---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2001 20:02:25 -0700
From: Buffalo Folks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Stop the Slaughter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Buffalo Capture/slaughter Imminent - news from the field....
* Three Activists Block Road to Bison Trap Site; Two Arrested
* legal action because of activists field work....
* Haven't heard from us....computer down
* BUFFALO PROTECTORS RALLY AT INAUGURATION OF MONTANA'S GOVERNOR
* Give the new gov a call....
We couldn't do this important work without your prayers and support! THANKS!
__________
PLEASE PASS THIS PRESS RELEASE ON TO YOUR LOCAL PAPERS/NEWS
Three Activists Block Road to Bison Trap Site; Two Arrested
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 4, 2001
Media Contacts: Dan Brister, Pete Leusch, Summer Nelson, (406) 646-0070
WEST YELLOWSTONE, MT-Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers occupied Forest
Service road 610 early this morning, blocking access to a bison capture
facility site on the Horse Butte Peninsula. One activist sat in a platform
suspended from a tripod while another attached herself to a locking device
which was buried in the road. A third perched in a tree and videotaped as
law enforcement personnel worked to remove the protesters and dismantle the
blockade.
The Horse Butte Peninsula is located on the Gallatin National Forest
immediately to the west of Yellowstone National Park. In addition to the
Yellowstone buffalo, the peninsula provides critical winter habitat for the
Yellowstone buffalo, bald eagle, gray wolf, trumpeter swan, peregrine
falcon, grizzly bear, wolverine, lynx, and boreal owl.
There are no cows on Horse Butte until June. All of these cows winter in
Idaho, and are currently vaccinated against brucellosis. The summer
grazing on Horse Butte amounts to 172 cow/calf pairs being present from
June 15th through October. Although this grazing allotment brings in less
than $800 to the U.S. Treasury, the state and federal governments have
committed more than $ 40 million over the next 15 years to haze, capture,
and slaughter buffalo.
"Powerful livestock interests are robbing our treasury with one hand while
they slaughter America's last wild herd of buffalo with the other," stated
BFC spokesperson Dan Brister. "Today's actions demonstrate our commitment
to bring the unnecessary slaughter to a stop."
The blockade was constructed a day after DOL agents began clearing the
snow-covered road, alerting the bison advocates of their intentions to
construct the trap. The facility is designed to capture and test buffalo
who migrate to the peninsula. During the winter of 1998-99, the Horse Butte
trap was used to capture more than a hundred buffalo. The DOL slaughtered
94 buffalo that winter.
DOL agents arrived at the scene shortly after 8 am and focused attention on
Jayna Jensen who was locked into the road. After removing her sleeping bag
the livestock agents took her food and water and poured her warm tea on the
ground inches from her face. Facing hypothermia in the subfreezing
temperatures, she released from the lockdown on her own after three and a
half hours. The agents then focused their attention on the man in the
tripod, attempting to knock him from his perch 30 feet above the ground by
repeatedly poking him with a long stick.
Law enforcement officers from the Department of Livestock, Montana Highway
Patrol, the Gallatin County Sheriff's Department, and the US Forest Service
worked together later in the day, with an electric company cherry picker,
to pluck first the videographer and then the man occupying the tripod.
Both were arrested and sent to the Gallatin County Detention Center in
Bozeman.
Of the 65,000 public comments submitted on the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement for long-term bison management, the majority were not in support
of government policies of trapping migrating buffalo. "The Buffalo Field
Campaign will continue to stand up for the 65,000 unheard voices in
protecting our country's national treasure of buffalo," stated Mike Mease.
Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers defend the buffalo on their traditional
winter habitat and advocate for their protection. BFC is the only group
working in the field every day to stop the slaughter of Yellowstone's wild
buffalo.
Video footage available upon request
* Legal actions because of field activists 24 hour stand off...
The Buffalo Field Campaign, Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers, and the
Ecology Center have resumed legal proceedings they began last year
when the State of Montana violated its Special Use Permit issued by
the Hebgen Lake Ranger District. Then, the plaintiffs asserted that
the State violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by using
helicopters to haze buffalo in an area expressly closed to
helicopters. At that time, the groups filed a Notice of Intent to sue
for violations of the Endangered Species Act by violating protected
air space around eagle nests on Horse Butte with helicopter hazing.
This year, the Operating Plan that the Forest Service signed on
November 27th, 2000 violates the Biological Assessment that
accompanied the Horse Butte Capture Facility Environmental
Assessment. The Operating Plan directs how the Montana Department of
Livestock conducts all phases of operation of the Horse Butte capture
facility. The Biological Assessment (contained in the Hose Butte EA)
expressly states that the Montana DOL will conduct eagle
"pre-monitoring" 14 days before construction of the Horse Butte
capture facility if the facility is constructed before February 15th.
The Operating Plan signed by the Hebgen Lake District Ranger states
that the Montana DOL doesn't have to do any pre-monitoring if the
facility is constructed before February 1st. This contradiction is in
violation of the Biological Assessment, and therefore the ESA.
The groups will file a Temporary Restraining Order asking that the
DOL ceases its operations at the Horse Butte capture facility,
pursuant to the violations. They then will follow up with a Complaint
asking that the State's Special Use Permit be withdrawn, and due to
the ESA violations that the Forest Service re-enter into formal
consultation with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The USFWS
must concur, via a Biological Opinion, on any federal agencies
actions that may effect a threatened or endangered species (i.e. the
bald eagle).
In this situation, the groups feel that the ESA violations and the
changed conditions (productive eagle nesting and hatching) at the
Horse Butte eagle nests, and other violations warrant these actions.
The legal actions most likely will be filed in US District Court in
Helena MT. in the immediate future.
----------
Note: Friends of the Buffalo,
Please be patient if you've sent us an email in the past week and
haven't received a response. Our main computer has been out of
commission since Thursday morning. We are working on getting it up
and running but it may take some time. If anyone has an old (or new)
apple macintosh lying around, we could put it to good use.
Thank you for your continued support.
For the Buffalo,
BFC Volunteers
__________
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-02-09.html
BUFFALO PROTECTORS RALLY AT INAUGURATION OF MONTANA'S GOVERNOR
HELENA, Montana, January 2, 2001 (ENS) - At today's inauguration of Montana
Governor Judy Martz, citizens concerned about the new Yellowstone bison
management plan made it clear that they do not support slaughter of bison
that stray outside Yellowstone National Park, and they do not want their new
governor to support the killings either. The rally, organized by members of
the Buffalo Field Campaign, was held at the State House in Helena. The
approximately 3,000 bison, also called buffalo, are the last wild herd left
in the United States.
Montana Governor Judy Martz (Photo courtesy Office of the Governor)
Martz, a Republican, was Lt. Governor in the outgoing administration of Marc
Racicot which encouraged the Montana Department of Livestock to keep the
buffalo in the park by whatever means necessary. During the winter of
1997-1998, the state killed roughly 1,100 of the buffalo so that Montana
cattle ranchers could maintain their brucellosis free status. Brucellosis, a
disease which causes abortions, could conceivably be transmitted from bison
to cattle, although a case of transmission from wild buffalo to Montana
cattle has yet to be documented.
Under the new plan, says the Buffalo Field Campaign, "buffalo will continue
to be needlessly hazed, captured, and shot on public and private lands
outside the park. Specifics of the plan include hazing bison within the
boundaries of Yellowstone, quarantining members of America's only
continuously wild buffalo herd for up to four years, and fitting bison with
radio collars and vaginal telemetry devices. The plan calls for culling the
herd to maintain a maximum population of 3,000 animals." The group is
attempting to influence Governor Martz to work towards changing the new
plan.
Darrell Geist, executive director of Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers, a Missoula
based environmental and human rights group, said, "Two thousand holy cows
will continue to range on public lands at taxpayer expense, while buffalo
are denied that range and killed for trying to migrate there." The 15 year
management plan, designed to protect 2,019 cow/calf pairs, will cost
taxpayers between 39 and 44 million dollars, Geist said.
======================================
If You would like to chat with Montana's new governor and let her
know how important Montana's treatment of the buffalo is to you and
your family (and your vacation planning) - Feel free to give her a
call - 1.406.444.3111
Judy is very proud of her open door policy.
The Citizens advocate also has a hotline - 1-800-332-2272
Thanks for taking the time to speak out!!
___________________________________________________________
BFC is the only group working 365 days a year in Yellowstone with the buffalo.
Under IRS determination - donations to 501(c)(3) non-profit
organizations are tax deductible. Contributions to BFC are
tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law and support our
aggressive, front line volunteer campaigns.
Info re: the buffalo at
http://www.wildrockies.org/Buffalo
___________________________________________________________
"Stop-the-slaughter" buffalo updates are mailed about 3-4
times/month. Please help get the word out by passing this update on
to 34 1/2 friends. Together we can raise our voices and be heard...
