FWP Suggests Giving Bison to MT Tribes

Today FWP Director, Joe Maurier signed an official "Record of Decision"

suggesting that 68 bison held in quarantine be relocated to the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation near Malta and the Fort Peck Indian Reservation near Wolf Point respectively.  Last January Maurier wasn't so keen on this idea. In his own words during a commission meeting,

If we give them [buffalo] to another nation, it could be seen as the ultimate in privatization. So, until we can resolve that issue, I will not be able to do much. But it's still under consideration.

Also, in January there were other relocation sites considered. Bob Marshall Wilderness Area and Spotted Dog Wildlife Management Area. Again Maurier considered these areas because he was looking for appropriate areas that could support huntable populations of at least 50 bison. 50 is a "huntable population?" How many tags would be sold?

Now, however these sites were rejected by many neighboring landowners, livestock producers, local governments, and hunters. Hunters? How ironic.

If the bison are moved onto Tribal lands the bison, like the people, will still be subjected to the rules and regs of the federal government.

The following is from a media release by FWP

Accordingly, management-plan agreements for each tribal site must include commitments to: (1) continue disease testing for five years, (2) properly contain bison, (3) immediately respond to any escapes of bison, and (4) provide Montana with disease-free bison for future conservation efforts. There are no infrastructure costs for FWP to pay associated with the recommended tribal lands.

FWP Commission will decide on this at its meeting in Helena on Dec. 9. If approved the bison could be moved this winter. I hope they are moved. This would be one step closer in the right direction toward restoring what the US government tried to eliminate 200 years ago.

Buffalo Get Double Hit from Ted Turner and MTDOL

BFC file photo.

Tuesday was full of events.

I'll start off with that this was the day it was announced that ALL 88 buffalo who've been in quarantine since 2005, will go to Ted Turner. They won't be hunted.

Turner’s representatives said the Yellowstone bison are too valuable to hunt and will be mixed in with a herd being conserved on another ranch he owns in New Mexico. New Mexico?!
No wonder the buffalo were given to Turner. He's removing them from the state. Exactly what Montana wants!

There were other options other than Turner of course, but these included sending the buffalo to Guernsey State Park in Wyoming, to the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. But, Wyoming is too close to Montana and the Reservations are in Montana.

Turner had said that if some of the animals went to Wyoming, Montana would get fewer bison back because he needed a certain number to justify his expenses. Those costs are estimated at $480,000 over five years, or about $2,500 for every bison he will keep.

Turner is going to keep the animals hostage for five years and in return wants 75 percent of their offspring, an estimated 188 bison. He already owns more than 50,000 beefalo but wants the Yellowstone animals because of their pure genetics. Montana would get an estimated 150 bison back. My question is what on earth would Montana do with them other than slaughter them for their heads and hides.

"There were a lot of people that wanted them on public lands. We're not ready," said Montana wildlife chief David Risley. "The Turner option, all it does is buy us time to come up with a long term solution."(More lies...)

Russell Miller with Turner Enterprises said, "We welcome the opportunity to be partners with FWP in the stewardship of these iconic bison." (and make a profit off of them)

Miller said the deal with the state is to (I love this) "conserves Yellowstone bison genetics and increases the number of bison available to populate public and tribal lands." What a bunch of B.S.!

In addition to all this, the MTDOL held a secret "public" IBMP meeting Tuesday. Thanks to BFC's commitment to the buffalo they were on the phone with Department of Livestock (DOL) and Yellowstone National Park officials to learn what's in store for the remaining buffalo in YNP.

What were some IBMP changes--Less tolerance.

• begin hazing and capturing buffalo if more than 100 migrate out of the Park's western boundaries between February 15 and April 10.
• DOL will erect the Horse Butte buffalo trap, and they fully intend to slaughter. When BFC asked if IBMP partners would need to come to consensus on these drastic management changes, Marty Zaluski said no. Montana can do whatever it wants. Period.

You can contact Yellowstone Superintendent Suzanne Lewis and Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Mary Ericson and tell them to drop out of the IBMP.

The other event of the day was another swarm of earthquakes in YNP that lasted for 6 hours. The 2 largest quakes were 2.8 and 3.1. No coincidence.

History of Trout Relocation

All over the news you hear about climate change and how destroyed the planet is. In this country this destruction began a few hundred years ago with the narrow mindedness of European settlers.
Just one of the many idiotic things they did I saw on a PBS show about trout.

In 1805 when people migrated West, they over fished cutthroat. Then, in 1870 congress set up an organization to repopulate rivers and streams with non-native fish (just like the settlers coming to this continent) To repopulate the waters they filled rail cars with containers of rainbow trout and brown trout. Then dumped them in the areas the settlers over fished.

One of the effects of this irresponsible relocation is in the Columbia Basin. Here the settlers dumped the rainbow trout in with the remaining cutthroat. These 2 species are almost genetically identical. So now the Basin is full of hybridized trout.

buffalo relocation approved

It's official, by april 1st 41 buffalo held in quarantine in corwin springs,mt will be moved to the arapahoe tribe in wyoming.
Here these 41 buffalo "will be kept in quarantine for at least 1 year inside a 1,000 acre enclosure on the boundary of the reservation." the quarantine will never end.

An opponent of relocation, brenden, the sponsor of sb 337 said that ranchers are worried about bison competing with cattle for rangeland. Finally this gets published! And in the Independent record! Helena's extremely censored newspaper.

http://helenair.com/articles/2009/03/28/state/117st_090328_bison.txt