Buffalo Nations' Road Blockade Enters Second Day!
Snow is dumping down, it's 15 degrees outside, and our tripods are still blocking the Horse Butte road to the site of the newly permitted buffalo capture pens on the Gallatin National Forest. The DOL has said they would try to put up the trap this week, so we beat them to it by closing off their only road access to the site! No construction has begun yet, and the buffalo still walk freely on Horse Butte, their favorite winter spot.
Our encampment in the road has been weathering the -10 F and below temperatures, and our tripod sitters are still keeping warm. As of early this morning, law enforcement still hasn't arrived on the scene. All the better for us... we're not going anywhere, and it gives us the time to set up housekeeping, or rather roadkeeping...
If you can send us any supplies such as high-energy portable backcountry food such as energy bars, dried fruit and nuts, small cooking pots, backpacking stove, and people! Please come out for a visit or to stay!
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Buffalo Nations Activists Sit in Two Tripods to Block Use of National Forest Land for Capturing and Killing Yellowstone Buffalo
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 26, 1999 Media Contacts: Sarah K. Chalmers, Sue Nackoney (406) 646-0070
WEST YELLOWSTONE, MT- Today Buffalo Nations volunteers Kelly Needs and Jesse Haag took positions in two tripods on the Forest Service road 610, blockading access to the site of a newly permitted bison capture facility site on Horse Butte. Horse Butte is a peninsula on the Gallatin National Forest west of Yellowstone, and provides critical winter habitat for Yellowstone buffalo. The blockade began in the early morning hours on a narrow tree-lined section of the road. The DOL have repeatedly stated their intentions to construct and operate the new buffalo trap by the end of this week, and Needs and Haag felt it was important to them to take non-violent direct action to prevent the further slaughter of Yellowstone buffalo. There have not been any agency officials or law enforcement present as of mid-afternoon.
On December 11, the Gallatin National Forest gave final approval to permit the Montana Department of Livestock to build and operate the new capture facility until January 31, 1998. Construction of the trap has still not begun. The DOL still awaits permission from the Gallatin National Forest to operate the facility during bald eagle courtship/nesting season which starts February 1, and to operate the facility continuously over the next 10 years.
"The majority of residents on Horse Butte and other parts of West Yellowstone are opposed to this capture facility. The approval given to the DOL by the U.S. Forest Service was precipitated by a hasty Environmental Assessment, resulting in a permit that carries with it a categorical exclusion to all appeals. Where has the Forest Service been the last two weeks when they are supposed to be out here monitoring the bald eagle's nests in compliance with their own guidelines? I haven't seen them out here once since November," says Mike Mease, campaign coordinator and co-founder of Buffalo Nations.
The chosen site violates Forest Service guidelines for protection of bald eagle nesting habitat and conflicts with current Eagle Management Plans. In order to approve the operation of the facility over the long term, the Gallatin National Forest would have to amend their Forest Plan in order to exempt the forest from meeting bald eagle management guidelines. Current guidelines do not allow permanent development within one-quarter mile of a nest site. The nesting period for bald eagles begins February first.
The state of Montana has requested up to $500,000 per year from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the operation of the bison trap.
The facility will capture and test buffalo who migrate to the peninsula. The agencies claim that the operation of the capture facility will help with the "urgent need" to reduce bison mortality. However, in the winter of 1996-1997, the use of these facilities sent hundreds of buffalo to slaughter. All pregnant females, regardless of whether they test positive for brucellosis, will be shipped to slaughter. All other buffalo testing positive will be shipped to slaughter.
Needs, an 18 year old student at Boise State University in Idaho, said she, "Feel(s) so deeply moved by the plight of the buffalo and so impressed by the urgency of the cause that I am determined to see this killing end. It's not acceptable and I want people to be aware of what is going on out here. I am willing to offer my voice as the voice of the buffalo and my body as a protest to their continued slaughter".
There are no cows on Horse Butte until June. All of these cows winter in Idaho, and are currently vaccinated against brucellosis. The summer grazing on Horse Butte amounts to 172 cow/calf pairs being present from June 15th through October. This grazing allotment brings in less than $800 to the U.S. Treasury.
"This is a war that defies all logic, and the buffalo are the victims," stated Sue Nackoney, Buffalo Nations spokesperson. "The agencies in charge of bison management are making a mockery of public opinion by insisting upon using tax dollars for killing more of Yellowstone's buffalo, all in the name of 172 cattle who are not even here in the winter."
Of the 65,000 public comments submitted on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for long-term bison management, the majority were not in support of government policies of trapping migrating buffalo. The decision to build the capture facility will commit resources to a 10 year plan, although management agencies have not yet decided upon an action alternative from the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for long term bison management. Only the government's preferred action alternative includes plans for building a capture facility on Horse Butte.
"Buffalo Nations will be here as long as it takes to remove the DOL as overseers of wildlife and until the buffalo are given the freedom they deserve," stated Mike Mease of Buffalo Nations.
Video and photographs available upon request.
Buffalo Nations
PO Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070 phone
406-646-0071 fax
buffalo@wildrockies.org