Greetings!
In the struggle to protect private property in Montana, the bison are being used as the weapon of choice by Defenders of Wildlife and their state and federal collaborating agencies. The newest attack proposal is included in the EA for expanding year round bison range both North and West outside Yellowstone Park.
The notice of the EA and comment period is below:
Dear Interested Citizen: July 2013 Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) and Montana Department of Livestock invite the public to comment on the Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) on the evaluation of the proposal of Yellowstone National Park bison accessing habitat year-round that is adjacent to or near the border of the Park. Copies of the EA can be obtained at the FWP regional headquarters in Bozeman and FWP's headquarters in Helena or by viewing FWP's Inter�net website at http://fwp.mt.gov (click on "Public Notices"). Public comments will be accepted by FWP until 5pm on August 13, 2013. Comments can be submitted via regular mail to FWP Attn: Bison Habitat, 1400 S 19th Ave., Bozeman MT 59718, or emailed to [email protected]. In the EA, on page 108 under "Collaborators", there is only one name not affiliated with being a government agency. That name is the Defenders of Wildlife. Is a radical, non-profit, environmental group now running our government agencies? The EA states on page 16 under 1.5, "Decision to be Made" , the final decision will be made by the FWP and DOL. How can the FWP and DOL make a decision for use of federally managed public lands when this change of use would be a significant change and require the federal management agency to complete a review under NEPA. MEPA is not sufficient in the review of a significant change in use to federally managed land and as such must not be held as a stand alone document. Because of the impacts associated with introduction of bison into areas of the Gallatin Canyon which are managed by the Forest Service, a NEPA analysis conducted by the Forest Service is required. One of the issues briefly addressed in the FWP EA (page 47) is the presence of recreation in the Taylor Fork and Buck Creek areas. The EA fails to adequately consider bison impacts to these two areas of the Gallatin which are designated for winter snowmobile activity and contribute more than 20 million dollars annually (according to FWP statistics). The EA mentions the Forest Service may want to evaluate continued snowmobile use and other recreational activities in these areas and possibly remove these opportunities.
The EA was prepared by 3 FWP biologists as listed on page 109 of the EA.
CBU encourages our members and supporters to submit comments on this ill conceived project. The Forest Service must conduct a NEPA analysis on this proposal. | 