Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
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BOULDER, CO - Protecting the Yellowstone buffalo is extremely important to the American public, who has weighed in with strong support for the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and InterTribal Bison Cooperative (ITBC)'s Citizens Plan, according to recent results from the National Park Service's (NPS) public comment period. A common-sense alternative to the NPS plan, the ITBC/NWF Citizens Plan would end the needless slaughter of the nation's last remaining herd of free-ranging buffalo, while making sure domestic cattle remain healthy.

The National Park Service's draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) was released for public comment last summer. Since then, the NPS has received 47,599 comments in favor of the ITBC/NWF Citizens Plan, which would manage American bison as wildlife, not livestock. NWF hopes the incredible public support reflected in the comments will lead to the adoption of the ITBC/NWF Citizens Plan.

The Citizens Plan would allow the herd to roam freely in Yellowstone and adjacent public lands, and would use a combination of cattle vaccination and relocation to tribal land, rather than slaughter, to prevent the very remote possibility of transmitting the cow disease brucellosis.

Montana officials used the perceived threat of domestic cattle contracting brucellosis to slaughter nearly 1,100 bison since the winter of 1996-97, despite the fact that there has never been a single documented case of transmission between wild bison and domestic cows. "This incredible outpouring by individuals who want the buffalo slaughter stopped should be a wake-up call to Montana officials, showing that the way they are treating the public's buffalo is completely unacceptable," said Steve Torbit, senior scientist at NWF's Rocky Mountain Natural Resource Center. "The bottom line is that buffalo on our nation's public lands are wildlife, not livestock, and common sense tells us they should be managed by wildlife professionals."

The ITBC/NWF plan concentrates on cattle vaccination and relocation. Buffalo testing negative for the cow disease would be transported to tribal lands where they would be allowed to roam free and would be respected as a critical part of the tribes' cultural heritage. "The Yellowstone buffalo slaughter is an all too vivid reminder of the slaughter witnessed by Indian people at the close of the last century," said Mark Heckert, ITBC Executive Director. "The Citizens Plan, and its overwhelming support by the American public, are all that stand between the Indian people and another, perhaps final, assault on their culture." The ITBC/NWF plan would restore the wild bison to tribal lands and take the politics out of protecting this critical Western species that has roamed Yellowstone since the last Ice Age. "What ITBC and NWF propose is a win-win situation for people and wildlife," concluded Torbit. "There is no reason why Montana state officials should continue their brutal treatment of such a proud symbol of our great American West."

The InterTribal Bison Cooperative, headquartered in Rapid City, S.D., is an organization of 47 Native American Tribes in 17 states, from Wisconsin to California. The ITBC is dedicated to the restoration of buffalo in a manner compatible with the spiritual and cultural beliefs and practices of Native American people.