This week it cost me $40 to fill up my car with gas. That got me to thinking…how much does it cost to fuel up a helicopter?

Quite a leap, I know, but I have been reading press reports about the continued hazing of buffalo both inside and outside Yellowstone National Park this week. Wildlife officials are chasing down our last free-ranging herds with quite an array of conveyances. ATVs, horses, and even a helicopter. A helicopter? Really?

One of the saddest things about all this is how completely unnecessary it is---truly a boondoggle for tax payers (both state and federal). Right now, $3 million annually is spent on the Interdepartmental Bison Management Plan (IBMP). NRDC, Buffalo Field Campaign and Gallatin Wildlife Association called on Governor Schweitzer and IBMP managers not to waste time and taxpayers dollars harassing the buffalo west of the park. In many areas, there is just no reason. The issues that create conflicts with buffalo don’t exist in a lot of areas---no cattle and landowners who welcome them. So what’s the deal? Why are we spending all the cash?

In the coming weeks, you can expect to see some long-term solutions proposed to this national embarrassment by NRDC and our partners in the region. Just like other nagging wildlife problems in the area, the issues here are complicated and will require the needs of all parties to be sorted out. Let’s get out the maps and see if we can make the buffalo corridors that already exist work for everyone. Let’s take a fresh look at brucellosis and see if more reasonable policies can be hashed out. And let’s figure out how to lessen the burden on taxpayers---there are inexpensive solutions (like our proposal for Horse Butte which was FREE).

It is long past time for IBMD administrators to sit down and fulfill their obligation to truly manage one of America’s most iconic natural resources. If they won’t do it, we will lead the way.

Incidentally, AvGas goes for about $4.77/gallon in Montana and that chopper probably only gets a bit over three miles to the gallon… At 10 hours, for weeks at a time? Well, you do the math… To me, it adds up to a monumental waste.