Missoula, MT - The Montana Department of
Livestock is withholding information from the pubic
in violation of Montana's Constitutional Right-to-Know
and the State's "Sunshine" laws.
Montana citizens, the Buffalo Field Campaign, The
Ecology Center, Inc. and Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers
say that their recent and repeated requests for
records of Montana Department of Livestock
activities have been denied. The groups are seeking
information on the agency's management activities
affecting Yellowstone's native buffalo herd.
The Montana Department of Livestock hazes, captures,
slaughters and shoots wild buffalo that roam outside
Yellowstone National Park. The agency spearheads a
$45 million dollar, 15-year plan to eradicate
brucellosis in and around Yellowstone. That Plan
centers around buffalo management while other
wildlife that test positive to the disease, like
elk, are allowed to roam free.
The wild Yellowstone buffalo are the only herd left
in the United States that have continuously occupied
their traditional native range. Since 1984, 3,182
free roaming Yellowstone buffalo have been shot or
shipped to slaughter.
In a lawsuit filed this spring, the groups detail
numerous violations of federal laws by the Montana
Department of Livestock, the U.S. Forest Service,
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the U.S.
National Park Service. The groups claim that the
government's Yellowstone Bison Management Plan
illegally harms bald eagles, trumpeter swans and
their habitat. The Complaint is online:
.
"Unfortunately, the Montana Department of Livestock
is wasting taxpayer dollars defending their denial
of our rights," says Jim Coefield of The Ecology
Center Inc. "But we are taking action to protect
Montanan's Constitutional Right-to-Know as embodied
by our State Constitution. The opinion of a rogue
state agency does not trump the rights granted to us
by the State Constitution. Obviously they have
something to hide."
The Montana Department of Livestock is withholding
agency records because they claim the state's
right-to-know law has been "modified" by the federal
civil lawsuit brought by the groups.
"There is no provision in either state law or
Montana's Constitution that gives the Montana
Department of Livestock the discretion to modify the
public's right to know," states Darrell Geist of
Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers.
At this week's public Board meeting, citizens were
denied the ability to ask questions of Board of
Livestock members and Department of Livestock
employees.
"The Montana Department of Livestock is getting bad
advice from their attorneys," states Dan Brister of
Buffalo Field Campaign. "If the agency's activities
cannot stand public scrutiny -- then they need to
step out of the hole they are digging themselves
into."
The Montana Constitution states:
"ARTICLE II, Section 9. Right to know. No Person
shall be deprived of the right to examine documents
or to observe the deliberations of all public bodies
or agencies of state government and its
subdivisions, except in cases in which the demand of
individual privacy clearly exceeds the merits of
public disclosure."
Montana Code Annotated states:
"MCA 2-6-102. Citizens entitled to inspect and copy
public writings. (1) Every citizen has a right to
inspect and take a copy of any public writing of
this state .... (3) Information that is
constitutionally protected from disclosure is
information in which there is an individual privacy
interest that clearly exceeds the merits of public
disclosure, including legitimate trade secrets ....
and matters related to individual or public safety."
