Restoration of wild bison will require large landscapes. Photo George Wuerthner
Bison were critical ecosystem influences on grasslands of North America, particularly in the Great Plains “bison belt.” They provided prey or carrion for wolves, grizzlies, other smaller predators and scavengers, and food for humans. In addition, bison grazing patterns influenced vegetation […]
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Bison herd. Photo George Wuerthner
Many authors today suggest that Indigenous people somehow behaved differently from other humans, particularly western culture that now dominates the globe in their relationship and exploitation of natural lands. The general theme is that while the human influence pre-European contact was significant, human exploitation was tempered […]
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The Six Mile North drainage is currently vacant, but the FS proposes grazing the allotment. It was burned by the Emigrant Fire but grasslands are robust. Photo by George Wuerthner
Below are my comments concerning the expansion of grazing of the East Paradise Grazing Allotments. This is some of the most […]
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Due to gross similarities in size, food preference, and appearance, it is often asserted that bison and domestic cattle are ecological analogs. However, a review of their evolutionary history demonstrates that they have significant differences in evolutionary pressures that manifest themselves in strikingly different modes of resource exploitation.
Compared to domestic cattle, bison wander […]
Continue Reading →State, federal and tribal representatives voted again to slaughter 600-900 Yellowstone Park bison this winter. The agencies and tribes use the less offensive sounding euphemism “cull”. But let’s be honest, what happens is nothing more than butchery done to appease the livestock industry.
It is shameful that these agencies and tribes legitimize the annual […]
Continue Reading →The threat from House Bill 132
By Jim Bailey
A proposed apparently minor addition to the legal definition of “wild bison” in Montana could eliminate all possibilities for restoring public, wild bison to the state. This seemingly innocent change exists in House Bill 132 which, as of this writing, has passed the Montana House and […]
Continue Reading →The spectacularly glaciated Gallatin Range stretches south from Bozeman into Yellowstone National Park. The 250,000-acre roadless area is the largest unprotected wildlands left in the northern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
WILDLIFE VALUES
The Buffalohorn and Porcupine drainages (BHP) that drain into the Gallatin River near Big Sky, Montana are a miniature ecological equivalent of the Lamar […]
Continue Reading →DID YOU KNOW?
The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has funneled $10,381,534 in taxpayer money for the Montana Dept. of Livestock to enforce Mont. Code Ann. § 81-2-120.
Wildlife biologists recognize wild buffalo are vulnerable to “extinction or extirpation” in Montana and are listed as […]
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By Stephany Seay, Darrell Geist, and Ken Cole
A female buffalo separated from her family group who will all be killed, is held in a sorting pen at Yellowstone’s Stephens Creek buffalo trap, where she waits before being loaded onto a stock trailer that will take her to the slaughter […]
Continue Reading →The 4th Annual Speak for Wolves will take place on July 27-29, 2017 in the Historic Union Pacific Dining Lodge in West Yellowstone, Montana. This annual wildlife advocacy conference in the heart of Yellowstone is a family-friendly event featuring guest speakers, live music, food, poetry, book readings, panel discussions and a field trip. […]
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