Buffalo Field Campaign Weekly Updates from the Field 2006/2007

Speeding and inattention have always been a problem in the Gallatin Canyon and Route 191.

The Interstate was built with our tax money from Idaho Falls to Butte to accommodate the trucks and fast-moving vehicles. It is not used. Recently the road over Raynolds Pass from Idaho to Ennis and the Norris Hill was improved. Yet still the semis trying to cut costs and mileage continue to use the scenic and wildlife-rich Gallatin Canyon and the portion of 191 that goes through Yellowstone National Park.

In the 1980s a group was formed of mostly Big Sky residents who felt they were using one of their nine lives every time they used the canyon route. Save Our Canyon, or SOC, raised thousands of dollars and mounted a large letter writing campaign. They almost got Sen. Max Baucus to introduce a stipulation banning trucks in Gallatin Canyon until the trucking lobby "got to him." The only thing that resulted was a ban on hazardous cargo and the state installing guardrails along the Gallatin River.

The young trucker who killed the six bison was driving a fancy Canadian semi from Winnipeg and, to quote him, "it was 12:30 a.m. my time, 11:30 yours, and I was tired and speeding. I never even saw the buffalo trying to cross the road." The semi was being pulled into West Yellowstone by a wrecker as we filled up on gas the next morning. Two of the six bison killed had been forced all the way under the truck and bison fur was still in the smashed grill and once existent bumper. The manure was all over the passenger side door. He sure was driving the highway as if it was a safe Interstate.

The Department of Livestock harass these bison by day and then they have to avoid the speeding semi trucks by night. Where is the justice? The bison were here long before we came to this ecosystem -- why can't we live in harmony together?

Joan Montagne
Bozeman

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Buffalo Field Campaign West Yellowstone Montana

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