Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Missoula, MT - Three Montana groups have sued the Montana Department of Livestock for illegally withholding information from the public in violation of Montana's Constitution.

The Montana Constitution, Article II, Section 9 says: "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."

Buffalo Field Campaign, The Ecology Center, Inc. and Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers contend that since early this year their repeated requests for records from the Montana Department of Livestock's bison management activities have been denied.

The Montana Department of Livestock -- in partnership with several federal agencies -- hazes, captures, slaughters, and shoots wild buffalo that roam outside Yellowstone National Park. These actions also have a significant impact on other wildlife and their habitat. Their actions are part of a $45 million dollar 15-year plan to ostensibly control brucellosis in buffalo. Other wildlife that harbor the disease, like elk, are allowed to roam free. The Yellowstone buffalo are the only herd left in the U.S. who have continuously occupied their native range. Since 1984, 3182 buffalo have been shot or shipped to slaughter.

"The Montana Department of Livestock is violating our constitutional right to know," states Darrell Geist of Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers. "We believe the agency's denial of our records requests is meant to punish us for filing a lawsuit against them in Federal Court over their disgraceful bison management operations."

The lawsuit was filed in Helena in the First Judicial District Court of Montana, Lewis and Clark County.

"The Montana Department of Livestock's argument that the public's fundamental right to know provided by the Montana Constitution is trumped by the discovery process provided for in the Rules of Civil Procedure or the Rules of Professional Conduct guiding attorney conduct is untenable. Once litigation is commenced, the discovery process should be construed as a supplemental means for citizens to obtain information. As it stands, my clients have been stonewalled both before and after commencing litigation." says Brenda Lindlief Hall of Reynolds, Motl & Sherwood, the groups' attorney

"The Montana DOL must be hiding some pretty damning information. Their presumption that they are above the law is a bad argument for withholding any information," says Jim Coefield of The Ecology Center Inc. "This lawsuit should force them to open their agency to public scrutiny, unveiling their controversial bison management tactics and maneuvers."

Additionally, at a recent meeting of the Board of Livestock, Dan Brister and Flo Gardipee were prevented from speaking with Department of Livestock employees or asking questions of the Board itself by Karen Cooper, the livestock agency's PR person. "This amounts to a gag order by the Montana Department of Livestock and a clear violation of our rights as citizens," stated Ms. Gardipee.