Testimony on HB 318

Dear Chairman Donald Steinbeisser and members of the Senate Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Committee,

On behalf of Buffalo Field Campaign I am submitting testimony on HB 318. Please share my testimony with committee member Senator Rick Ripley, whom I do not have a contact for. I would also request that my testimony be entered into the hearing record and transcript. Thank you.

Buffalo Field Campaign is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) whose mission is to stop the slaughter of Yellowstone's wild buffalo herd, protect the natural habitat of wild free-roaming buffalo and native wildlife, and to work with people of all Nations to honor the sacredness of wild buffalo.

Our members, who come from all walks of life and from places all around the world, envision a life for buffalo in which they thrive within a state of inherent wildness. We also envision a world in which buffalo and all other native wildlife are given precedence on public land, and where buffalo herds remain as a self-regulating sustainable population, and a viable genetic source for the future evolutionary potential of the wildlife species.

I am also a resident of West Yellowstone and live year-round in the Hebgen basin where America's last wild buffalo roam.

Buffalo Field Campaign is adamantly opposed to HB 318, for many reasons.

Buffalo Field Campaign is strongly opposed to a clearly unconstitutional transfer of authority over indigenous wildlife species in Montana to county commissioners.

HB 318 cedes a sovereign state power, gives regulatory control to, and requires the approval of County Commissioners before the Dept. of Livestock or Fish, Wildlife & Parks may permit wild buffalo or buffalo certified brucellosis free to be relocated in Montana in the counties affected.

Wildlife inhabiting the state of Montana is a public trust responsibility. The trustees or caretakers have a duty to future generations to ensure that the trust is protected in perpetuity. This legal and constitutional trust responsibility cannot be ceded by the Montana legislature to county commissioners.

The premise of HB 318 is that county commissioners have no say over wild buffalo and wildlife species in Montana, and they will be the only ones to have a say on buffalo in Montana. This is wrong.

Since the inception of Montana's bison quarantine study, the public, including county commissioners, and several Tribes with lands in Montana, have had multiple opportunities to contribute comments and become involved in the public conversation on the fate of buffalo descended from Yellowstone in our state.

HB 318 seeks to kill that conversation, and dictate that county commissioners be the sole authority over state decisions to relocate buffalo as wildlife on public, Montana, and Tribal lands.

HB 318 would also kill public and Tribal involvement in Montana's bison management plan. The reason a plan is being developed is because wild buffalo are ecologically extinct throughout Montana. This is a state-led bison plan and public process that counties can participate in however they see fit.

HB 318 would dictate that Montanans cede a statewide public involvement and planning process to counties. This is patently wrong and biased against a growing tide of public support including people who live in Yellowstone and across our state for restoring buffalo as wild free roaming wildlife in Montana.

It is not socially or morally acceptable for Americans and Montanans to sanction the extinction of a valued wildlife species, and it is certainly wrong for the Montana legislature to commit such acts into law as to prevent the recovery of wild buffalo populations.

The prevalence of fenced, domesticated buffalo as livestock is widespread in North America; only one population of migratory wild buffalo remains in Montana.

Buffalo descended from the Yellowstone population are a gift to Montana, our Nation and natural heritage. We have a duty to future generations to commit ourselves to the conservation, preservation and restoration of the wild American buffalo in Montana today.

Wild buffalo have been missing from Montana's landscape for well over 100 years. It's time for Montanans to make a generational commitment to conserve, protect and restore wild buffalo in their native habitats for the next 100 years to come.

Thank you for taking action to protect America's last wild buffalo as a valued wildlife species freely roaming Montana by voting to defeat HB 318.

Darrell Geist, Habitat Coordinator
Buffalo Field Campaign
PO Box 957
West Yellowstone MT 59758
phone: (406) 646-0070
fax: (406) 646-0071
email: z@wildrockies.org
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/habitat.html