Comment from Hersey, Rene

Hello USFW. Thanks for making this comment period possible. It is, however, very late. I hope that you will be swift in listing Yellowstone Bison to the ESL. <br/>I support Alternative 3: <br/>Lethal management, including hunting must stop until the population rebounds.<br/>Stop the &quot;dispersal&quot; programs and quarantine, and Bison Conservation Transfer Program. <br/>Manage them for a sustainable population size for each genetically distinct sub-population and for the Yellowstone Bison as a whole.<br/><br/>Yellowstone Bison have not recovered and without listing under the ESL they never will. The threats to the Yellowstone Bison are extensive. I am gutted to have seen in photos and heard from friends living near Gardiner, MT the reports of this past winters slaughter of our indigenous Yellowstone herd of Bison. I saw the blood streaming like a small river in the snow and the unborn babies left on the land. The idea of mother Bison leaving the north boundary of YNP to try to preserve their families in one of the deepest snows &amp; worst winters in a very long time only to be gunned down in an ambush style hunt is a memory I cannot get out of my mind. <br/>The state of Montana &amp; Governor Gianforte&#39;s zero tolerance policies driving the lack of science-based coordination and the loss of data-sharing between sovereign governments and of real-time policy decisions based upon herd resilience and genetic diversity which has caused a frenzy which our Bison cannot endure. <br/>Superintendent Cam Sholly &amp; lead biologist Chris Geremia pointed out at the last Interagency Bison Management Plan meeting that there is every indication that the population will expand naturally to 10,000 or more. Geremia presented science disproving the livestock lobbies claims that the Park is being overgrazed by Bison, showing instead that the grazed areas are far healthier and more resilient than the areas where Bison have not had the opportunity to graze. Wild migratory Bison now live on less than !% of their ancestral home ranges. Bison need more habitat flexibility outside the boundaries of the Park including being free to migrate onto Bison friends private lands. But Montana&#39;s Livestock partners refuse to listen. Bison will never be able to live healthy lives if Governor Gianforte and the MT Dept. Of Livestock continue to make the rules for our Bison. Law #MCA 81-2-120 must be repealed, the Dept. of Livestock are incompatible with protecting, preserving Bison. This species has suffered continual prejudice and cruelty under their authority.<br/>While the park service intends to honor the treaty rights by the tribes, more and more tribes want Bison. Sholly said future conflicts could be prevented w simple acknowledgment of the biological and ecological need for Bison migration.<br/>Excessive hunting along Yellowstone&#39;s North and West boundaries which blocks migration to their ancestral habitat, prevents restoration and results in many pregnant females being killed. Bison need safe migration bridges along dangerous highways, particularly Hwy 191 which cuts right thru critical migration corridor in MT Hebgen Basin.<br/><br/>Cattle being prioritized over our indigenous Bison and fencing prevents natural corridors to critical habitat. Cattle spread disease in their feces and their hooves destroy the native plants. With drought the quality of the grasses suffers and more habitat is essential for the Bison to eat enough nutritious food.<br/><br/>Please make it a priority to dispel the myths that Bison spread brucellosis when it was cattle which brought this bacterial disease to Yellowstone.<br/>I recall Chris Geremia stating in a zoom webinar last year that by removing the placenta, there was no way for Bison to transmit the disease. Please educate the public on this fact and that there have been no documented cases of Bison transmitting this disease directly to cattle.<br/><br/>Please don&#39;t allow another winter kill and the Winter Operations Plan. The IBMP has failed the Bison completely.<br/>The reason we visit Yellowstone annually is to feel what an intact ecosystem looks and feels like. What will the park be if the Bison, Wolves, Grizzlies and Lions are all hunted to the extreme as Governor Gianforte is advocating for when he wants to limit the Bison to below 3,000, and allowing the killing of Yellowstone Wolves and now he wants to delist Grizzlies of the GYE, who also have not recovered their populations pre-contact, and are isolated on islands without the possibility of migrations if the Governor and MTFWP succeed in delisting the species.<br/><br/>Listing the Yellowstone Bison is the least we can do protect what is left of this magnificent umbrella species.<br/><br/>