Dick Forehand saw this bison calf be born long before sunrise at Yellowstone National Park.

Anti-Bison Bills Halted

This spring, NWF joined tribes, other sportsmen’s and conservation groups and wildlife advocates to defeat a barrage of anti-bison bills sponsored by Montana lawmakers.  The bills that didn’t die in the Legislature were vetoed by Gov. Steve Bullock. The bills could have blocked returning the bison to its home on the plains – to tribal lands and the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. The proposals ranged from a ban on transferring wild bison anywhere in Montana except the National Bison Range to a bill that would make the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks liable for any damage to private property by wild bison. Another would have allowed county commissioners to ban restoration of wild bison in their counties, even on tribal and federal lands.

Opponents rallied at the state Capitol in Helena to protest the bills. Leaders and members from five tribes participated in a peace-pipe ceremony on a bison hide in the center of the Capitol rotunda. Tribal leaders stressed that the bills reneged on commitments made in the last legislative session and, in some cases, threatened treaty rights. “They would starve our people of a vital cultural icon,’’ said Mark Azure, Fort Belknap’s director of Fish, Wildlife and Buffalo.

One of the worst of the anti-bison bills was killed after tens of thousands of you responded to appeals from NWF. The bill by State Senator John Brenden would have changed bison hunting regulations, allowed private landowners to shoot bison if they wandered onto their land, and prohibited the relocation of bison anywhere in the state, including the transfer of bison from Fort Peck to Fort Belknap as previously agreed upon by the tribes. Brenden recently remarked, “Why do you want to spread this creeping cancer, these woolly tanks, around the state of Montana?” This type of anti-wildlife rhetoric was also seen in House Bill 396, vetoed by Montana Governor Steve Bullock, that would have required county commissioner approval before any bison were relocated. Clearly, many more people see bison as an important wildlife species to be preserved and recognize their value to grassland ecosystems and other wildlife.

Governor Bullock vetoed the two remaining bison bills. Senate Bill 305 would have prohibited using bison that have ever been privately owned for restoration to other lands. Senate Bill 256 would have made Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks liable for any damages resulting from wild bison that had been relocated or released.

Historic Restoration of Bison to the Fort Peck Reservation

Last March marked a historic step forward in the campaign to restore wild bison when Yellowstone bison were released on the Fort Peck Reservation in eastern Montana.

Tribal members from Fort Peck and Fort Belknap, NWF staff, conservationists, and their supporters braved a cold, snowy night to watch as the animals bolted out of the trailers that had carried them 500 miles to their new home. It was a huge milestone in efforts to restore bison to the wild. The bison is the one large mammal driven to near extinction that hasn’t been re-established on the Western landscape.

Last year’s bison release on Fort Peck followed two decades of work by the tribes, conservation groups, and state and federal officials. The Yellowstone bison’s genetics date to an era when millions of bison roamed North America and were fundamental to Plains Indians’ physical, cultural and spiritual nourishment.

Yellowstone bison are special to the tribes because they are the last wild, free-ranging herd. For years, the tribes, NWF and other groups have urged that bison wandering out of  Yellowstone be transferred to tribal and federal lands rather than be gunned down because of fears they’ll spread the disease brucellosis to cattle. The disease can cause pregnant animals to abort, but there have been no confirmed cases of bison transmitting brucellosis to cattle. Bison transferred from Yellowstone have been quarantined and are brucellosis-free.

You Spoke and Montana’s Leaders Listened

NWF members and activists, and our tribal and conservation partners, stood up for bison, and the Montana legislature and Governor Bullock listened. With a swipe of his pen, Bullock demonstrated that he agrees with NWF that bison belong on Montana public and tribal lands, along with all the other wildlife that are crucial elements of the ecosystem, our heritage and culture.

TOGETHER, we killed the bad bills, and now bison have a new future in Montana. Join us as we continue to work with tribes to restore bison and find new homes for the bison on public lands.

The work will continue until bison return home – to tribal and public lands.

Bison and Calf

Photo by Flickr member East Wind

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In March, 2011, Paige Dedrick, Caroline Finn and Donata Lorenzo, students at Nichols School, an Eco-School in Buffalo, New York, participated in the Plastics Are Forever International Youth Summit in Long Beach, California. The symposium, sponsored by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, served as a forum for student groups to develop plans to fight the plastic epidemic at school and in their communities. Because plastics cannot be absorbed by the earth, they never disappear, but instead break down into little pieces that attract toxic materials and pollute our environment and food chain. Recently Paige reflected on her experience at the symposium and how it influenced the creation of Plasti-Gone, a Nichols School project that supports the Eco-Schools USA Consumption and Waste pathway.

Paige writes:

When I boarded the plane for Long Beach, I had a mental picture of what would comprise a “plastics symposium.” I expected to see pictures of albatrosses dead from plastic consumption and turtles mangled by plastic rings. There definitely were a few of those, but they are the very real result of our actions, and perhaps we should see those images to fully appreciate what we are fighting against, but they can be unpleasant and alienating. What I had not expected was to be greeted by a quintessential California surfer dude who had literally convinced thousands of investors to alter one small corner of the world. I had not expected to be told that being an environmental superhero should be energizing and satisfying.

“Do this work only if you can love it,” pronounced keynote speaker Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, Research Associate at California Academy of Sciences and founder/co-director of Ocean Revolution. It was a common theme throughout the weekend. I never imagined that people whose work is so important could so easily laugh at their own shortcomings. J. Nichols, who is easily among the most inspirational speakers I have ever heard, told us horrifying nightmare-stories about his early days of public speaking. Later, when our group was called upon to present our plan to the symposium, we could relate to his recollections of heavy blushing and sweating palms. We quickly learned that the first order of business if you hope to make a positive change in the world is to conquer stage fright.

I knew by the end of the first speech that my expectations of a doom and gloom conference were the antithesis of the seminar I was attending. Instead of dispirited environmentalists, exhausted from preaching the same message, the Plastics Are Forever (PAF) Youth Summit was chock-full of plastic-related-jokes (funnier than you might imagine), found plastic collections, and optimistic, animated compatriots. No one was lecturing the 100 students about how we were ruining the planet. No one was telling us that our earth was beyond repair. I expected to leave feeling just a little more desperate and prematurely haggard. I have never been so happy to be wrong before. I left PAF feeling completely capable and enthusiastic.

Sometimes, the high school dynamic can be disadvantageous for someone interested in sustainability. Remembering that re-usable water bottle is not always easy, and recycling the one you had to buy is not always convenient; for a community of busy and academically engaged students, convenience and ease take priority. At times I have found it discouraging that my peers and I are not always capable of accomplishing all that we should in the ‘green’ department. Nichols School’s sponsorship of our attendance at PAF forced me to realize how important this work is. Sure, trigonometry and French conjugations absolutely should be mastered, but I recognized that the duty of stewardship is just as vital. I know that I express the gratitude of all three of us for this incredible opportunity to learn from, as Caroline would put it, “important people [who] are saving the world.” We accept the implicit challenge, and we will endeavor to spread our passion throughout our student body.  We were given an enormous privilege and we plan to respond with accountability.

We are responsible for our planet because we live here and because we admire it. I think that sometimes we accept arguments of ease as valid because we forget how beautiful and generous the world is. “Live like you love the world, because you do,” was just one more brilliant phrase from J. Nichols. The PAF summit reinforced our camaraderie with the earth and with each other—the message heard over and over again was that friendship and understanding is the only way to combat this plastic plague. Emphasis was justly placed on the power of each person in the room to make a vast difference with just a little personal change. Saving the world is not as massive a proposition as we allow ourselves to think. With a little commitment and a lot of love it is practically already achievable.

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Plasti-Gone is a student-run initiative aimed at eliminating disposable plastic on school campuses. It connects schools in the Great Lakes region in a fight against disposable plastics. Each participating school signs the Plasti-Gone Pledge, and then takes steps outlined in the pledge to achieve a plastic free campus. There are three levels of achievement (albatross, sea turtle and seal) that a school can work toward.

Click here to learn more about the Plasti-Gone initiative.

I was at the hearings in Buffalo and Cleveland. National Wildlife Federation representatives will be at all of the Corps’ Asian carp meetings, which will take place over the next three weeks.

The Corps is examining ways to separate the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds to keep Asian carp and other invasive species from moving between the two ecosystems.

The Buffalo and Cleveland meetings drove home the point that Asian carp in the Mississippi River system present a clear, present and growing danger to the Great Lakes.

Those meetings also revealed the depth of passion that people feel for the Great Lakes and the deep-seated fears they have about Asian carp invading their beloved lakes.

Watch Cleveland resident Tom Mayher talk about fishing for walleye in Lake with his children and grandchildren. If this guy doesn’t make you want to wage war on Asian carp, you’d better check your pulse.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Corps of Engineers needs to hear from as many people as possible that we can’t wait years to take bold action to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. Get involved.

Go here for more news and commentary about the Asian carp hearings.