Photo by Stephany Seay, Buffalo Field Campaign.

Good news can come in unexpected ways.

First, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is shutting down and disbanding projects aimed at reducing and experimenting on buffalo in the wild in the Gardiner Basin. Good riddance TEAM APHIS!

Photo by Stephany Seay, Buffalo Field Campaign.

The discovery comes in the release of Freedom of Information Act records by APHIS in response to Buffalo Field Campaign filing a law suit against the agency for violating the disclosure law. Kudos to attorney Daniel Snyder and the Charlie Tebbutt law firm for representing and defending our interest in disclosing the public’s business.
While all the pieces of the picture are not available yet, APHIS appears to have run afoul of the Special Agent rules on handling brucella abortus – rules APHIS helped put in place. APHIS also appears to have made the ultimate bureaucratic mistake of not properly reporting what the agency was up to with their higher ups, including Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue.

What we do know is this coming fall APHIS is vacating their lease at Corwin Springs — where they have imprisoned buffalo stolen from the wilds of Yellowstone National Park — and ending their use of GonaCon, a chemical sterilant.

What we do not know is what will happen to all of the 104 bison that were wrongfully taken from their natural habitat for APHIS's diabolical experiment. Many of the buffalo they had in their GonaCon facilities have been disappearing. We are trying to find out what APHIS has done with them, and what they will do with the rest who remain in those facilities.

Photo by Stephany Seay, Buffalo Field Campaign.

Second, the U.S. Forest Service is expected to execute the Shooting Star Ranch land exchange in the Gardiner Basin this coming fall. The good news for buffalo: private land once used by APHIS to quarantine and do other experiments on buffalo will become National Forest habitat for wild buffalo. Fences that once held buffalo in captivity will come down and habitat will open up. APHIS’s buffalo quarantine leases will NOT be renewed. The outcome is wild buffalo will have access to 583 acres of habitat near the Yellowstone River up the Slip & Slide drainage. This is an enormous victory for wild buffalo.

While APHIS is expected to keep their seat at the mis-managers table of the Interagency Bison Management Plan, it is good news for wild buffalo that the federal livestock overseer’s role is being diminished. We’ll have more news for you as it becomes available. Stay tuned!

Photo by Stephany Seay, Buffalo Field Campaign.

Meanwhile, in the Hebgen Basin, west of Yellowstone’s boundary, spring migration continues. More calves are arriving every day, and BFC’s rove patrols are extremely busy keeping both buffalo and travelers safe along the highways, morning through the night. We could not be here doing what we do without your support. We thank you for the honor of being able to be here on the front lines, in the courts, and policy arenas, defending our National Mammal, the country’s last wild buffalo.

WILD IS THE WAY ~ ROAM FREE!