Bison Written by Karl Puckett Tribune Staff Writer FILED UNDER News Local News Fort Belknap Wildlife Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone bison were released into a 1,000 acre pasture on the Fort Belknap Reservation on Thursday. Purchase ImageZOOM Yellowstone bison were released into a 1,000 acre pasture on the Fort Belknap Reservation on Thursday. / TRIBUNE PHOTO/RION SANDERS More Tribal members with land abutting a new bison pasture at Fort Belknap say they’re not celebrating the return of genetically pure bison to the reservation. They worry about the big animals getting loose and causing property damage or spreading disease. And they argue tribal officials didn’t talk to them when the land was chosen as the location of the bison pasture, which should have occurred considering its proximity to their land. The reservation’s bison manager said he was disheartened to hear the complaints but that the landowners were not overlooked. “Everybody sees it as, ‘Home on the range, buffalo are back,’ yet that’s not really the realistic view of it,” said Mike McCabe, a Gros Ventre and Assiniboine who worries about the bison’s impact on his cattle ranch. “They still have to be taken care of.” Fort Belknap Fish and Wildlife released 34 bison into a 1,000-acre pasture surrounded by an 8-foot-tall fence Thursday before a cheering crowd, but McCabe, 55, who runs 125 head of cattle, wasn’t there. His land, located on the south side of the bison pasture, includes acreage he owns and leases from Fort Belknap. “It’s something they pretty much stuffed down our throats and we have to go with it because they’re the council,” McCabe said. Tribal officials have emphasized that the bison recently tested negative for brucellosis, but McCabe worries cattle sales will suffer anyway with bison around. Brucellosis is one of the most serious livestock diseases and can cause pregnant cows to miscarry. McCabe also says he’s concerned about bison escaping the enclosure and eating his hay. Animals from the tribe’s existing commercial herd of 500 have escaped before, he said. Leta Calvin, who ranches on the west side of the bison pasture, also has concerns. She temporarily blocked access to the pasture by the tribe earlier Thursday, before the bison were released. She has right-of-way over land that eventually was used to access the bison pasture. She put up no trespassing signs. “Nobody ever came and talked to me,” Calvin said. “Then they realized it was serious and I wasn’t going to let them push me around.” Council members eventually came out and spoke to her and Calvin granted temporary right-of-way so the bison could be unloaded and the celebration could ensue. She says she likely will work out an agreement with the tribe. It rubbed her the wrong way that tribal officials didn’t speak to her sooner about the location of the bison pasture and later the access. “It’s kind of sneaky the way they went around it,” she said. Mark Azure, who heads the tribe’s bison program, said the right-of-way issue was an oversight and that tribal officials will be speaking with Calvin on Tuesday in hopes of reaching a long-term agreement. Workers began erecting the fence last year, and were using the access multiple times a day for two to three months, but didn’t hear a complaint until Wednesday evening, the night before the bison were unloaded, he said. In agreements with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Fort Belknap and Fort Peck reservations are accepting bison from Yellowstone National Park as part of efforts to preserve genetically pure bison in the state. Last year, 70 bison free of cattle genes were transplanted first to Fort Peck. On Thursday, 35 of those animals were trucked from Fort Peck to Fort Belknap and released. One bison broke a leg during loading and was later put down, Azure said. Azure said he isn’t expecting the bison to cause much property damage. The animals are disease-free, he added. “Heck, we just tested them last week and they tested negative and they weren’t just tested once, they were tested four different ways, from what I understand,” Azure said. Under the agreement with FWP, regular disease testing is required. Calvin and McCabe said they’re not against having the bison in the pasture if the tribe can assure them that they won’t escape and that they will be well cared for, but they’re not hopeful. Azure said the tribe is doing the best it can to ensure the animals don’t escape with the new 8-foot-tall fence that was erected. Calvin and McCabe say tribal members are split on the return of bison to the reservation. “There’s a lot of people who support this and a lot of people who don’t,” Calvin said. Azure said residents were informed about the bison pasture either directly or indirectly, long before they were released last week. The land where the pasture is located is owned by the tribe, he said. “Tribal members are allowed to go and address the Tribal Council if they have concerns or questions about anything, not just buffalo, anything in particular that may cause them alarm,” Azure said. “Were they overlooked? I don’t believe they were.” Some residents, he said, “just don’t like what’s happening.” McCabe says he’s upset because tribal officials released the bison without talking to him about it and the potential impacts, or assuring him he has nothing to worry about. He said he started his ranch with one cow, building it to the current size of 125. “And that quick they made a decision that could cut my throat in one year,” he said. “I want everybody to know not all of us was for the buffalo.”
Posted on: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 14:31:49 +0000
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