What’s the problem?
The mass slaughter of Yellowstone Bison which migrate out of Yellowstone during the winter months.
What is Beattie Gulch?
Beattie Gulch serves as a small bottleneck piece of land between the Yellowstone River and the Gallatin Range of the Rocky Mountains. Several species, including bison, consolidate here as they leave Yellowstone. This is also the primary spot that many people call “The Killing Fields.” The “Killing Fields” are in the vicinity of residential homes, posing a risk to Bison and locals alike. Source
This is a Slaughter
This video shows raw footage from the 2019 and 2020 bison slaughter at Beattie Gulch. Legal violations are included in this recording. View discretion is advised. This video includes footage of bison being shot. For press inquires and usage requests, please email us at yellowstonevoices@gmail.com.
What’s so bad about that?
Mass slaughter of any wild animal is a huge issue that should be addressed directly. Being both a national mammal as well as having the same genes as the very first wild bison, these animals are exceptional and need to be protected. Although the genes are in the bison that migrate out of Yellowstone, they are also in the bison that do not migrate. Killing the migrating bison prevents the genes from expanding and risks some contagion killing all of the bison in Yellowstone, and that would destroy the genome. The horror arises from taking an unnecessary risk with the bison’s genome instead of diversifying the risks.
The quarantine program, which moves Yellowstone wild bison from Yellowstone to Native American reservations, sounds like a good idea. We applaud the efforts to move bison to tribes, and we consistently stand firm with the tribes in encouraging the federal and state agencies to restore and facilitate their traditional cultural practices involving bison. The quarantine program, however, ultimately fails to accomplish those goals effectively and fails to help the bison. It saves only a couple dozen bison each year while hunters kill several hundred bison each year. It can never expand enough to save the bison from the slaughter. It takes 3 years for bison to go through the program and only about 30 per year are transferred to Native Americans. It’s inconsequential compared to the number slaughtered each year - Several hiccups have occurred within the past few years including the illegal release of wild Bison. These programs also require large amounts of money and time to execute. Source
So What’s Our Plan?
As a policy, we’re asking the Yellowstone Park Service to adjust the management approach to advance the interests of all members of the public. We share the belief with the Park Service that “Current conditions present an opportunity to manage bison similar to other wildlife in suitable areas.” The time for that idea to flourish has come. Below you will see a few of our points.
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Increase the number of Yellowstone wild bison to Yellowstone National Park's summer vegetation carrying capacity
We’re encouraging the National park service to increase the number of wild bison in Yellowstone to the carrying capacity of the summer vegetation. The time has come to treat bison like any other wildlife species. Indeed, the Park Service has already recognized that objective and opportunity:
If the American public, and particularly people in the Greater Yellowstone Area, want wild bison living relatively unfettered outside preserves, current conditions present an opportunity to manage bison similar to other wildlife in suitable areas. Decades of management have shown there are relatively few conflicts between bison, cattle, residents, and the millions of visitors each year to the area (White et al. 2015b). When conflicts occur, they can be promptly dealt with through appropriate fencing, hazing, hunting, and other management actions. The challenge is to move from inflexible disputes regarding governance issues to developing collaborative management agreements that address conflicts and solve problems with adequate funding, staff, and support. Only then will the national mammal be accepted as a wildlife species on more public lands outside parks and refuges, which will facilitate bison recovery, improve public and treaty hunting opportunities, enhance local and regional economies, and enrich the experiences of most residents and visitors (White et al. 2015b).
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Brucellosis no longer justifies containing wild bison in Yellowstone and Zone 2 like a cattle ranch.”
During the first scoping meeting, Chris Geremia stated that the Park Service is completing this EIS, in part, because the National Academy of Sciences concluded that elk, and not bison, present the greatest danger of spreading brucellosis to cattle. USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) also recognized that back in May 2017. FS9808.
In addition, the Park Service is completing this EIS because, in 2014, AHPIS relaxed its guidelines for revoking states' brucellosis class free designation by allowing states to contain the brucellosis using "a science-based, designated surveillance area approach that addresses disease risk more effectively than the geopolitical, State-based approach we had previously used." Brucellosis Class Free States and Certified Brucellosis-Free Herds; Revisions to Testing and Certification Requirements, 79 Fed. Reg. 66,591, 66,592 (Nov. 10, 2014) ("when a Class Free State or area maintains all affected herds under quarantine and applies adequate measures within the State to detect and prevent the spread of brucellosis, including from infected wildlife, APHIS does not believe it is necessary to reclassify the State or area to a lower status or to restrict the interstate movement of all cattle and bison from the State or area in order to prevent the interstate spread of brucellosis."). Of course, maintaining class free status motivated the form and structure of the 2000 Record of Decision. FS4205; FS6655 (Montana Record of Decision).
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Overlapping jurisdictions-not balkanized jurisdictions-characterize Beattie Gulch hunting regulations.
The Park Service has expressed that it feels constrained by the paradigm here. Only a robust understanding of the legal authorities, obligations, and the Park Service's broad control of Yellowstone wild bison can illuminate a new paradigm. NEPA regulations, of course, require the Park Service to analyze "[p]ossible conflicts between the proposed action and the objectives of Federal, regional, State, and local (and in the case of a reservation, Indian tribe) land use plans, policies and controls for the area concerned." 40 C.F.R. §§ 1502.16, 1506.2(d). The legal disagreements have pervaded wild bison management and have led to difficult conversations. See NPS7892 ("The Park Service recognized that "persistent disputes among federal, state, and tribal agencies regarding issues related to authority, priorities, and sovereignty ... impede efforts by the [Park Service] to recover bison across a larger landscape and treat them more like other wildlife (as wanted by the majority of the public).").
Why is the slaughter at Beattie Gulch a problem?
The general conservation community as well as tribal interests would like to see bison allowed to roam on larger landscapes. The hunt happening at Beattie Gulch right as the bison leave the park does not allow this to happen. The State of Montana, however, is okay with this because they really don’t want bison outside of the national park, so Montana would rather the Yellowstone wild bison be slaughtered as soon as they step foot out of Yellowstone.
What is dangerous about Beattie Gulch?
The slaughter at Beattie Gulch causes many people to be shooting high-powered rifles from different directions in a small area.
Why aren’t Bison managed the same way as deer, elk, and other grazing animals?
Livestock owners don’t want bison competing with cattle over grazing lands. Federal agencies, like the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, have multiple-use missions. When those agencies start designating areas for bison to live and graze, that will only decrease the volume of land available for the livestock industry. Right now, the livestock industry receives subsidized grazing rights on public lands—cheaper grazing on federal land than they could rent private land from private individuals. That not only competes with private landowners but overgrazes federal lands.
Is Yellowstone National Park at “carrying capacity” for bison?
The National Park Service has not identified Yellowstone National Park’s carrying capacity for bison.
The year-to-year carrying capacity is less important than the year-round carrying capacity. Bison migrate, so a bison population at summer carrying capacity leads to bison migrating in search of more food during the winter as food becomes more scarce. Then, they return to Yellowstone in the summer. Carrying capacity is a word of too many meanings because it depends on many variables.
Why is this such a complex issue?
There are so many different values when it comes to preserving wild animals. Those who want to eliminate bison or keep them all in Yellowstone National Park are not working to compromise and find a common ground.
How can I get on the list to help out culling the bison
You can write or call the managing agency Montana FWP and let them know you’d like to apply to hunt public bison on public lands in Montana. Make sure to tell them you’d like more bison on public lands to increase your chances of harvesting one! https://fwp.mt.gov/aboutfwp/contact-us
