Greetings! In this update...The DOL captures buffalo when there aren't even cows in the area while Montana citizens (as well as folks around the nation) demand that the State of Montana switch management of the last wild buffalo over to the biologists (FWP) instead of the incompetent Department of Livestock * House Bill 643; <Please take a moment to make one call,fax or letter for the buffalo!> * News from the Field: Department of Livestock Lures Buffalo <3 calves!> into Trap <will they too be slaughtered?>; Volunteers Needed * Draft DEIS comments released...Thanks for your comments! * National Petition Drive target date for: return of cows (and potential buffalo hazing and death) * We need to get the word out around the nation about the plight of the buffalo...it's easy...if everyone just forwards this update to 5 caring folks! see... you can make a difference! Thanks! for your efforts and support of the buffalo! Be Well For the Earth! By the way- The folks on the front lines in the Buffalo Field Camp ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) are sure doing a great job and any "happy" emails, cards, donations and of course monetary contributions to pay the rent are appreciated down there, I'm sure. *************************************** *HB 643 Howdy folks, Montana House Bill 643 will be heard in the House Ag Committee, 3pm, March 18, 1999. A rally at 1:30pm with speakers and drummers on the Capitol steps will precede the hearing. Media Welcome! We need to have a good turnout for the hearing, so if you can get to Helena, we need you! HB 643, introduced by Rep. Gail Gutsche (D-Missoula) will modify management of wild buffalo in Montana, outside of Yellowstone National Park. The bill will include several provisions that will prevent the wanton slaughter of wild buffalo that may have been exposed to brucellosis. House Bill 643 has four main provisions: 1) Transfers primary management of buffalo from the Montana Deparment of Livestock (DOL) to the Montana Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks (FWP). This puts wildlife biologists, not cattle folks in charge of the public's wildlife. 2) Mandates that Montana follow the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS) definition of low-risk buffalo, and honor the 30-60 grace period on public lands. APHIS has stated that bulls, calves and non-pregnant females cannot transmit the disease under normal conditions in the wild, and should be considered "low-risk" by the state, and could be allowed to winter undisturbed on public lands outside of Yellowstone National Park. APHIS also allows that a 30 day window of separation between the time pregnant females leave lands that cattle will be grazing on is sufficient to protect against transmission of the disease. 3) Prevents the state from selling, and/or profiting from, the sale of live or slaughtered buffalo. In 1997, the slaughter of almost 1200 buffalo brought the State of Montana's Dept of Livestock coffers a profit of almost 200 grand! The practice of profitting from the slaughter has been most offensive to many people. <Meanwhile they continue to beg for federal tax dollars and have already gotten 1/2 million of your tax dollars committed to their trap plans!> 4) Directs the MT Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks to conduct a study of the carrying capacity for buffalo on public lands outside of Yellowstone, and to develop a management plan--in conjunction with tribal interests--to manage the herd for that population. ******************* What you can do: * Attend the Hearing and Rally; Folks in Missoula can call 728-0867 to arrange car pooling. * Write, email, or fax letters to members of the House AG committe, or call them and leave a message. Letters to all of the members would be great. If you email them, send an email to each member; * Make it known that the State of Montana must alter their bison management policies to allow wild buffalo to roam in Montana on their traditional, critical wintering grounds just outside of Yellowstone National Park; * If you are outside of Montana, let the AG committee and the DOL know that the buffalo herd is a PUBLIC RESOURCE, not just a herd of buffalo for them to treat like cattle. This is a NATIONAL issue; Let them know that folks from around the country are watching and that the buffalo matter; Politely and heartfully let them know that tabling this bill and trying to sweep it under the carpet is not appropriate. They need to let their constituents (&the country) know where they stand so that when the voters go into that voting booth...... * Pass this note on to folks you know who may not have heard about this issue, and urge them to make their wishes known; * Send personal testimony to the committee in addition to your vote of support. ******************** Please contact the members of the House Agriculture committee to urge their support of HB 643 and establish some sound buffalo management guidelines. (Every fax, letter, call or email can help make a difference!) Members of the House Ag Committee (the last three already support the bill): Joe Barnett; Chair; Belgrade, (R) John L Holden; Vice Chair; Valier; (R) Rick Dale; Member; WhiteHall; (R) Kathleen Galvin-Halcro; Member; Great Falls (D) Mary Anne Guggenheim; Member; Helena; (D) Donald L Hedges; Member; Antelope; (R) Verdell Jackson; Member; Kalispell; (R) Rick Jore; Member; Ronan; (R) Monica Lindeen; Member; Huntley; (D) Gay Ann Masolo; Member; Townsend; (R) Sam Rose; Member; Choteau; (R) Brennan Ryan; Member; Stockett; (D) Bob Story; Member; Park City; (R) Bill Thomas; Member; Hobson; (R) Ralph Lenhart; Vice Chair; Glendive; (D) Cliff Trexler; Member; Hamilton; (R) Darrel Adams; Member; Columbia Falls; (R) *Paul Clark; Member; Trout Creek; (D) *Frank Smith; Member; Poplar; (D) *Bill Eggers; Member; Crow Agency; (D) * Known Bill Supporters To CONTACT: By phone: Call 406-444-4800 and you can leave a message for up to two legislators. Be sure to keep your message concise and refer specifically to HB 643. " Hi!, I am in support of Montana House Bill 643,The State of Montana must alter their bison management policies to allow wild buffalo to roam in Montana on their traditional wintering grounds outside of Yellowstone National Park" Leave name and address Fax: 1-900-225-1600; Address it to the Representative By e-mail: E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], be sure to put the Representative's name in the subject line. Be sure and include full name & address. By mail: Send letters of support to Representative ________, Capitol Station, Helena, MT 59620. ***************** Jim Coefield The Ecology Center, Inc. 406-728-5733 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] *************************************** Department of Livestock Lures Buffalo into Trap; Volunteers Needed For Immediate Release: March 12, 1999. Media Contact: Mike Mease. (406) 646-0070. West Yellowstone, MT--The Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) captured 5 buffalo including 3 buffalo calves and a bull who had already been marked as testing negative at the Duck Creek capture facility near West Yellowstone, Montana. The buffalo have been grazing along the park boundary for the past week. DOL agents lured them into the trap with a trail of fresh hay leading from Duck Creek, a natural migration corridor to lower elevation critical winter habitat outside the Park. Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers have successfully prevented buffalo leaving the Park from entering the trap all winter. In the past week, a herd of more than seventy buffalo-- mostly cows and their calves--have gathered on the park boundary near the DOL capture facility. Volunteers were unable to keep the 4 buffalo from being lured by the hay into the trap. The DOL will blood-test the buffalo to determine which to send to slaughter and which to release. The blood test used in the field by the DOL is extremely unreliable by industry standards and only determines if a buffalo is has been exposed to brucellosis, not for the disease itself. Only tissue culture tests determine if an animal is actually infected. Culture tests, conducted by the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) following slaughter, determined that 13 of the first 15 buffalo killed this year were "culture negative", i.e. did not have brucellosis. Both the animals that tested positive were bulls, defined by APHIS as low risk for brucellosis transmission. Of the buffalo slaughtered this winter 87% were low risk bulls. Scientific studies have shown that the only way brucellosis can be transmitted to cows is if they ingest an aborted buffalo fetus or after-birth. With no cows on these public lands until June, it would be impossible for such a transmission to occur. Brucellosis dies within four hours of exposure to sunlight. Calves, non-pregnant cows, and bulls therefore are all considered "low risk" for brucellosis transmission by APHIS, the federal agency responsible for granting a state its "brucellosis free" status. APHIS has stated that the presence of low risk buffalo will not jeopardize Montana's status. Despite these facts, the state of Montana continues, needlessly, to slaughter all exposed animals. "The DOL is making a mockery of science and needlessly killing off America's last wild buffalo herd." said Dan Brister, Buffalo Field Campaign spokesperson, "We will be here until this sensless slaughter stops." Contact Mike Mease, 406-646-0070 for further information. Videos and Stills available on request. **************** Volunteers needed!! The Buffalo Field Campaign still has several months to go. We need to have more folks to come to West Yellowstone to help out with the campaign. Many folks have left the camp recently to rest/recharge and to go back to work, or meet other obligations. If you can help out, please call the Buffalo Field Campaign office!! ********************* Buffalo Field Campaign (formerly Buffalo Nations) PO Box 957 West Yellowstone, MT 59758 406-646-0070 phone 406-646-0071 fax [EMAIL PROTECTED] Our web pages are updated and full of great info; please share this URL http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo we have posted new video clips for an "in the field" look at the situation Please stop by and see it! ************************************************ We are preparing to kick off the national petion drive for the buffalo! Target date for submission of the petition is around earth day...before the APHIS designation of "30 days before the cows come home". We hope to get an excutive action to avoid the replication of the insanity of the military hazing action that went on last year. Please email mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] if you are able to help with electronic or physical petition circulation. Thanks! STOP THE SLAUGHTER! ************************************************ NEWS RELEASE u.s. department of the interior national park service LARGE NUMBER OF PUBLIC COMMENTS ON DRAFT BISON MANAGEMENT PLAN REVEAL -- THE ISSUES ARE OF NATIONAL CONCERN A draft plan on the management of bison in and around Yellowstone National Park received more than 67,000 public comments from across the country and around the world, the National Park Service announced today. The announcement was made as the NPS released a summary analysis of the comments which details the areas of support and concern generated by the draft plan. During the period allowing public comment on the draft EIS, the NPS received 67,520 letters containing 212,249 individual comments. The dominant themes in the letters were bison management and the alternatives for bison management presented in the draft EIS. The comments were received in response to a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the Interagency Bison Management Plan for the State of Montana and Yellowstone National Park. The EIS was jointly developed by the State of Montana, Department of Interior's National Park Service, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The comment period on the draft EIS lasted from June 12, 1998 through November 2, 1998. Comments were received from federal and state agencies, tribes, non-governmental organizations, and interested individuals from every state in the United States and 66 countries throughout the world. The cooperating state and federal agencies will now use the public comments to revise the draft EIS and correct errors, incorporate relevant new information, and evaluate new proposed alternatives. The report on the summary of public comments will be available beginning March 9, 1999. To request a copy of the public comment report, write Bison Management Plan EIS Team, National Park Service, Sarah Bransom, DSC-RP, P.O. Box 25287, Denver, Colorado 80225-0287; phone (303) 969-2251; or visit the web site at http://www.nps.gov/planning/current.htm ___________________________________________________________ Our web pages are updated and full of great info; please share this URL http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo we have posted new video clips for an "in the field" look at the situation Please stop by and see it! _________________________________________ If this was passed on to you via a friend or a list, please subscribe to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] to receive the most current news from the field as well as other pertinent Yellowstone buffalo info (3-4 updates per month)! 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