. Nez Perce and Confederated
Salish and Kootenai tribal members as well as representatives
from the Inter Tribal Bison Cooperative were finally able
to engage in the decision-making process. This is precedent-setting
and extremely good news for both the buffalo and the tribes
and we hope the tribes will become deeply engaged in educating
the agencies and helping the buffalo realize a better
future.
If you were receiving last year's Updates, you might remember
that the agencies promised, in their Adaptive
Management Plan (AMP), to have greater tolerance for
certain bison on certain lands outside of Yellowstone
at certain times of the year. Despite the fact that these
less than certain promises were never fully lived up to,
the Department of Livestock (DOL) this week asked the
other agencies to amend the AMP and prohibit any bison
from occupying lands on the south side of the Madison
River. In the words of the DOL, the changes agreed upon
last year were "too lenient" on the bison and
showed "too much tolerance." Revealing their
ignorance of bison ecology, DOL representatives claimed
there was "no habitat" on the south side of
the Madison, an area with expansive meadows that BFC has
observed to be a favorite of the bison during periods
of each our our thirteen years in the field.
The DOL also complained that buffalo were "breaching"
man-made zones and "threatening" cattle operations.
But when asked for specifics on these cattle operations,
livestock inspectors and even the Montana State Veterinarian
were unable to specify more than one, and simply stated
with a wave of the arm, "oh, there's a lot of them."
The DOL's main complaint was that buffalo were too difficult
to haze in the thick woods, and they simply don't want
them on the landscape anyway.
In a surprising and heartening turn of events, Yellowstone
Superintendent Suzanne Lewis and Gallatin National Forest
Supervisor Mary Erickson expressed open disagreement with
the livestock agency, and openly spoke against the DOL's
requested changes. Lewis and Erickson pointed out that
one year of data was insufficient to base such a drastic
digression upon. They also reminded the DOL that there
was no real risk of brucellosis transmission and that
the buffalo need habitat outside the park.
After hours of circular sparring, the DOL's changes were
rejected and the agencies will continue to allow a mere
30 buffalo to occupy Gallatin National Forest lands along
the south side. Agency representatives also announced
that bull bison would be allowed north of Duck Creek,
where previously they have not been allowed. Last June
three bull bison were captured and shipped to slaughter
for grazing in this area, even though bulls pose no risk
of brucellosis transmission. Perhaps angry at being rebuffed,
the DOL insisted that if the buffalo inhabiting the south
side "breached" more than twice, they would
haze, capture, or slaughter them.
Regardless of the decisions made at this IBMP meeting,
until the Plan is replaced with one more meaningful and
respectful, the ultimate authority will rest with Montana's
State Veterinarian and America's last wild bison will
be at the mercy of the livestock industry. For now the
DOL and partner agencies remain entrenched in the IBMP,
and the DOL will make every attempt to keep Montana free
of wild bison. Buffalo Field Campaign, with your support,
will be here to defend the buffalo and their right to
roam every step of the way.
ROAM FREE!
~Stephany
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TAKE ACTION: Help the Buffalo with Your Comments
to APHIS
More buffalo advocates have submitted comments to the
Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) about
their Bovine Brucellosis Program, which maintains the
status quo of harming wild bison and elk in the Greater
Yellowstone Ecosystem. Comments are being accepted through
December 4, 2009, so if you haven't submitted yours yet
please do so today. If you have, thank you, and please
spread the word to save these herds! Click
here to learn more and submit your comments today!
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Buffalo Battle: BFC Will Be on TV's Planet Green!
Tune in on December 5, 2009 at 10pm EST to Discovery's
Planet Green for Buffalo Battle, a new documentary-style
TV program about the work of Buffalo Field Campaign. The
one-hour program is expected to air in the United States
and Europe. We will bring you more details as we learn
them, but for now you can learn a little bit by visiting
Planet
Green.
While the link calls the program "Buffalo Warriors"
look for "Buffalo Battle" on Planet Green December
5th!
Many thanks to Buffalo Battle's Executive Producer Matt
Testa and his amazing crew at Authentic TV for being in
the field with us, learning from all sides of the issue,
and helping BFC tell the world about the last wild buffalo!
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* Do You Like to Cook? BFC Needs You!
Buffalo Field Campaign is looking for cooks to prepare
meals for volunteers during this campaign season. We're
looking for people who can commit to at least two weeks,
though a month would be preferred. BFC caters to all dietary
needs, and meat is locally harvested. Please contact our
kitchen coordinator, Brandy, for a more detailed description
of the job at kitchen@buffalofieldcampaign.org.
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* Buffalo Field Campaign Wish List
There are lots of ways for you to make a difference for
wild buffalo. BFC's Wish List is one way to visualize
the breadth of Buffalo Field Campaign's reach and capacity
to support wild buffalo year-round. It's also a great
way to match your interests with our day-to-day needs,
prayers and wishes. Two things that we are in particular
need of right now are tools our mechanic can use to maintain
and repair our fleet of aging vehicles and frequent flier
miles we can use to travel between Montana and Washington,
DC.
Field Patrols form the backbone of BFC's efforts, allowing
us to actively protect the bison on their native habitat,
document every action taken against them, and share their
compelling story with the world.
Unfortunately, we are dependent upon vehicles to carry
patrols to and from the field. We are incredibly blessed
this season to have Dennis, a professional mechanic, as
our mechanic coordinator. But in order for him to work
at full capacity and keep our cars in working order, he
needs some essential tools.
As important as field patrols are, they alone will not
bring about the protection the bison need and deserve.
The underlying policy must change. To this end, we are
planning a series of trips to Washington, DC to educate
and inform members of Congress and the Obama Administration
on the importance of America's only continuously wild
population of bison and the dire situation they face every
time they attempt to follow their instinctual migration
to winter and spring habitat. If you have frequent flier
miles on any of the following airlines, we will put them
to effective and immediate use to protect the buffalo:
Delta/Northwest, United, US Airways, and Continental.
Please click here to
view these and other items on our wish list.
Thank you for supporting a wish and for helping us to
meet a need in the field!
Donations can be mailed to:
Buffalo Field Campaign
PO Box 957, West Yellowstone, MT 59758
Thank you!
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* Last Words
"If you talk to the animals they will talk to you
and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them,
you will not know them. And what you do not know you will
fear. What one fears one destroys."
--Chief Dan George
Many thanks to Andrea for sending this beautiful quote
along for inclusion! Do you have submissions for Last
Words? Send them to bfc-media@wildrockies.org.
Thank you all for the poems, songs and stories you have
been sending; you'll see them here!
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* Kill Tally
AMERICAN BISON ELIMINATED from the
last wild population in the U.S.
2009-2010: 0
2008-2009 Total: 22
2008-2009 Slaughter: 3
2008-2009 Hunt: 1
2008-2009 Quarantine: 0
2008-2009 Shot by Agents: 2
2008-2009 Highway Mortality: 16
2007-2008 Total: 1,631
Total Since 2000: 3,702*
*includes lethal government action, quarantine, hunts,
highway mortalities |
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Media & Outreach
Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
BFC is the only group working in the field every day
in defense of the last wild buffalo population in the
U.S.
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