Out of the Mouths of Board of Livestock and APHIS...

[katqanna]

I went to the Board of Livestock meeting on Tuesday because they were going to be discussing the Bison EA, according to their agenda. I am learning that even the "Miscellaneous Animal Health Updates" are important as this one dealt with the Elk Brucellosis program and the Elk Surveillance program. I took audio and made notes for y'all.

Out of the mouths of MT Board of Livestock & APHIS... the APHIS Brucellosis Eradication Agenda, to eradicate brucellosis in wildlife, is alive and well and in Montana!
The March 18, 2014 Board of Livestock Meeting in Helena with Audio File and Minutes
Discussed was the Bison EA Expanded Habitat, which the BOL had previously voted No Action on in January. But, seeing an opportunity to force the Yellowstone National Park to lethally reduce their bison population numbers to 3000, in exchange for expanded habitat for the lucky few that might survive, the DOL and FWP worked up a lethal population deal, that was presented to the BOL on March 18th, which NWF and other conservation/hunters were privy to late Feb. and early March.

Personally, sacrificing hundreds or thousands of bison, so that a few can enter Montana, just so that you can say that you are doing something, is bull$hit!

In my opinion, the most important aspect of this meeting was when BOL John Scully grilled APHIS Veterinary Services, Dr. Tom Linfield about numerous documents which I researched this last spring and summer, compiled on the APHIS Brucellosis Eradication Agenda Page.

Scully asked if they were still current and active, which Dr. Linfield replies that they are. These documents - Code of Federal Regulations, Interim Rule, APHIS Strategic Plan 2010-2015 and their Concept Paper 2009, all state the goals of APHIS to eradicate brucellosis, not just from livestock in the US, but also from all wildlife reservoirs, especially their target of the GYA. This is what is driving the MT DOL actions against the bison and now the elk, in MT. This APHIS strategy, through the Brucellosis Class Free Status, forced the State to agree to a Brucellosis Management Plan. This is how they got control of our Fish, Wildlife & Parks concerning elk, bison and the peripheral predator issues, forcing the "unholy marriage", as FWP Pat Flowers put it, of FWP and DOL. DOL's Christian MacKay laughed and said he liked to refer to it as a "shotgun wedding". Well I guess when you are the one benefitting from the bloody shotgun to someone elses head, it doesnt look so "unholy" to you. APHIS is the driver of this eradication agenda in the 3 GYA states. Sadly, my mind can easily visualize a political cartoon of this.

Also discussed was the Elk Brucellosis Working Group in Paradise Valley modifications and the Elk Surveillance study. More elk have tested positive for antibodies, so the DOL will be expanding the Designated Surveillance Area and with it APHIS/DOL control.

Outlawing feral swine in Montana was also proposed, supported by a number of stakeholders that came to speak on that issue.

 

[twodot]

Kat, I just finished reading your above posted minutes from the BOL meeting. I just want to thank you for the tireless work that you are doing in these areas. I am slowly catching up on the abuses that MT Sportsmen and wildlife are subjected to in many instances. You obviously have the energy, passion, and verbal skills to take some of these politically driven snakes in the grass, to the woodshed.
Keep it up, don't let off for a minute, you are making a difference.
twodot

 

[What Map]

Thanks again for your research. I appreciate your work.

 

[katqanna]

Twodot and What Map, thanks for taking the time to check into this.

Was feeling snarky about this issue this morning, so I played around with a cartoon. Used to draw these when I was in Junior High and wee bit in High School. Havent done it on a computer before, so I was doing some borging from a base image since I still havent replaced my scanner. It is a hell of alot faster by hand. Maybe I need to invest in a drawing pad.

 

[Big Foot]

Kat,

Like the other before, thanks for dedication to this issue. I read through your minutes and referenced them in some comments made to one of the Region 3 CAC members. I really appreciate you keeping this in the forefront as we cannot allow ourselves to take our eye off the ball with this issue. I have also written FWP in response to the Paradise Valley Working Group recommendations with the help of information forwarded by you. Thank You!

 

[cowboy]

Kat:
As the above have said: Thank you.

If you were a betting woman with the way things stand today and what you know, would you hazard a guess how this mess would play out - or is it to soon to say?

 

[What Map]

Great cartoon, but a riding quirt AND spurs?!

If not an unholy marriage, certainly kinky!

 

[katqanna]

Bigfoot, Cowboy, thank you. Based on forwarded emails of comments, discussions with hunter groups, the hunters are becoming aware of what is going on and weighing in - which is great. Will it be enough to overcome what has been done in secret in Montana? I dont know yet, but I am not letting up. Does our governor have the fortitude to stand up to APHIS/MT DOL? Gov. Rosicot (R), furious at what APHIS did, called them out in public news papers. Judy Martz (R + ranching) went right along with them. Schweitzer (D), threatened publicly to not sign the damn agreement, but finally capitulated. Bullock (D) seems to have a DOL writer for his canned emails he sends out. This is not a party issue, it is a special interest ag/livestock issue. The big question is, is that special interest ag/livestock domination, that represents at most (based on USDA's funny math) 12% (5% owners, hires 7%) of the MT population, going to keep running roughshod over the rest of the MT population and as far as FWP/wildlife is concerned, the sportsmen of MT?

The problem here is that because of the Brucellosis Management Plan that APHIS forces the governors to sign on to and the governor directs the agencies and they have been advising the FWP commissioners, I dont know if a thousand public comments will outweigh the politics of this issue.

In addition, the ranchers have been passing around the public comments aspect as well, as the BOL meeting showed, they have added their comments to the pool. Their money and politics have dominated for, well, as long as I can see in this states history.

If FWP Commission does right by the sportsmen and wildlife, it will be declined. But I, and a growing number of other hunters, have been pointing out, beginning about a year now, what the laws are, the fact that no public access has been required in this program, that it needs an environmental review to even operate and they have turned a blind eye and deaf ear. I have been referred to attorneys, gotten the duplicate data to them, everything is there for litigation. Meanwhile, I have been getting all this info to administrators and the commission, even the governors office. Yet nothing has been done to remedy this situation.

Why should it take a lawsuit, wasting even more sportsmens dollars, when major wastes of our dollars have recently been exposed and FWP needs money to operate, to manage our wildlife, to purchase public lands, increase habitat forage, pay the FWP employees well so that we dont lose well trained people to other higher paying jobs so they can survive economically, etc? Why should I be forced to this course of action to get them to do the right thing?

Is it because FWP is not in charge of themselves and what I have been saying about APHIS/MT DOL controlling the governor and thereby Hagener/Helena FWP administrators is correct? In all the public comments and statements to the Commission, they have yet to even amend this program to require public hunter access for any hazing, kill permits, lethal removal "hunts" and stack fencing, as in Game Damage. Helena administrators like to blame it on the public Statewide Elk Brucellosis Working Group, but they did not know the regulations and to add it. A simple thing to protect FWP, sportsmens interests and dollars - and they have not done it.


On a lighter note, What Map, based on email responses to my editorial cartoon, FWP is getting some compliments on their ass and some good natured ribbing for the cartoon. I could not work in the electric cattle prod, guns and other "tools" that DOL has been using, to give a better idea of what FWP is up against from DOL, without making him look like a western combat soldier. Actually, that may be a good idea. I will edit the cartoon I have online.