Riding Mountain National Park

Back to the blogs about our Canada trip:

It was a rainy, cloudy day when we entered Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba. Beautiful aspen forests surrounded us as we drove into the park. There were two bison enclosures and we were able to drive quite close.



I don't know why, but I always enjoy getting to see bison - they're big, strong, and a historic symbol of the open prairie.



The wildflowers were beautiful.



From the daisies to the pink clover - there were flowers everywhere.



These reminded me of domestic day lilies, but they were small:



This young bear poked his head out of the forest to check us out. A little later we got to watch him grub for worms deep in the forest.



We were treated with a rainbow at the end of the day! What more can one ask!

Good News for Yellowstone's Bison!

My husband sent me this link to Science Daily this evening. It confirms what many have been saying: that transmission of brucellosis from bison to cattle is very low risk most years and "periodically high only in certain localized areas." Not surprisingly, there are much more cost effective means of managing these issues than the current plan that hazes, rounds up, and slaughters the bison. Once again, elk seem to be the more likely culprit. For those interested in the bison issues in Yellowstone, this is a good article.

Even if it is possible to come up with a plan that will allow the Yellowstone bison herds to roam exist without the hazing and slaughter that is the reality today, eventually you have the future problem of what to do when the Yellowstone herd overpopulates its ecosystem. But after last year's needless slaughter (plus the deaths from the severe winter last year) of more than half of the herd, we are a long way from worrying about too many bison . . . Let's just hope enough of the herd survive this year's harsh winter weather.

I can hope and pray that scientists can come up with ideas that will work for the bison and the ranchers. Yellowstone National Park is a national treasure and the animals are a big part of that legacy. It is one of the largest natural ecosystems still left in the United States. We visit many national parks regularly and I can truthfully say that no other park has the diversity of wildlife that is so easy to observe.

According to the closing statement of this article: "The Yellowstone herd is the only one that has remained free-ranging and unconfined." Let's hope it stays that way!

Update on Yellowstone's Bison and Montana's cattle industry

Sigh . . . Despite all the effort of the state of Montana and the cattle industry, Montana has lost its brucellosis-free status. From the Bozeman Daily Chronicle comes the information that the owner of the cow did everything "right." The cow had been vaccinated twice and was part of a herd management plan. For the unfortunate owner, the entire herd may have to be slaughtered. For all of Montana, all cattle over 18 months old shipped out of state must be tested for brucellosis thirty days before shipping. For cattle owners on tight budgets this will be costly. Plus there had been plans to ship cattle to Russia that will now have to be scrapped costing Montana ranchers a new market for their livestock.

But, what is worse, to me it means that all those Yellowstone bison were slaughtered "for nothing." Montana still lost its brucellosis-free status. Bison were not the cause of this latest case.

From Robert Hoskin's comment on "Ralph Maughan's Wildlife News," the bison census numbers seem to show that from a population last summer of 4300, the current population may only be as few as 1300-1400 left after the natural winter kill and the slaughter. If my math is correct that means we lost 67% of Yellowstone's bison this past winter!

Brucellosis is truly an issue for the cattle industry.The Bozeman Daily Chronicle has another excellent article about how it will affect the ranchers. And not all ranchers are "big business." Many are just small family ranches with a few hundred head. But killing 2300 bison did not prevent the problem. With winter conditions still present in the park (Hayden Valley still had snow cover as of last week with minimal grass growth) more bison may die of natural causes. Bison are herd animals and the social groups have certainly been disrupted by the slaughter of family and herd groups. It will take awhile for their numbers to increase.

Further, I've read stories of property owners near the park who wanted to allow the bison on their lands. However, despite their efforts, their property rights were violated as helicopters and horsemen hazed the bison through their lands to get them back in the park.

Folks, this is just not a pretty picture anyway you look at it.

Remembering the Buffalo

I am a Christian - so I don't quite buy into the "spirit" of the buffalo. However, I really hope that the message of the unusually large number of buffalo slaughtered this year gets heard - so that a better plan can be implemented.

I've found it hard to read the Yellowstone Newspaper lately, because it does hurt that so many bison have died so needlessly. Yellowstone is one of my favorite places because of the abundant wildlife.
Buffalo Spirits on the Wind" is a beautiful article about a tribal service for the buffalo spirits. Even if my viewpoint is a little different, this article is worth reading.

And from the Billings Gazette the Billings Food Bank buys 3200 lbs of buffalo meat at 55 cents a pound. While I'm glad the meat was not wasted, I think I would have a hard time eating this particular buffalo meat. (I don't have a problem with buffalo raised for this purpose . . . but the national park buffalo deserved better - they are part of the national heritage at Yellowstone.)

Yellowstone's Buffalo - Update

WIth great sadness, I report that between the slaughter and normal winter die off, it seems that half of the buffalo (bison) may have died this year in Yellowstone.

While there is a new management plan in the works, I hope that someone takes note of what a significant loss of genetic diversity this is for the Yellowstone herd.

The other sobering information, the spring deaths from predators while the buffalo are still weakened from winter is not over.

There HAS to be a better way to handle the buffalo's need for winter grazing and the issues with the Montana ranching industry. The number of buffalo deaths this year is unacceptable.

It is an election year. Writing your congressmen might make a difference. Write your newspaper. Get the word out. Most people are not aware of this sad situation.

Interesting Wolf Articles - Yellowstone area

The Yellowstone Newspaper has a bunch of links to interesting newspaper articles both about the wolf issues and the bison slaughter. I won't post all the links, but the ones below gave a nice balanced view of the wolf delisting that I think worth passing on.

From the Casper Star-Tribune:

It's important that it be here

Their Greatest Highlight

We're going to start conservatively

A Real Efficient Killer

It's really been a bad deal

From New West:
Celebrate Wolf Recovery, Delisting, and Stop Slinging Arrows

I usually find that with any controversy there are some reasonable issues on both sides. I also see that it is within the nature of people to label the people on the other side of the issue as bad, unreasonable, evil, power hungry, etc. I've been trying to read the articles from the Yellowstone News daily to get a feel for what the real issues are and to try to understand what will really happen as the wolves are delisted. There are a lot of issues - real issues and, yes, some bureaucracy issues as well.

As far as the buffalo slaughter, apparently there are 4700 buffalo in Yellowstone National Park, the target number in terms of proper wildlife management may be only 3,000. But the way this is being handled right now . . . no testing for brucellosis, apparently there is an area where there won't be cows any more that some of these buffalo might could use . . . There has to be a better way than just to round them up and haul them to the slaughterhouse.

A piece of good news for the buffalo

I know that being sick this past week or so has left me with a more pessimistic look at the world. (Hopefully that will turn around as I begin to feel better.) I've been finding myself reading various news articles and feeling that things are looking pretty discouraging right now. So when I was doing my last internet surfing before I went to bed, I found this article, The New West. I sure hope it gets circulated in "all the right places." It was definitely an encouraging article to me - people trying to find workable solutions to difficult problems.

A reasonable look at alternatives for the yearly buffalo migration out of the park during the winter, it also gives some ideas that could actually work - fencing the few cattle in the migration route away from the buffalo. It also describes well the public distaste for the current methodology.

Reducing numbers of buffalo for native American hunting (the Nez Perce - see story here.) and for the health of the buffalo herd is one thing. (They have also been hunting buffalo near Grand Teton, but for different reasons - see story here.) But the current hazing and needless slaughter of the Yellowstone herd (even though - yes the meat is being used and the hides donated to native groups for ceremonial purposes) seems unreasonable to me. Especially since there are some nearby public lands that are part of their historic migration area.

Yellowstone's buffalo are part of our national heritage and should be managed respectfully and wisely. I sure hope someone in authority is "listening."

Grieving over Yellowstone's Buffalo

Here is the National Park Service's explanation of the buffalo (bison) round up that is ongoing right now.

Now, I grew up in cattle country and still own ranchland. And I know that I don't have nearly enough information about the current buffalo slaughter to even have a very good informed opinion.

Brucelosis is a problem disease for cows that causes still born calves. The cattle industry naturally wants to eradicate the disease for reasonable financial reasons. Cattle ranchers are real people who just want to feed their families like the rest of us. And, they have to fight bad weather, years with no rain, prices for their product that they can't control - it is NOT easy to be a cattle rancher. It is hard work and I have a great deal of respect for all aspects of the agricultural sector.

However, in terms of the Yellowstone buffalo, there does not seem to be adequate research as to whether buffalo can actually spread the disease back to cattle. Folks, that research needs to be done - it does not make sense to kill animals because they "might" pose a threat. How much would it have cost to test the buffalo that were sent to slaughter? If elk can also carry the disease - why are we picking on the buffalo?

Why does it matter? Why do I care? Why does this news story bother me right now?

The story of the buffalo is part of our American culture and history - part of the story of the American Plains Indians. The slaughter of the buffalo in the 1800's whether to feed the workers building the railroad or to remove the food supply of the Indians (depending upon which story you were told) was a great tragedy in so many ways. We almost lost a species (actually we did lose one of the types of buffalo.) Certainly, the buffalo are one of the symbols of the great American west. And, thankfully, the population of existing buffalo is currently healthy.

Having been to Yellowstone numerous times, buffalo are fascinating to watch. Watching the bulls follow the cows during mating season - hearing them grunt . . . The wonder of a buffalo swimming across the Yellowstone River . . . the energy of calves play, the herd behavior as the buffalo move from one area of the park to another. All of this is part of the wonder that is Yellowstone.

We idealize our national parks - we want nature to rule. We want the animal deaths in a national park to be natural ones - from predation, weather, old age, etc. (And the laws are structured that way) It just feels ugly that the Park Service would be killing part of the natural resource of the park. And I think I would feel very differently if they were doing the slaughter because of over population to prevent suffering from starvation.

Another reality, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is HUGE! Why is there not room for this free ranging buffalo herd to live in peace? Don't we have plenty of grazing land away from the park boundaries? Should tax payer money (or private money) be spent creating a fenced barrier zone so that these buffalo don't have to be needlessly killed? As in so many things in life - I wonder why different groups of people can't get together and work out more positive solutions to issues like this.


More random buffalo facts:

One of the first national wildlife refuges was set up for buffalo habitat in Oklahoma. It is still ongoing - buffalo are still doing well there. There are lots of cattle operations in Oklahoma. Difference: The Oklahoma refuge is probably completely fenced such that the buffalo can't leave, but they live pretty ordinary buffalo lives. And perhaps the herd at the Oklahoma refuge has been tested and found free from brucelosis.

There are other herds of buffalo outside Yellowstone. The current slaughter of buffalo in Yellowstone will not cause an extinction of the species. And there are many private herds of buffalo being raised for the meat outside the park. (But why aren't nearby cattle people upset about brucelosis issues with domesticated buffalo - perhaps they are vaccinated or tested???)

And . . . by the way, yes, probably it is more scientifically correct to call the bison - not buffalo. But I was raised in the American west, and in some way, they will always be buffalo to me.

Yellowstone's Buffalo

The other thing that I'm noticing at the The Yellowstone Newspaper are a number of articles about the winter slaughter of buffalo. I know that there are big issues with brucelosis and that at one point the Yellowstone herd was too large for the Yellowstone ecosystem to provide forage in the winter. But one thing that disturbs me about the reports right now, buffalo were being hazed IN THE PARK to an area where they were going to be slaughtered. There are one set of issues when buffalo are already out of the park and causing problems. And maybe these particular buffalo had already strayed out of the park and had gone back in . . . I don't know.

Things I do know: Buffalo have in the past over populated to unsustainable numbers for the habitat. The wolves were supposed to help reduce the numbers naturally. Buffalo are hard on their environment damaging trees and small shrubs. I know less about the brucelosis issues.

But right now the numbers of buffalo in Yellowstone do not reflect overpopulation. I saw some of the "herding" of buffalo in Yellowstone last summer - while the calves were still young.

There is a lot of conflict right now between Montana ranchers and hunters over not only the buffalo but also the wolves.

If wolves are delisted (as appears likely), then the wild ones outside the park are likely to be killed probably rapidly.

While I may not be totally in agreement with The Buffalo Field Campaign, I am glad there are people out there working to raise awareness of what is going on right now with the buffalo in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

African Elephants

Each day I scan for news on "My Yahoo." I have it set to get news from Reuters, AP, entertainment news from various sources, Denver's "Rocky Mountain News," the Los Angeles Times, USA today, and "most emailed "stories. If I'm really motivated (rarely) I have links to the New York Times, the Austin American Statesman, and other major US Newspapers. I won't say that this assortment keeps me "well" informed, but I do have a clue what is going on in the world.

Today's Los Angeles paper had an interesting article about the elephants in South Africa.

Now we really enjoyed seeing the elephants in Zambia and Botswana. They are amazing creatures, very family oriented.



I have photos of a group of them surrounding their young one for protection.



Babies stay with the family for several years and they are a long lived species. Needless to say, elephants are large animals with large appetites. They also don't have a good digestive system, so they don't get full advantage of what they do eat. In the southern parts of Africa, there are still plenty of elephants. Unfortunately, it is a "good news, bad news" situation. It was wonderful to see the large numbers of elephants everywhere at Chobe and South Luangwa. It is incredible to see a large herd of elephants cross the river or run to the water to get their morning drink.



But . . . at places like Chobe and apparently Kruger in South Africa, there are more elephants than the environment will be able to support. You see, elephants are hard on their environment - they eat trees and tear them up in the process, they pull up grass by the roots, and they are always hungry. During the rainy season, there may be enough food, but in the dry season, they'll eat tree branches -thorns and all. And, they kill many trees in the process by tearing off too many big branches and knocking the tops of the trees off.

Even if elephants don't digest their food well, all is not lost. There are a number of animals that find their diet in the remains of the elephant dung . . . baboons and guinea fowl can be found foraging in the piles of elephant dung for the seeds that the elephants were not able to digest. So, if you control the populations of the elephants, it might have an impact on some of these other species. However, other grazing animals might benefit from better forage . . .

I'm not a wildlife biologist, but I've seen or heard from several sources that places like Chobe have more numbers of elephants currently than is advantageous for the overall ecosystem. The TImes article does a good job talking about the tough choices that will need to be made. If you have to thin the herds (yes . . . that could be one of the right things to do) then you have to thin out entire families, because they have such a strong family structure. They are trying some birth control methods. And while it is an option, it might be possible to transport elephant families to areas of Africa where elephants were once common, but have now disappeared. But that is expensive, and most African governments don't have the money to transport elephants when their people are starving, wells need to be drilled, better medical treatment and medicines are needed, and the roads are filled with pot holes.

We were in Yellowstone during the time frame when there were too many bison. Bison also are hard on their environment. And when the number of bison reaches a critical level, they start leaving the park to forage. The local ranchers get most upset, because bison carry brucellosis which in theory could be passed on to cattle which then causes major problems for the cattle industry. Once again, the alternatives are not happy. Ranchers are allowed to shoot bison that leave the park. Last summer a large herd was "hazed" back into the park. No one was happy, because the cows had calves and were rushed with helicopters and cowboys - pushed faster than their normal speed possibly causing distress.

Whether we want it or not, humans have a responsibility to manage game herds so that their long term viability is maximized. If we let animals overpopulate, they will die of illness and lack of food. And, of course, human activity has reduced the natural range for many of the large herd animals . . .

Lots of issues . . . no great solutions . . .

I'm glad to finish this piece with the encouragement that at least here in the US, young people are going to college and getting "trained" in managing the land for wildlife. Let's just hope the politics keeps the importance of healthy wildlife populations as something we as a nation and a world value.