Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
June 26, 2008

KEEP BFC ON THE FRONTLINES WITH A TAX DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION TODAY
https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=1807
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In this issue:

* Update from the Field
* COMMENT: Montana Buffalo Hunt Planned for 2008-2009
* “Buffalo News” ~ Collaborative Newsletter for the Buffalo Available
* “Let Buffalo Roam” License Plates for Every State!
* Photo of the Week
* Last Words
* Kill Tally

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* Update from the Field

Dear Buffalo Friends,

Summer is here and our field volunteers are now inside the boundaries of Yellowstone with the surviving mighty bison, educating national park visitors. BFC tables inside Yellowstone every summer in an effort to let park visitors know what happens to the buffalo they are there to admire. Our shaggy friends gain a lot of support from people visiting Yellowstone from across the nation and around the globe. If you are planning to visit Yellowstone this summer, look for us in the Park. And, if you have an interest in helping BFC tell the buffalo’s story in Yellowstone this summer, please contact Iwi at summer@buffalofieldcampaign.org.

Meanwhile, Montana’s loss of it’s coveted brucellosis-free status is barely making news headlines. One would think that if this was the huge economic disaster they have always claimed, it would make the front page every day. But, the media has been relatively quiet. And to date, the cattle industry has not been able to rule out that the transmission could have come from cattle. Of course, quick to place blame, the cattle industry immediately points the finger at wildlife inhabiting the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, calling for “reductions” in elk and bison populations. Killing half the bison population wasn’t enough to please them, apparently, even though wild bison have never transmitted the cattle disease to cattle. Perhaps it’s time for a reduction in the cattle populations that encroach on this majestic wilderness region, because it’s clearly not working in this landscape. Nor is the industry’s prized practice of “test-and-slaughter” programs aimed at grass-eating wildlife.

Continue Reading »

Cattle group calls for elk, bison reductions in Yellowstone

Rather than facing the real issue with brucellosis, namely the elk feed grounds in Wyoming where artificially high concentrations increase the prevalence of brucellosis, the California-based U.S. Cattlemen’s’ Association wants you, the public, to accept more killing of Yellowstone wildlife for industry.

Join wild buffalo advocates at a benefit for Buffalo Field Campaign! Tatanka 2008 will take place in Victor, Idaho June 20-21. Events will be MC’d by BFC’s co-founder Mike Mease! Musical acts include B-Side Players, Army, MooGot2, Anthony Smith’s Trunk Fulla Funk, Chanman’s Roots Band, Teton Honkeytonk, All-Stars, Big Fatty, Ten Cent Lure, CB Radio, and DJ MAM! Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 the day of the show. Contact The Knotty Pine at 208-787-2866 or Big Hole Music at 208-354-3659 for ticket information. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information.

On Saturday, June 28, BFC will participate in Patagonia’s “Voice Your Choice” program.
Customers vote from June 10-July 19 on the enviro group that most deserves a $4,000 grant!
Learn more and stop by the Patagonia Outlet in Dillon and vote for BFC!

Here are the stories which appeared in the press of the last several weeks.
Continue Reading »

The latest Yellowstone Bison Population Management Activities report is out. There are reports that a population estimate was to be done but there is very little with regard to how many bison are left after the massive slaughter and winter kill of this past season.

Could the Park Service have killed far more than they had planned by not taking winter kill into account? Might there be fewer than the 2100 threshold in the IBMP?

PARKWIDE DISTRIBUTION:
*The information in the following paragraph is not intended as a population estimate. This information provides an approximate number of bison in certain geographic areas that have been surveyed in the past month. In no way is this information complete and accurate enough for a population estimate.

Approximately 200 bison are still utilizing the Blacktail Deer Plateau area. Nearly all of the other bison on the northern range are east of Tower Junction. In the central portion of the park, there are a few dozen bison in Pelican Valley (primarily adult males) and about 150 bison in Hayden Valley. The bulk of the central breeding group is still located in the Firehole Geyser basin and the Madison River Valley (approximately 200 west of Madison Junction).

Download the report here: YNP report_6_15_08.doc

Six groups have collaborated to publish a new Buffalo Newsletter. The newsletter will be distributed to Park visitors by Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers this summer and at events and fundraisers.

The newsletter is a joint project of the Buffalo Field Campaign, Gallatin Wildlife Association, Horse Butte Neighbors of Buffalo, Natural Resources Defense Council, InterTribal Bison Cooperative and Tatanka Oyate of the Seventh Generation Fund.

You can download it here: Buffalo News

NOTE: Because of the size of this newsletter it is more for informational purposes rather than for printing and distributing yourself.

Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
June 12, 2008

KEEP BFC ON THE FRONTLINES WITH A TAX DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION TODAY
https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=1807

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In this issue:
* Update from the Field
* For the Buffalo! Bonnie Raitt Benefit Tickets Available!
* Buffalo in the News
* “Let Buffalo Roam” License Plates for Every State!
* Last Words
* Kill Tally

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* Update from the Field

Dear Buffalo Friends,

Big news has hit Montana: the state has lost its coveted brucellosis-free status.

Another Montana cattle herd was found to be infected with the livestock disease. That’s two cattle herds in less than two years, and so Montana’s status as being certified “brucellosis-free” is out the window.

The source of transmission is not yet known, but it is certain that it’s not wild buffalo. The owner of the infected herd, Arthur Burns of Emigrant, MT, had his cattle approximately 30 miles north of Yellowstone National Park.

The industry is already pointing fingers at elk, just as they did last spring. In May 2007, a cattle herd that had been pastured near Emigrant was found infected, but neither the Department of Livestock (DOL) nor the Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) produced any evidence linking Yellowstone wildlife–or clearing domestic or imported cattle–as the source of last year’s infection.

Continue Reading »

Commissioners Back Proposed Bison Hunting Rules AP

Montana’s bison hunting season and quotas for 2008 would be the same as in 2007 under rules tentatively supported by state wildlife commissioners.

Sick Cow Costs Montana Its Brucellosis-Free Status
By Robert Struckman, 6-09-08
New West

Montana cow tests positive for brucellosis
By Matthew Brown
ASSOCIATED PRESS

According to Marty Zaluski, the Montana State Veterinarian, it was “very unlikely” bison from Yellowstone National Park were the source, since none had been documented near the ranch where the disease was found. That leaves another cattle herd, elk or other wildlife as possible vectors of the disease.