Comment from Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Bozeman Broadband

Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Bozeman BroadbandSupportAdvocacy

Summary: The commenter, representing Great Old Broads for Wilderness and the Gallatin Wildlife Association, supports the listing of the Yellowstone bison to protect them from extinction and habitat loss. They argue that the federal government must assert supremacy over state agencies to ensure bison conservation and criticize the current management practices of the State of Montana and the U.S. Forest Service.

For twelve years, I have been volunteer leader of Great Old Broads for Wilderness in Bozeman MT. Great Old Broads is a national organization that utilizes the voices of elder women and others to fight for protection of public lands, and especially wilderness quality roadless lands and native wildlife. I am also a Board member of Gallatin Wildlife Association, a non-profit devoted to advocating for wildlife of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. In my capacity as a full-time volunteer conservationist, I have followed and observed relevant issues, visited the locations affected by threats to bison diversity and attended agency meetings of Interagency Bison Management Team. I have written letters and communicated with the public, other conservation groups, and federal and state officials on the topic of restoration of wild bison on suitable grasslands in Montana. I have accompanied experts and forest service officials like Mary Erickson and MT FWP leaders on field trips to examine suitable habitat on lands bordering Yellowstone National Park, and advocated for greater tolerance by private landowners who have expressed objections in writing to tolerance of bison on lands adjacent to their private inholdings. In fact, I have personal knowledge of individuals landowners who have led the political battle being waged by private ranching interests to limit bison tolerance. I know stories of the personal hypocrisy of individual families who acquired lands in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) containing critical migratory corridors for bison movement, lands acquired by illegal representations that the lands were “homesteaded” by cattle ranchers many decades ago, when in fact, those lands never hosted any cattle. I know conservationists who worked to have those private lands donated back to the federal government, as critical habitat inside and adjacent to Yellowstone National Park, and I know the stories of how the current private landowner fought that effort. I have witnessed that landowner leading efforts to convince IBMT leaders that bison could not be tolerated near those private lands, and I have firsthand knowledge that the landowner in this case actively worked over the past decade to essentially privatize other federal lands in the vicinity, by spearheading a political effort to dissolve protections of the Hyalite Porcupine Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area from its historic status as what has been called by A. Murie “the clearest example of prime wilderness habitat in the lower 48 states.” These landowners have exerted undue influence on decision makers controlling Montana lands. There is in my mind no question that my ancestors, white settlers from Europe, were part of the systematic effort to eliminate Native American or Indigenous peoples from the lands in the western U.S., which was accomplished partly by destroying the ecosystem whereby bison provided sustenance to Indigenous cultures. I have personal stories about the last bison in areas of North Dakota where my ancestors gathered dung or ‘buffalo chips’ to burn in their homes for heating. For over a century, Americans have been taught to honor the settlers and pioneers who came from Europe to claim and exploit wild lands in the U.S. The cowboy culture is something I grew to admire as I was raised in rural South Dakota, just 30 miles from an Indian Reservation, a place we never ventured. That culture has in fact been one of conquest, exploitation, death and destruction across the globe. I have had the privilege of traveling on many continents and seen the devastation of native forests and wildlife that have followed European colonial conquest. At this time, our planet is facing a crisis as extinction of native species accelerates. We are already past a tipping point toward the Sixth Mass Extinction, and large mammals like bison will be doomed along with carnivores like grizzly bear and wolves. The irony is that we have declared the bison our “national mammal” and yet we as a nation kill these dignified animals as soon as they leave park boundaries. I contend that the State of Montana and Department of Livestock are controlled by a monied minority of business interests, and do not represent the people of Montana or America in general. The federal government is long overdue to assert the supremacy that is theirs by law over State agencies. The study by Dr. Martin Nie, “Debunking the Myth of State Supremacy” (2017) makes it clear that the federal government must lead. Bison genetics are threatened by domestication in private herds. The Refuge Act requires action. The State of Montana’s intolerance for wild bison in the state. Yellowstone National Park’s trapping bison for slaughter operations - ongoing since 1996 and the single largest source of mortality. The U.S. Forest Service’s land management plan excluding bison from substantial portions of the migratory species’ National Forest range and habitat.

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