The Montana Farm Bureau Federation is sending out the following request to counter a national campaign by out of state interests to dictate bison policy in Montana. Be sure that Montana and the landowners who will be impacted voices are heard.
The National Parks Conservation Association is currently petitioning people to send a letter to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and President Obama urging them to finish a bison Conservation Plan by 2016 to provide more 'open land' for bison coming out of Yellowstone National Park (YNP). We encourage you all to send a message to Secretary Jewell and the Obama Administration offering input and facts as they pertain to agriculture.
Please take a moment to read the following information and then send your own message to Secretary Jewell and the Obama Administration. The form letter the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) is asking people to send has several inaccuracies that we would like our members to correct:
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· Bison are not simply 'rounded up and shipped to slaughter'. They are shipped to processing facilities for two reasons. 1. Bison in YNP are infected with Brucellosis and when they continually migrate out of the Park they risk infecting domestic cattle herds. If they are to simply return to the park they increase exposure of other bison to Brucellosis. 2. The population of bison in YNP is severely over objective and with a very restrictive hunting season, the only other option is to cull some of the herd.
· There is not more available room for bison to roam. The NPCA letter leads the reader to believe that bison have available land to migrate to outside of YNP. While that might be true, it is only because of the retirement of numerous Forest Service grazing allotments. Additionally, in Montana, much of the land that is near YNP is private property and those landowners should not be responsible for bearing the burden of a mismanaged bison population.
· We support using the best available science when creating a conservation plan. The National Academy of Science's Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources is in the initial phases of a study on Brucellosis in YNP. This board is made of up of an elite, intelligent panel of the nation's top researchers in animal science, veterinary medicine, and wildlife biology, among others. YNP officials have indicated they do not intend to wait for the results of the study and instead want to forge ahead using their own research and science to create the conservation plan.
It is with this information in mind that we created the sample letter you will find by following the link below. You can send the letter as it is, or if you have a few moments please edit it to include your opinions and expertise.
Click the link below to log in and send your message:
https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/c4jtY4tiMx4VRy9Rf4G_6Q
Source: Montana Farm Bureau Federation
