| INTENT
OF THE PLAN
The Interagency Bison Management Plan for the state of Montana
and Yellowstone National Park was initiated in 2000. Its official
purpose is to “maintain a wild, free-ranging population
of bison and address the risk of brucellosis transmission”
to livestock. Montana Representative Dennis Rehberg recently
defended the plan, calling it “ten years worth of compromise,
ten years worth of consensus.” (Billings Gazette 11/6/03)
In truth, it’s only perpetuating “management by
slaughter.”
In the past two decades, about 3,700 wild Yellowstone buffalo
have been killed by state and federal agencies to keep them
from accessing public land in Montana adjacent to the Park.
Each winter, buffalo, like other wildlife, tend to move out
of Yellowstone’s high country to lower habitat with
better forage on National Forest land next to the Park. Unlike
all other wildlife, however, buffalo are prevented from following
their natural instincts. Montana has zero tolerance for wild
buffalo. The Interagency Plan was touted, at least in part,
as an accommodation for buffalo on critical public wildlife
habitat adjoining the Park.
REALITY
The plan offers agencies considerable discretion in their
actions. It’s supposed to encourage “adaptive
management” that will protect cattle and still “ensure
the wild and free ranging nature of the bison herd.”
If dead buffalo are a measure of cattle protection, the plan
is doing a great job. Since the plan was adopted three years
ago, about 450 buffalo have been killed, keeping the slaughter
very much on pace, in other words. Hundreds more are hazed
and harassed. These actions cost taxpayers millions of dollars,
bring strife to gateway communities like West Yellowstone
and Gardiner, and shame to the Park Service and Montana, but
livestock interests have certainly been safeguarded.
In March 2003, when buffalo neared or crossed the north boundary
of the Park, continued hazing was an option. In fact the plan
specifically calls upon agencies to “maximize the use
of hazing” to “minimize lethal control.”
Instead the Park Service rounded up 231 buffalo, loaded them
onto trucks, and shipped them off to slaughterhouses. That’s
compromise? The action was also a direct contradiction to
the plan, which envisions buffalo populations, like those
of other wildlife, controlled by natural processes within
the Park. Meanwhile we still don’t have a truly free-roaming
population of buffalo, not even in America’s first national
park, where crossing an invisible line means death. Contrary
to rhetoric, with expediency rather than discretion the watchword,
the way the plan is being implemented ensures that we don’t.
The Interagency Bison Management Plan is, in truth, a political
“answer” ignoring underlying science and public
opinion. Agencies wield power and clout, and in this case
the Department of Agriculture, and particularly its Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service, forced a bad deal upon
the National Park Service and the American public.
THE YELLOWSTONE BUFFALO PRESERVATION ACT
The Yellowstone Buffalo Preservation Act acknowledges the
flaws of the current interagency plan and offers an alternative
course. It calls for a moratorium on hazing and killing on
public land adjacent to Yellowstone National Park until certain
ethically and fiscally responsible steps are taken by federal
agencies. The legislation recognizes that flexible management
of only a few hundred cattle can eliminate all perceived conflict,
saving taxpayers millions, creating a winning situation for
all interests, and insuring that in one place in the United
States we still have a truly wild, free roaming buffalo herd.
Government's Bison Management Plan for the State of Montana
and Yellowstone National Park Wastes Taxpayer Dollars and
Threatens Last Wild Herd of Bison in the United States.
Key points about the Federal and State government's
15-year bison management plan:
* Taxpayers will foot the bill to the tune of $2.6 to $2.9
million a year for the next 15 years ($39 million to $43.5
million dollars or more over the life of the plan).
* The plan is designed to protect approximately 2,019 cow/calf
pairs that graze on buffalo range on public and private lands
within 10 miles of Yellowstone National Park. These cattle
are present only when conditions permit, i.e. only for a few
months out of the year because of Yellowstone's harsh winters.
* Yellowstone's wild bison herd is the only population that
has continuously occupied their native range in the United
States.
* The plan does not reach solutions, but only manages the
'problem'.
* The plan will remove bison that carry a natural genetic
trait that resists brucellosis infection. The gene is called
NRAMP1 (natural resistance associated macrophage protein1).
The government admits not knowing how this genetic trait is
expressed in the Yellowstone bison herd or how their management
activities will affect brucellosis infection in bison.
* The National Park Service will attempt to prevent and disrupt
bison migration to winter range by 'hazing' bison inside Yellowstone
Park.
* Female bison will be hazed, captured and tested for brucellosis.
Females that will be released are affixed with vaginal and
radio telemetry devices to track bison births or abortions.
* Intensive management activities such as hazing, capturing,
slaughtering and quarantining bison disrupts wildlife and
wildlife habitat in the Yellowstone ecosystem. Elk, moose,
antelope, bald eagles, grey wolves, grizzly bears, trumpeter
swans and other native wildlife will experience stress, dispersal
and dislocation under the government's plan.
* The operation of the Stephens Creek bison capture facility
is one factor that could lead to the likely extinction of
Yellowstone's pronghorn antelope population (Goodman 1996).
* 5,174 bison will be 'removed' to slaughter or sent to quarantine
over the next 15 years. Bison are a key preferred food source
for threatened grizzly bears in Yellowstone. The continuing
decline of whitebark pine nuts and fewer bison available under
this plan casts doubt on the recovery of Yellowstone's threatened
grizzly bears.
* Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers and Buffalo Field Campaign have
documented illegal impacts by the Montana Department of Livestock
to threatened bald eagle nests on Horse Butte Peninsula, on
the Gallatin National Forest. The Gallatin National Forest
issued a 10-year permit allowing the Montana Department of
Livestock to operate a bison capture facility on Horse Butte
within 1/2 mile of three bald eagle nests. The groups have
videotape of incidents involving violation of permit conditions
by the Montana Department of Livestock during bison 'hazing
and capture' operations.
* The prevention of bison migration to their native range
through ill-defined zone management areas, enforcement of
so-called 'tolerance limits', operation of four bison capture
facilities, hazing bison within and outside Yellowstone Park,
shipping bison to slaughter or holding them in quarantine
for years - negates the wild free ranging character that makes
Yellowstone's bison unique.
THE
FISCAL COST OF YELLOWSTONE BUFFALO MANAGEMENT
Updated December 2003The Yellowstone Buffalo Preservation
Act calls for a moratorium on the hazing and killing of wild
buffalo on federal land in and around Yellowstone National
Park and encourages flexible, common sense management options
to eliminate perceived conflicts between buffalo and a small
number of cattle that graze near the park. In addition to
stopping the shameful slaughter of America’s only truly
wild, genetically pure buffalo herd, it could save taxpayers
considerable money.
Yellowstone buffalo are currently managed by federal and Montana
agencies under the Interagency Bison Management Plan. The
State of Montana’s Department of Livestock carries out
the majority of the hazing and killing, aided by the Montana
Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, the U.S. Forest Service,
the National Park Service, and the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service.
THE FEDERAL SOURCE
Almost all money spent on Yellowstone buffalo management,
including that expended by Montana agencies, comes from federal
funding sources, primarily through the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
That agency currently earmarks $9,000,000 toward national
brucellosis control and eradication efforts on behalf of the
livestock industry. A portion of this money funds all interagency
Yellowstone buffalo “management.” Some expenditures
like hazing, capture, and slaughter operations which include
helicopters, snow machines, off-road vehicles, guns, and extra
personnel are highly visible. Money is also channeled to brucellosis
testing, capture facilities, fetal transmitter studies, funding
the Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee,
development of vaccines, and a host of other management endeavors
which are less evident.
MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF LIVESTOCK
In FY 2002, the Montana Department of Livestock earmarked
$887,311 for Yellowstone buffalo management. In FY 2003, the
figure was $937,034. Again, all this money comes from federal
sources. A complete breakdown of management expenditures is
on the Department website at www.discoveringmontana.com/liv/animalhealth/bison/bison.asp.
The FY 2004 buffalo management outlay for the Montana Department
of Livestock has not yet been determined. It will be considerably
larger than last year’s, as the latest Agriculture appropriations
bill included a special $750,000 appropriation for the Department
of Livestock “for work on the Interagency Bison Management
Plan.” That does not bode well for buffalo in the coming
winter.
NATIONAL
PARK SERVICE
For FY 2002 and 2003, the Department of Interior budget earmarked
$1,200,000 for buffalo management in Yellowstone National
Park. According to the Department of Interior’s fiscal
report, the appropriation for Yellowstone buffalo management
remains at $1,200,000 annually, rolled into other regular
appropriations (no longer a separate line item). A detailed
breakdown of expenditures is not available.
U.S. FOREST SERVICE
Buffalo management related expenditure for the Gallatin National
Forest include wildlife monitoring, permits related to hazing
and capture operations, traffic control, etc. Expenses range
from $100,000 to $150,000 annually. The money is appropriated
from the overall budget at the Regional office level based
on recommendations from the District Ranger. Law enforcement
expenditures are shared between the general law enforcement
budget for the Department of Agriculture and the Gallatin
National Forest. Total law enforcement expenditures are not
available.
MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF FISH, WILDLIFE, AND PARKS
The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks receives
$75,000 annually from the Montana Department of Livestock
for support of buffalo management operations.
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
Obtaining precise figures on expenditures toward Yellowstone
buffalo “management” (i.e. keeping buffalo confined
in the Park) is difficult due to the number of agencies involved
and complexities of tracking their funding. In FY 2003, around
$2,287,000 taxpayer dollars were spent. In FY 2004, with the
special $750,000 appropriation the Montana Department of Livestock
is receiving, it appears the figure will top $3,000,000. More
of the same can be anticipated, year after year, under the
current interagency plan.
ANOTHER APPROACH
The Yellowstone Buffalo Preservation Act would put a moratorium
on all buffalo hazing, capture, and slaughter operations on
federal land in and around Yellowstone National Park. This
would free up monies now wasted by state and federal agencies
carrying out “management by slaughter.” A portion
of this savings could be used for common sense management
initiatives – fencing, vaccinations, cattle pasture
relocation – to eliminate perceived conflicts between
wild buffalo and the few hundred cattle that may graze in
proximity to Yellowstone. With accommodation measures instituted,
management costs would drop dramatically. An endless cycle
of needless slaughter, and taxpayer expenditures supporting
it, would come to a halt.
Top
of page
|
