Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
May 29, 2008

KEEP BFC ON THE FRONTLINES WITH A TAX DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION TODAY
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NOTE: This will be the last weekly issue of the Update from the Field until mid-November. For the summer and fall months, the Updates will come to you every other Thursday. Thanks for being with us and for the buffalo!!

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In this issue:
* Update from the Field
* Buffalo in the News
* BFC Needs Summer Educators & Maintenance Volunteers
* Upcoming Event: Tatanka Music Festival 2008
* LOOK! Photo Journal of the Week
* Last Words
* Kill Tally
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* Update from the Field

Dear Buffalo Friends,

As BFC’s 2007-2008 field season begins to wind down, with volunteers making their way to the four directions, the landscape remains active with wild bison and agent activity. Though our numbers are dwindling we, of course, remain with the buffalo.

On a couple of occasions this week, the Montana Department of Livestock donned their cowboy attire, complete with macho attitudes, to chase two mama buffalo and their newborn calves out of the Town Park in West Yellowstone. The buffalo were, of course, causing no harm and were being admired by tourists and locals alike. The calves were napping, the mamas peacefully grazing. Then DOL agents Shane Grube and Mark Anderson showed up. As soon as the mama buffalo saw the riders approach, their tails went up (a sign of distress) and they went over to their babies to shepherd them away from the aggressive cowboys. The buffalo took off, and the agents were hot on their heels, looking ridiculous riding through the streets of West Yellowstone.

After being told time and again by private property owners on the Horse Butte peninsula that wild bison were welcome, but the Department of Livestock was not, the agents flexed their assumed muscles of authority and chased wild buffalo off of Horse Butte today. There are no cattle on Horse Butte at any time of year now. While the agents attempted to cover themselves by not stepping foot or hoof onto the property, they instead used their helicopter, with DOL agent Rob Tierny inside directing the pilot — flying as low as 20 feet– to chase the buffalo off of the Galanis property, disrupting all the residents on Horse Butte in the process. The Galanis family has let it be known numerous times that the DOL is not welcome there, but wild buffalo certainly are. The Galanis family purchased the 700+-acre ranch, formerly known as the Munns’ Ranch, and designated it a “Bison Safe Zone,” the largest in Montana.

Continue Reading »

*  NEWS RELEASE *

PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS VIOLATED BY LIVESTOCK AGENTS HAZING WILD BISON
Property Owners Welcome Bison, Not DOL, on Cattle-Free Horse Butte

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 29, 2008
Press Contacts:
Janae & Rob Galanis, 406-646-4848
Ed & Vicky Millspaugh, Hebgen Lake Estates, 406-646-9176, (cell) 406-580-0321
Stephany Seay, Buffalo Field Campaign, 406-646-0070

WEST YELLOWSTONE, MT - With horses, a helicopter, state and federal law enforcement, and U.S tax dollars to spend, Montana Department of Livestock agents have descended upon the cattle-free Horse Butte Peninsula, violating private property rights and upsetting human and wildlife residents in an attempt to chase wild American bison out of Montana and into Yellowstone National Park.

“These actions underscore the arrogance of the Department of Livestock, cattle industry, and agencies carrying out the Interagency Bison Management Plan,” said Mike Mease, co-founder of Buffalo Field Campaign.  “There are no cattle out here and the landowners want the buffalo around, yet the government-funded cowboys act like the only private property rights that matter are those pertaining to cattle.”

The Horse Butte peninsula is a 26,000-acre landscape encompassing both public (Gallatin National Forest) and private property.  It is 100% cattle-free at all times of the year.  Horse Butte provides critical winter range and calving grounds for American bison.  The majority of Horse Butte residents welcome bison, but do not welcome the presence of the Montana Department of Livestock.  Homeowners have expressed their wishes that the DOL refrain from chasing bison off of their land, but these wishes continue to be ignored.

“I am a fully disabled veteran.  I went to war–nearly getting killed several times–for their rights and my rights and now they’re taking it away from me by violating my private property rights,” said Ed Millspaugh, Horse Butte property owner and president of Hebgen Lake Estates. “Is this the way Montana wants to treat its vets?”

Continue Reading »

The Montana Department of Livestock intends to haze buffalo from private property tomorrow (May 29, 2008).

Bison to be hazed into Yellowstone as ranchers go to court. San Diego Union Tribune (AP)

Another story this morning:
Ranchers go to court over bison
Spokesman Review, Spokane WA (AP)

The significance of these stories is that the planned hazing violates the wishes and the private property rights of the landowners.