Gallatin Wildlife Association

GWA meets monthly, September through May -- on the first Tuesday of each month at the Fish, Wildlife & Parks Building, 1400 South 19th Avenue, Bozeman, Montana (north entrance). Doors open at 6:30 PM, Program begins at 7:00 PM.

The general public is always welcome!

Upcoming Presentations

Stay tuned...

The GWA Board meets every Tuesday morning, 8:00 at Wheat Montana on N. 19th in Bozeman. Feel free to join us, there's invariably much to discuss.

Highlights

Bison Shipment: a Sad Day for Montana
<the following op-ed by GWA Board member Jim Bailey recently ran in the Bozeman Chronicle>

It’s a sad day for Montana when 41 of our disease-free bison are shipped to Wyoming because Montana stockgrowers have the political clout to block reintroduction of this native wild animal in our own state. There are no wild bison year-round in Montana, anywhere.
So far, all we have are empty promises from Fish, Wildlife and Parks regarding efforts to find a home for native bison in Montana. A sampling of comments in a June 2006 FWP decision notice follows: (1) “FWP has identified the restoration of bison to prairie habitats in Montana as an objective in its comprehensive wildlife plan.” (2) FWP “anticipates several opportunities for bison restoration projects in Montana and will prefer relocating bison to a site in Montana.” (3) “There are several suitable properties within Montana where bison could be managed as wildlife.” (4) FWP believes that “the time is appropriate for bison restoration both within the Greater Yellowstone Area and in other suitable habitats.” (5) FWP is “working with potential cooperators to identify suitable release sites” and FWP is “discussing this project with potential cooperators” (in 2006).

Was FWP just blowing smoke? More likely, the political power of Montana stockgrowers, expressed through “their” governor has squelched the good intentions of FWP. In 1896, buffalo hunter Vic Smith said, “The stockmen wanted the bison exterminated so the cattle could have the grass.” Not much has changed. It’s not about brucellosis, it’s about grass, even the grass on our public lands.
Montana Wild Buffalo Recovery and Conservation Act of 2009. <Update: Our bill was killed in the House FWP Committee. To read more click here.>

For an excellent summary, Montana's Choice, comparing the existing situation to what we propose, click here.

GWA is building broad-based support for a legislative solution to Montana's current bison management debacle. Rather than attempt to manage wildlife as livestock, our bill;

Designates bison as “Valued, Native Wildlife in the State of Montana.”
Designates Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks as the agency responsible for the management of wild bison including fair chase, public hunting.
Continue to insure that private property rights and Montana’s valued livestock brucellosis free status are protected, by maintaining cooperation with the Department of Livestock via MCA 81-2-121.

Here is how you can help: Please let your local legislator know about your support for HB253 by calling 406-444-4800. Montana hunters, landowners, outfitters, local communities, wildlife advocates and other concerned citizens are joining together to ensure their elected officials know we value wild bison as treasured native wildlife.

For more information contact:

Glenn Hockett, Gallatin Wildlife Association, Bozeman, MT
glhockett@bresnan.net or 406-586-1729
Karrie Taggart, Horse Butte Neighbors of Bison (HOBNOB), West Yellowstone, MT, karrietaggart@yahoo.com or 406-646-5140
Jim "JB" Klyap, Dome Mountain Ranch, Emigrant, MT
jim@domemountainranch.com or 406-333-4361

GWA Comment on the Royal Teton Ranch grazing restriction and bison "access" agreement. GWA board member Jim Bailey provided this very succinct assessment of the myriad failings of the RTR deal. I have to quote from his last paragraph; "The Gallatin Wildlife Association believes that, from bluebirds to bison, we are all responsible for our part in conserving diverse wildlife communities for ourselves and future generations."
Brucellosis laws need updating The Bozeman Daily Chronicle carried GWA Board member Jim Wisman's following editorial. (Jimmy wrote this by hand, in one take! It sums the situation as well as I've seen).
Myths of Bison Management and Brucellosis in Montana An excellent summation by Jim Bailey, that requires a page of its own.
Yellowstone Park violating their own policy GWA Board member and retired biologist Jim Bailey wrote the following editorial;
- With all the furor over slaughter of 1600 bison from Yellowstone National Park, we are overlooking a serious issue. The Interagency Bison Management Plan and Yellowstone Superintendent Lewis are violating mandates and policies of the National Park Service.
  Congress mandates retaining Park resources “in their natural conditions” and leaving them “unimpaired for future generations.” Park Service policy is to “maintain processes of naturally evolving ecosystems” and to minimize “human interference with evolving genetic diversity.”
  
  It is likely that genetic diversity of the Park’s bison was lost to slaughtering in 2008. Moreover, natural selection has largely been replaced by human intervention. Coevolution of the Park’s animals, plants and microorganisms has been sidetracked, along with bison adaptation to their physical environment.
  
  Coevolution of bison and Brucella abortus has proceeded for about 100 years in Yellowstone. There is some evidence of resistance to brucellosis in bison already. With progress in genetic engineering, genes for resistance to brucellosis might one day be transferred to livestock; but only if we allow natural selection to proceed in the Park.
  
  The Interagency Bison Management Plan is a dangerous precedent, subverting the purposes established for natural areas within National Parks. We are converting bison to livestock, and making the Park more like just another theme park.
CUT deal is expensive non-solution for bison The Billings Gazette ran the following editorial by GWA Board member Joe Gutkoski about the recent Church Universal and Triumphant grazing buyout;
- Yellowstone National Park agreed on April 19 to a down payment of $1.8 million to the Church Universal and Triumphant plus additional payments of $76,500 a year for 20 years, totaling $3.3 million for a 30-year narrow bison corridor easement and the removal of CUT's small, recently acquired herd of cattle.
  This would allow 25 bison, tested and fitted with neck and vaginal electronic transmitters, to walk the easement and keep the bison from acting like wildlife. They must obey the impossible strictures of the Stockgrowers Written Interagency Bison Management Plan and to stay within its restrictive Zones 1, 2 and 3 boundaries.
  
  We are paying $3.3 million twice for a single easement along a Park County road that has a public right of way. Why do four nongovernment organizations and a seriously misled governor support this deal?
  
  It is to mask the fact that our governor has allowed the elimination of 1,600 bison in 2008 on his watch - more than at any time since the later 1800s.
  
  It perpetuates a falsehood that bison are being allowed to widely roam in Montana.
  
  It is a ruse to brag that adoptive management is practiced under the IBMP.
  
  It is a public relations stunt to divide and quiet the questioners.
  
  To hide the fact that the population is below 2,500 bison within YNP.
  
  The $3.3 million deal supports and reinforces the Stockgrowers IBMP.
  
  The deal will lead to bison slaughter in the future and does nothing for a solution.

Working to protect habitat and conserve wildlife.