NATIVE_NEWS: Bison - Montana and the "blame game"

[Sonja Keohane]

Posted by Sonja Keohane <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> :

        An opinion piece from the Bozeman Chronicle:

        This season's version of the "blame game".  Who is to blame 
for the slaughter of the YNP bison?  Racicot would like to blame the 
NPS, or more frequently APHIS or DOI.

        The blame for the slaughter rests solely at the feet of the 
governor of Montana - Racicot.  He is the one who allows the cattle 
industry to dictate.  It is the fight for the use of public grazing 
land, the cattlemen want cheap grazing and they are killing bison to 
get it.

<http://database.newswest.com/cgi-bin/T3CGI.exe/bdc/bdcNews.taf?functi 
on=detail&Local_uid1=21330>


By Chronicle Staff
12/10/1999 12:00:00 AM.
Park winter use plan should be tossed

Snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park is a complicated and 
bitterly divisive issue. But a Park Service proposal to snowplow the 
road from West Yellowstone to Old Faithful for bus and car traffic 
has united warring factions in opposition to the plan.

People of all political persuasions, from animal rights activists 
clad in plastic shoes and outrage to the most avid fans of 
high-marking, ear-splitting, exhaust-belching snowmobiles, find 
themselves holding their nose over the concept.

Between the extremes are moderate politicians, from the commissioners 
of Gallatin and Park counties to Sen. Max Baucus, who described the 
plan as simply "nutty."

Now enters Republican Governor Marc Racicot, who pointed out last 
week -- as have many others in the past -- that the plowing scheme is 
likely to funnel more bison into Montana, where they face a grim fate.
-----see complete article at url above----