Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

HB 643 will be heard in the House Ag Committee, 3 p.m., March 18, 1999. A rally at 2pm with speakers and drummers on the Capitol steps will precede the hearing. Media Welcome!

MONTANA - On February 18, 1999, Representative Gail Gutsche (D-Missouri) introduced a bill into the Montana State Legislature to modify management of wild buffalo in Montana, outside of Yellowstone National Park. The bill will include several provisions that will prevent the wanton slaughter of wild buffalo that may have been exposed to brucellosis.

House Bill 643 has four main provisions:

1) Transfer primary management of buffalo from the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) to the Montana Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks (FWP).

This puts wildlife biologists, not cattle folks in charge of the public's wildlife.

2) Mandate that Montana follow the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS) definition of low-risk buffalo, and honor the 30-60 grace period on public lands.

APHIS has stated that bulls, calves and non-pregnant females cannot transmit the disease under normal conditions in the wild, and should be considered "low-risk" by the state, and could be allowed to winter undisturbed on public lands outside of Yellowstone National Park. APHIS also allows that a 30 day window of separation between the time pregnant females leave lands that cattle will be grazing on is sufficient to protect against transmission of the disease.

3) Prevent the state from selling, and/or profiting from, the sale of live or slaughtered buffalo.

In 1997, the slaughter of almost 1200 buffalo brought the State of Montana's Dept of Livestock coffers a profit of almost 200 grand! The practice of profiting from the slaughter has been most offensive to many people.

4) Directs the MT FWP to conduct a study of the carrying capacity for buffalo on public lands surrounding the Park, and to develop a management plan--in conjunction with tribal interests--to manage the herd for that population.

Many people have long recognized that Native Americans have a special affinity for the last free-ranging herd of buffalo left in the lower 48, and that their are many cultural concerns surrounding Montana's "Zero-Tolerance" buffalo slaughter policy. HB 643 directs the State of Montana to begin to honor those concerns, and to sit down and jointly develop an acceptable management plan.

"HB 643 represents a real opportunity for Montanans to bring change to the failed policy of Montana's Governor Racicot's. Montana's policies over the past decade have led to the needless slaughter of thousands of buffalo--remnants of the last free-roaming, wild buffalo herd in the United States," said Jim Coefield of the Ecology Center. "State and Federal policies have served to splinter Native American tribes, environmental constituencies, and the public over the issue of wild buffalo in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. We are trying to bring everyone back together through the process of working on HB 643."

Although the State of Montana, the US Forest Service, the National Park Service, and APHIS are working on an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for long term management of the northern Yellowstone Buffalo herd, HB 643 asks the State to take immediate action, independent of the EIS. The EIS has been over 8 years in the making, and while some reports say that it may be released in time to take effect during the winter of 2000-2001, it has many flaws. Appeals and lawsuits will most likely prevent implementation of the plan for several years past that.

HB 643 represents a first step that needs to be taken to ensure that wild buffalo have undisturbed winter range in Montana. HB 643, coupled with a good, rational, science-based management policy will eliminate the need for the State of Montana to needlessly slaughter buffalo, while protecting Montana's brucellosis-free cattle designation.