-----Original Message----- From: Buffalo Folks <stop-the-slaughter@wildrockies.org> To: Stop the Slaughter <Stop-the-Slaughter@vortex.wildrockies.org> Date: Sunday, March 05, 2000 10:54 AM Subject: Buffalo News >In this issue >* Update from the Field >* What Can You Do? >* Leading Biologist speaks out - buffalo disaster waiting to happen >Happy Spring! Please forward this update to friends. For the Buffalo! >______________________________ > >3/3/00 > >Friends of the Buffalo, > >Montana's mild winter continues, giving reprieve to the Yellowstone buffalo >and the Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) volunteers committed to their >protection. As of this writing, there is still only one buffalo--a >bull--out of the park, on the Gallatin National Forest. This bull has been >grazing in a meadow on the Madison River since mid-January. The Montana >Department of Livestock (DOL) tried hazing him five times, but were >unsuccessful each time. Facing a barrage of criticism for their needless >harassment of the bull in the local and national media, the DOL has left >him alone since 2/10. > >Stories of the bull have been very prominent in the press. Newspapers in >Bozeman, Great Falls, Helena, and Missoula have been running articles on >the bull, and the major networks have devoted entire news shows to the >plight of the Yellowstone herd. In February, both ABC's Nightline and >A&E's Investigative Reports told the story of the current slaughter--and >our work to prevent it--to international audiences. Both shows relied >heavily upon video recorded by our volunteers. > >It is our belief that by making our footage available to the widest >audience possible--and exposing the bison slaughter to the American >public--we can generate the popular opposition necessary to stop the >buffalo killing. While we do provide the networks with our footage, we >have no control over storyline or editorial decisions. We have received >criticism from some of our supporters for the way the shows presented the >issues. Such criticisms should be directed to A&E and ABC, not BFC. > >Despite the warm weather, hundreds of buffalo are within a few miles of the >park boundary right now, moving toward Montana. When they come out of the >park they will fall victim to the state's management policy of haze, capture, >and shoot. The Forest Service has given the DOL approval to reconstruct >and operate a bison capture facility at Horse Butte, near West Yellowstone. > >On April 14, 1999 the DOL captured 69 buffalo in its Horse Butte trap. >We are hosting a week of actions, from April 22 to the 30th, to honor the >buffalo slaughtered in recent years and to shut down the DOL this year. >If you have been wanting to help defend the Yellowstone buffalo, this is an >excellent opportunity. We are hoping to draw more than a hundred >volunteers for the action week and will need to feed and equip them for the >field. >Donations of food, winter gear, and financial support will go a >long way to protect the buffalo. All contributions are tax deductible. >Please contact us for more specific information. If you can't make it >during this week, you are welcome anytime. > >During the summer months we maintain a table inside the park to raise >awareness of the issue among park visitors. We have openings for a summer >Campaign Coordinator and outreach volunteers. If you are interested in >either position or would like more information, please contact us at the >address below. Attn: volunteer cooridinator. > >We are grateful to Bob Clark from the Alliance for the Wild Rockies (AWR) >for his informative and entertaining presentation on February 26. AWR's >work is instrumental in gaining long-term protection for the Northern >Rockies Ecosystem. NREPA is a critical bill for this ecosystem and >letters are needed regarding this issue. If you have a minute or >two, please check out the info at: >http://www.wildrockiesalliance.org/nrepa99.html > >KGLT in Bozeman donated studio and air time for our public service >announcement on the Yellowstone bison. Thank you Andy and Kate for being >so kind. > >A big thanks to the many folks whose continued support makes our work >possible. We couldn't do it without you. > >Buffalo Field Campaign >"the only group working 365 days a year with the buffalo!" >PO Box 957 >West Yellowstone, MT 59758 >buffalo@wildrockies.org > >_________________________________ > >WHAT CAN YOU DO??? >You can take 5 minutes and write just one heartfelt email or letter >(letters are better) for the buffalo! check here for all the folks >that you can write: >http://www.wildrockies.org/Buffalo/politk99/speakdo.html > >Warm Winter boots and ski boots needed! If you can help...Thanks! >____________________________________ > >What appear to be good times may be disaster in making > >By SCOTT McMILLION - Bozeman Chronicle > >YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- The bison here are fat and sleek right now. >Absent are the jutting spines and protruding ribs sometimes seen at this time >of year. > >And so far during this mild winter, the shaggy giants are staying in the park. >Only one animal has left the boundaries. > >While the guns have been silent and the traps stand inactive, winter is far >from over and things could change in the next couple of months if heavy snows >arrive. > >A Jan. 30 flight over the area counted 2,410 bison, nearly half of them in the >western portion of the park. While an easy winter like this one means fewer >dead bison outside the park, it doesn't mean much in the long term, according >to Mary Meagher, a retired National Park Service biologist who has been >studying bison for more than 40 years. > >Though there will be annual fluctuations, she predicts that bison numbers will >continue to drop from the high point of 4,000 animals seen in 1994. > >"We're never going to see 4,000 bison in Yellowstone Park again," she said >Friday. > >"A lot of times, things look pretty good until all of a sudden they go to >hell," said Meagher. > >She maintains that the system of groomed roads in the park has so altered the >ecosystem that the park's bison herd can only decline over the long term. For >the past decade, she's advocated shutting down the winter travel system in >Yellowstone. > >"What you see is deceptive," she said. "The bison can look great, but that's >not the ecosystem." > >Meagher, who is now working on a complex project that involves the mapping of >bison densities and population analysis, calls the current situation "an >ecosystem disaster." > >The most recent bison count found 1,123 animals, nearly half the total herd, >in the western portion of the park and almost 400 of them west of the Firehole >River. > >In the early 1980s, when there were 2,000 bison in the park, they were never >found west of the Firehole, Meagher said, and though cow/calf groups >traditionally summered along the park's eastern boundary, they haven't done so >in years. > >"We've driven the entire population westward," Meagher said. "That should be >telling people something." > >The parkwide system of groomed roads, she said, "provides energy efficient >linkages between places where bison want to be." > >Though there are isolated pockets of food on the west side of the park and >just outside its western boundary, there is no real winter range in the area >because of the snow depth, she said. > >To find genuine winter range, bison would have to travel nearly to Ennis or >Bozeman, she said. > >State policy won't allow that, because of fears the bison will spread >brucellosis. Nor will a proposed new federal policy, which calls for only >limited bison range on the west and north sides of the park. > >Plus, the areas inside the west portion of the park, where soils are poor, are >suffering from too many bison during too much of the year, Meagher said. > >"That's why we'll drive the population downward," she said. "We have an >ecosystem problem. It's not overgrazing. It's much more complex than that." > >Elk herds often display what biologists call a "population density" reaction, >which means the number of births drops when overall numbers are high. > >Bison don't do that. > >Rather, Meagher explained, they respond to high population density by moving >to new areas. > >"Bison are trying to adapt to changes we've created in the system," she said. > >But when that means moving outside the park, the animals are shot, trapped or >hazed. > >A couple more big snowstorms this winter could get bison moving, Meagher said, >but at least some of them are likely to move out of the park later this year >anyway. > >In most years, bison head for the park's western boundary early in the spring >because grasses turn green there sooner than they do in the park. > >The Montana Department of Livestock in the past several years has shown more >tolerance for springtime bison, choosing to haze them repeatedly until there >is enough green grass inside the park to hold them here. > >What will happen this year depends on the weather, said DOL spokeswoman Karen >Cooper. > >"It's determined on a case by case basis," she said. "But hazing will be the >first option." > >http://www.gomontana.com/ - 2/27/00 >===================================== > >___________________________________________________________ >New info daily : http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo >We still material for our art/thoughts/poetry section! >New photo albums up - Check out Buffalo Honor- >http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo/BuffaloHonor/index.htm >_________________________________________ >BFC is the only group working 365 days a year in Yellowstone with the buffalo. > >Please take the time to alert national media sources that you are >interested in them covering this issue. >_________________________________ >Schedule a showing of the Buffalo Compilation Video in your >community. for more info: mailto:cmcr@wildrockies.org >Let us know if you will be showing it in your community during the >National Week of Action in April! > > > > > > > > >************************************************************************ >List-Subscribe: mailto:Stop-the-Slaughter-on@vortex.wildrockies.org >List-Unsubscribe: mailto:Stop-the-Slaughter-off@vortex.wildrockies.org >News Submissions or Problems: mailto:Stop-the-Slaughter@wildrockies.org > >