Voice your opinion on Yellowstone bison's management. Comments opened until Monday

[backpack]

Voice your opinion on Yellowstone bison's management.

The Yellowstone bison herd is the last remnant of the wild population of buffaloes which lived across the American grassland by the million before their wanton slaughter. By the end of the 19th century, only the 23 individuals which took refuge in Yellowstone survived. Today, the population is around 3,000 it might not be sufficient to insure biological diversity.

I was stunned to learn that since 1985, 8,566 individual have been killed by Montana Department of Livestock.
Every winter, hay is used to bait buffaloes outside the park boundary where they are promptly captured for slaughter. Every spring, pregnant cows and newborn calves are harassed on the outer perimeter of the park, many cows miscarry and many calves are injured, this weakened individuals are then, more vulnerable to predation, further depleting the population.

The last wild icons of the great plains are slaughtered for gourmet meat, harassed for grazing competition and scapegoated as carriers of brucellosis. In truth, the main carriers are the more numerous elks which are allowed to roam free and are even provisioned by some farmers because the provision sites attract tourists. Elks are also big money making animals for the state of Montana because of the sale of licenses to hunters.


In order for the only truly wild and genetically intact bison population to be sustainable, the Yellowstone herd must have free access to the greater Yellowstone ecosystem consisting of National Forests and other public lands beyond Yellowstone National Park.

Bison are a keystone species of the Grassland ecosystem, unsustainable hunting, high densities of livestock, and habitat loss have devastating consequences for large, long-lived, slow-breeding, and, therefore, vulnerable herbivore species, their ecosystems, and the services they provide.


Buffalo Field Campaign an organization run by volunteers place themselves between the families and their harassers all year long. Many residents and tribal members around Yellowstone support both the bisons and BFC.

Here is their alternative plan to the current harass and destroy management, it is very simple: manage buffaloes like elks.

Below is the Buffalo Field Campaign document:

http://buffalofieldcampaign.org/alte...in-montana.pdf

Here is the page with the National Park Service Proposal document in PDF and the link to the comment form

https://parkplanning.nps.gov/documen...cumentID=64791


https://parkplanning.nps.gov/comment...cumentID=64791


Posting the link really fast, we just had a severe storm warning, I want to make sure the bisons plight has the opportunity to be shared. I would love it if you took the time to comment.

[marytattoo]

Posted to facebook.

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[Lani]

Oh my goodness--we just ran the Yellowstone Half Marathon this morning and visited Old Faithful this afternoon! How timely. Thank you for enlightening me on this issue!


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[bchaplin]

Will do! Thanks for posting!

[backpack]

Thank you so much for posting and sharing!

The comments close on Monday at 11:59 PM, so there is still time.