Copyright © 2000 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

* Update from the Field

With the freezeover of Hebgen Lake's Madison and Grayling arms and a winter storm that dropped several inches of snow in the area, the prospect of a busy winter for BFC became evident. On Monday, patrols spotted over 200 bison within a mile of the Duck Creek capture facility.

Luckily, they just checked the forage in the area and moved 2 to 3 miles upstream and into the park on the following day. There are 20 bison (mostly bulls) scattered about outside of the park and they have been subject to random harassment by a single DOL agent throughout the week. His efforts to haze the animals back into the park have been largely unsuccessful.

BFC continues preparations for the winter and several new volunteers arrived in camp recently. We have daily patrols on Duck Creek and recon patrols at Fir Ridge and the Madison/Horse Butte area.

An overflight of the area was conducted on Thursday. Due to snow, we were unable to count the herd in other areas of the park. Thanks to LightHawk for their valuable help!

Despite the recent elections, BFC volunteers stand poised to protect the Yellowstone Bison herds until these majestic animals are granted the right to roam free and wild. Thanks to all of you that responded to the last alert! The warm thoughts, phone calls, ski boots and tipi are very much appreciated. Thanks also to Patagonia for hosting the Buffalo Strategy Session in Bozeman last week!

* December 3rd Prayer for the buffalo

On December 3, there will be a small ceremony in West Yellowstone for the buffalo. Please contact Ehnamani Sun Dance Church, Scott Frazier for more information. Thank you for raising your prayers up with us.

Also - Friends of the Buffalo, Friends of Ehnamani
Mr. John Potter has released the Ehnamani Sun Dance calendar for 2001. We are selling these calendars as a fund raiser. We expect action this year with the Yellowstone Buffalo awareness program. We need funds to help those helping the Buffalo. Please send your check for $10.00 to Ehnamani; PO Box 3231, Bozeman Montana, 59715. Do forget to request a tax deductible receipt for your donation. Thanks Scott Frazier

* Montana buffalo "plan"

The Montana State Department of Livestock and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks released the Interagency Bison Management Plan for The State of Montana and Yellowstone National Park. This Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) is the State's answer to the federally prepared FINAL Environmental Impact Statement for the Interagency Bison Management Plan for the State of Montana and Yellowstone National Park.

View a copy of the Montana State Plan. This plan was developed by the State as their response to being removed from the jointly developed Federal Plan. The State originally was a cooperating agency in the Federal Plan, but when they refused to compromise with the Federal agencies (National Park Service, National Forest Service, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service [APHIS]) over a Preferred Alternative for the Federal Plan, they were removed from the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that bound them together to formulate a joint Plan. Since the dissolution of the MOU, a Federal Judge has ordered the Federal agencies and the State to attempt to mediate their differences, to no avail. In lieu of a mediated, joint EIS, the State proceeded down it's own track to produce the current State FEIS.

The Montana State Plan incorporates the Federal FEIS by reference, and seems to use it's analysis instead of performing it's own analysis. Furthermore, the State's FEIS' preferred alternative is a modified version of the Federal Plan's preferred alternative, with several major differences. The State has adopted a Plan that continues the haze, capture and test and includes the slaughter of sero-positive buffalo. The Plan continues on, though, to limit the number of tested sero-negative buffalo that may be present outside of Yellowstone National Park in "Zone 2" to 100 animals on public land until May 15th.

All animals in excess of the 100 animal cap on the west side of Yellowstone, and 25 animals on the northern side will either be "shipped to a research facility or to quarantine." Furthermore, any buffalo entering Zone 3 will be subject to"lethal removal." Zone 2 on the West side of Yellowstone is a very limited area roughly bounded on the north by highway 287, on the south by highway 20, and on the west by the Horse Butte Peninsula.

The State plans to immediately cap the number of Bison in the Northern Yellowstone herd at 3,000 animals, with a NEPA analysis of the construction of a quarantine facility to begin soon. Furthermore, any animals in excess of the 100 animals that leave the Park will be tested and slaughtered or moved to either a research facility or quarantined. This has the potential in a severe winter to depopulate the entire northern herd of buffalo to 125 animals, if the entire herd were to attempt to migrate out of the Park. The State's FEIS concludes that slaughtering 1,100 animals (the number that was slaughtered in the winter of 1996-97) would be acceptable, and that dropping the population of buffalo under 2,000 is unlikely, but that if it occurs, "the herd would quickly recover because at lower population levels few bison would leave the Park for several successive winters."

Quote from the "plan": "... it will prevent the reestablishment of a free-ranging bison herd in places where bison have been absent for more than a century, where bison are no longer compatible with current land use and land ownership and where bison pose a risk of brucellosis transmission to domestic livestock."

Please take a look at this document and call Pat Graham, Director of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and voice your opinions about this plan. Phone: 406-444-2535