This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Comments solicited on Yellowstone Bison Slaughter

Dear Prairie People,

During the winter of 1996-97 over 1,000 bison from Yellowstone National 
Park were destroyed by the State of Montana and by the National Park 
Service.  The Service has now prepared a plan to cover the next 15 years 
and is soliciting public comments.  They are planning to do more of the 
same.

You are invited by the Park Service to comments by October 16th.  You may 
send your written comments to "Bison Management Plan EIS Team, NPS-Sarah 
Branscom DSC-RP, PO Box 25287, Denver, CO 80225-0287.

Or send online comments to http://www.nps.gov/planning/yell/eis//8.htm
You can see the entire Plan, in the form of a draft Environmental Impact 
Statement at this website.

Several public hearings have been scheduled for around the country. TFor 
example, there will be one in Austin, Texas Sept 29 at the Holiday Inn 
South on I.35 from 2 PM until 9 PM.

The Yellowstone bison are the descendents of the survivors of the 
slaughter of the huge American herds in the 1870's and 1880's. This herd 
is the ONLY free-roaming herd surviving in the United States.

The cause of the most recent slaughter is fear of a disease, brucellosis, 
being spread from bison to cattle, although no documented case of this 
disease being spread from wild bison to cattle exists.  The available 
evidence shows the risk of transmission of the disease is extremely 
unlikely. It has been said that in the Grand Teton National Park bison 
and cattle which have been vaccinated against brucellosis have grazed the 
same areas for more than 40 years problem free. Should vaccination of the 
cattle be considered for cattle in Yellowstone public lands instead of 
the bison?

The Park Service Plan includes public hunts on bison leaving the park to 
enter Public Land in search of winter forage, capture and slaughter, 
testing, vaccinating the bison and quarantines for the park bison.

Should the bison be allowed to roam on any public land in the Greater 
Yellowstone Ecosystem without restriction?  Under what conditions should 
these free-roaming animals be coralled or confined?  Would it be better 
to simply herd them back onto the park rather than shoot them for leaving 
it? Should the Plan consider the alternative of moving the cattle off the 
public land?

Is this proposed bison management based on biological science?  Should 
management decisions should be based on an estimated carrying capacity 
for bison within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem? When bison leave 
Yellowstone National Park, frequently on trails opened by snowmobiles 
with Park permits, and enter public lands, they are not managed by the 
Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, but rather by the Montana 
Department of Livestock?  Should this be changed? 

Lee Stone
Austin, Texas

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PRAIRIE
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index