Yellowstone's Bison, Horse Butte, and A Baseless Lawsuit
Posted August 5, 2009 in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Yesterday, oral arguments were presented before a Montana district court judge in the Montana Stockgrowers Association's lawsuit against the State of Montana over bison management on the Horse Butte peninsula in Montana. The Stockgrowers Association and two Montana cattle ranchers sued Montana last May, seeking a court judgment requiring Montana to haze bison off Horse Butte earlier in the spring.
Because Horse Butte is cattle-free year-round (and thus no risk of brucellosis transmission from wild bison to cattle exists whatsoever) and the landowners there welcome bison (and don't welcome government agents trampling their property rights with helicopters, ATVs, horses, and snowmobiles to needlessly haze bison), NRDC, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and eight Horse Butte residents intervened in the lawsuit to oppose the Stockgrowers' baseless position. We are represented by Earthjustice
Horse Butte is unique in the world of Yellowstone's bison management. It's a large peninsula that borders Yellowstone National Park on its eastern end, juts west into Hebgen Lake, and is surrounded by Hebgen Lake's waters to the north, south, and west. No cattle graze on Horse Butte at any point in the year. Never.
As such, there is no threat of brucellosis transmission on the peninsula and bison should be welcome there -- to move freely back and forth between Horse Butte and Yellowstone -- all year round. Shockingly, they're not (May 15 is the "management" deadline), which is why Horse Butte has become the poster child for frustration with the Interagency Bison Management Plan.
The Montana Stockgrowers Association and the two Montana ranchers filed this lawsuit to protect cattle that literally do not exist. Neither rancher runs cattle on Horse Butte; it's cattle-free year-round.
Hence the quote from the Stockgrowers Association's lawyer in today's newspaper story on yesterday's argument is misleading:
John Bloomquist, a lawyer for the Stockgrowers Association and ranchers, said local ranchers could be devastated if bison are given more leeway in southern Gallatin County.
"We have two livestock producers...whose herds, whose livelihoods and whose economic viability, whose entire operation, is at risk if the Department of Livestock does not properly manage bison," Bloomquist argued in court.
That's just not true -- because neither livestock producer grazes cattle on Horse Butte. Both ranchers lease land elsewhere for their cattle.
There are no conflicts on Horse Butte, which is why bison should be allowed there year-round -- and why NRDC, GYC, and eight Horse Butte residents intervened in this unnecessary lawsuit.
Let's stop wasting the time, resources, and taxpayer dollars on a peninsula devoid of cows. It's time for Horse Butte to become year-round bison habitat and for all the stakeholders involved to move on to other areas in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem where cattle (and trickier management issues) actually exist.
