Testimony on SB 207

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

On behalf of Buffalo Field Campaign I am submitting testimony on SB 207. 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.

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 the 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 SB 207 and all of its provisions, for many reasons.

SB 207 would legislate the ecological extinction of wild American bison in Montana by reclassifying ALL buffalo or American bison as livestock in Montana.

This precedent of re-classifying Montana's native wildlife as livestock is repugnant.

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.

The prevalence of 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 our Nation and natural heritage. We have a duty to future generations committing ourselves to the conservation, preservation and restoration of the wild American buffalo in Montana today.

SB 207's penalties and prohibitions on wild buffalo to "run at large" makes the owners of said buffalo liable for trespass onto private property. Because MCA 81-2-210 puts the Dept. of Livestock in charge of migratory buffalo in Montana, we assume the livestock agency will pick up the tab for SB 207's penalties.

SB 207 classifies any wild buffalo, including those from Yellowstone as "estrayed," permitting the Dept. of Livestock to kill them.

Buffalo roam. So do elk, antelope, mule deer and bighorn sheep. All of these wildlife species migrations and critical ranges have been cut-off, disrupted and dissected by more than a century of human developments.

SB 207 now proposes to penalize the wild species for their natural behavior, and to kill-off evolutionary traits like migration that are key to the survival and perpetuation of wild buffalo populations.

SB 207 would legally dictate that natural migration of wildlife is illegal. This is absurd.

SB 207 tries to create a man made law to dictate natural law. The problem is towns like Gardiner, Montana were built right in major wildlife corridors that provide critical winter range habitat for several wildlife species.

This is why you see elk, mule deer, bighorn sheep, and buffalo in town: we humans built smack dab in the middle of a major thoroughfare and critical habitats for wildlife.

By passing SB 207, the Montana legislature will perpetuate the harassment and killing of wild buffalo in Gardiner and West Yellowstone, and wherever wild buffalo roam in Montana.

The wild American buffalo has 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 SB 207.

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