Elk Now Targeted for Brucellosis

On Sunday FWP began helicopter netting cow elk north of the Blacktail Wildlife Management Area in the upper Ruby Valley. FWP is checking elk for brucellosis and whether infected cows abort their calves. FWP will also gather data on how far the Ruby herd migrates throughout the year. 

The elk will not be drugged, instead, restrained with a crew and given an instant card test for brucellosis. Any elk found to carry the disease will get a vaginal implant to monitor their pregnancy and be collared to track its movements.

The study will go on for, as specific as FWP is known to be, "several years" according to Kelly Proffitt, FWP wildlife biologist.

http://www.mtstandard.com/news/local/article_28cfd6ac-30ea-11e0-8f78-001cc4c002e0.html

First the buffalo. Now the elk. I wonder how many taxpayers' $$$ are being used for the elk studies.

USFWS Wastes Taxpayer's Money Again

Same song, umpteenth verse at refuge

November 25, 2009 Jackson Hole News & Guide page 5A

GUEST SHOT
By Lloyd Dorsey

It's been said that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different outcomes. So it is with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's recent decision to spend another $5 million of taxpayer monies to construct yet another new sprinkler system on the battered National Elk Refuge.

The refuge has irrigated pastures and fed hay or pellets to the elk for nearly a century now Š and the elk defoliated the refuge and become sick with brucellosis, necrotic stomatitis, scabies, hoof rot and other diseases due to too many animals in unnaturally close quarters.

In more recent times the old irrigation ditches on the refuge were augmented with costly side-roll and pivot sprinklers, the elk were fed alfalfa pellets Š and the elk still defoliated the refuge and became sick. So, in 2007, after a $4 million Environmental Impact Statement, the expensive feeding and irrigating continued Š and the elk still defoliated the refuge and got sick.

Now in 2009 their plan is to spend $5 million on more sprinklers Š and the elk . . . well, you get the grim picture.

None of us needs to be reminded that while Wyoming does have an arid climate, rain and snow still falls here. Native plants still grow in the spring and summer. Elk, bison and other wildlife evolved over thousands of years to thrive in western Wyoming's environment along with such native plants as willows, aspen, bunch grasses and rabbit brush. It was a healthy system.

The natural capital in such a system is free. We just need to quit baiting elk on the Elk Refuge with irrigated plots or pellets and give those willow shrubs nibbled to their nubs a chance. Imagine, Jackson Hole, watching the Elk Refuge return to such a healthy condition with native flora and fauna right before your very eyes. Not unlike the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone.

Instead, in a state that prides itself on fiscal responsibility we have a financial boondoggle. The new irrigation system was supposed to cost $2.8 million; now it's at $5 million. From 2001-07, the Fish & Wildlife Service and Park Service spent millions of dollars analyzing how best to manage elk and bison in Jackson Hole. They ignored their own scientists who recommended a route that would have, "result(ed) in the greatest overall benefit to the biological and physical environment", the alternative recommended overwhelmingly by the public and by biologists who believe phasing out feeding is necessary to stop habitat loss and prevent epidemics of Chronic Wasting Disease.

It boggles the mind- in the heart of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the home of internationally treasured fish and wildlife species and the site of some of America's most spectacular landscapes, an intensely artificial wildlife management approach has developed that has turned the Elk Refuge into a glorified winter zoo. With sick animals.

By heavily manipulating wildlife and their habitat the consequences on the Elk Refuge are habitat destruction, loss of wildlife diversity and disease. A century of evidence proves this no matter how good the original intentions were. The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) in June 2009 determined that the Elk Refuge was one of the 10 most imperiled wildlife refuges of 540 in the entire nation. They called the circumstances on the Elk Refuge a "wildlife time bomb".

The USFWS now turns to a California-based contractor to waste millions of hard-earned American taxpayer dollars to artificially water plants that would still attract elk and bison in unnaturally dense concentrations. Meanwhile the USFWS reneged on pledges to help with fencing projects that would allow elk and bison to range freely without commingling with the few cattle remaining in local valleys during winter.

Same old, same old. The dominant theme on the Elk Refuge under the current plan is still artificial feeding no matter what they call it.

Elk herds no longer require this kind of intensive manipulation to survive or even thrive. Populations are at record levels in Wyoming and other regions. After a century, it's time to expeditiously take the Jackson elk herd off its circa-1912 life-support. Science tells us that free-ranging elk herds have the best chance of being healthy and sustaining themselves well into the future - not dense concentrations of elk chasing after feed trucks to irrigated plots where they wallow in the disease-ridden muck.

It's high time we start solving old problems with new ideas that really aren't so new. It's time we allow elk to thrive in native habitats, in populations balanced with the carrying capacity of the native plants and soils that sustain them. After all, we know from most valleys in surrounding states and elsewhere in Wyoming that Rocky Mountain elk are faring quite well in Rocky Mountain winters - without hay, alfalfa pellets and $5 million sprinklers.

Lloyd Dorsey is a conservation advocate for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition in Jackson.

Idaho to Kill 50% Wolf Population

Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG) wants to kill 518 gray wolves in the state out of the 1,000 that live there. This is 8 times the recovery goal and the wolves are increasing in population by 20% annually (too bad we don't have the same rules about invasive species). Hunters will be used to "manage" wolves (just like the buffalo). The focus areas for hunting will be where invasive livestock have taken over and in the Lolo Elk Zone where the number of elk is decreasing by 13% each year. IDFG puts a good portion of the blame on the wolves (what a surprise), saying that other predators such as, black bears and mountain lions kill elk too, but when the wolves are "managed" the elk numbers will increase. This decrease in elk has caused a decrease in hunting ($$$)

So, the mindset of the European settlers lives on in Idaho.

Elk to Blame for Past Decade of Brucellosis Infection

I was reading an article in the HelenaIR (Irresponsible Record), the most HIGHLY censored newspaper in MT. Once again the ranchers blame wildlife, namely elk, for all infections of brucellosis over the past decade. MT seems to conveniently & arrogantly forget that this disease originated in European cattle that were imported into the U.S. and then the disease was transmitted to the wildlife in Yellowstone. Today there are an estimated 2.6 MILLION cattle in MT. This is 2.5 times the state population!! Whereas there are close to 3,000 buffalo, 95,000 elk and 34 breeding pairs of wolves. These numbers are waaay too high for the ranchers who'd like to see them down to 0.

In 2007 there were 2 herds that became infected. This was NOT caused by wildlife as the HelenaIR wants you to believe. Both these herds were made up of Corriente cattle. This is a Mexican breed that is popular for rodeo roping events and are often imported from Texas.
According to Robert Hoskins, an independent Wyoming conservationist. "There is no scientific proof that elk were the cause of last year's brucellosis outbreak and good circumstantial evidence that the cause was imported Corriente cattle. A year after that incident, we still have no published epidemiological report from APHIS. Is that not suspicious?" (quote from a BFC press release, 2008)

Now that MT is brucellosis free again it can export its cattle. Blood testing will continue in the 7 Yellowstone area counties for 6 months.

The billion $ industry continues. All the while wildlife suffer.

Idaho Wants to Kill Wolves

This isn't about MT, but it shows how separate Rocky Mountain states are. Montana, Idaho & Wyoming all can't deal with the fact there is wildlife and they all have different ideas what to do with the wildlife. Take the issue with Idaho. Idaho wants to kill wolves because the wolves kill elk and deer. Across the border, Montana currently is killing elk and deer because elk carry brucellosis and supposedly there are too many deer. South, in Wyoming, they have feedlots for elk to keep them off cattle grazing land to try to prevent the spread of brucellosis to cattle.
All these states' governments are self-centered and incompetent in running their state.

Solution (outside of getting new officials in the states' governments): Send the wolves in Idaho to Montana to eat the elk and deer and get rid of the feedlots & cattle in Wyoming.

Veterinarians Oppose Yellowstone Hot-Zone

Last year there was an idea to make Yellowstone Park as an animal disease "hot-zone". Yellowstone would be listed as the last remaining region in the country where the disease brucellosis still remains. This would ease up sanctions on cattle ranchers if their herd becomes infected with the disease. Now, however state veterinarians are opposed to creating a "hot-zone". They want to see management of the disease in wildlife first.

Regarding how the disease is currently being 'managed' in bison and will be 'managed' in elk, Schweitzer commented, "We’ve been hazing bison, capturing bison, slaughtering bison — I’d say we’ve done a fair bit. Elk’s a little tougher. . . . But to simply say wildlife need to stay in the park is not a practical solution.”
Read more Agweek

So what would be Schweitzer's solution? Probably elimination of all wildlife within the state.

Better solution-- eliminate all idiots in the government beginning with Schweitzer.

Bad Week For Wildlife

Where do I begin?
I'll start with the deer in Helena.

FWP agreed to allow 150 deer to be captured and killed. The "Urban Wildlife Task Force" began this week. Read more from the Helena IR.

Next are the gray wolves.
Bush along with the Department of the Interior have created a plan to delist the gray wolf, but it will need to be approved by Obama's administration. Great Falls Tribune.

Now the elk.
FWP has begun capturing them, then testing them for antibodies of brucellosis, and slaughtering those that test positive. Bozeman Daily Chronicle

On to buffalo.
Gallatin National Forest Supervisor, Mary Erikson, gave the MT DOL a "10 year special use permit" to put a "portable" capture facility on Horse Butte! Billings Gazette

Also, FWP is considering appointing a rancher on their board of commission! The ranchers are wanting this seat under the reasoning they own much of the land where hunting takes place. HelenaIR

Whew! It's been a busy week as Bush makes his final moves before leaving office. Now, if only we could get rid of Palin....