Paul Thomas Richards February 22, 2011
Dan Wenk, Superintendent
Yellowstone National Park
PO Box 168
Yellowstone, WY 82190-0168
Ph: 307-344-7381
Fax: 307-344-2005
E-mail: yell_superintendent@nps.gov
Dear Superintendent Wenk,
Congratulations on your appointment and your first day in the office! You have stepped directly into a buffalo wallow. I pray that you apply more common sense than your predecessors. PLEASE act as a true public servant and PLEASE provide proper stewardship for America’s many at-risk and endangered wildlife species, instead of continuing past failed National Park policies that facilitated the extirpation of our Nation’s priceless wildlife Heritage.
Since you are new, you may not know that Yellowstone’s bison herd is America’s ONLY population of wild, migrating bison. These bison now approach complete extinction, due to the unmitigated malfeasance of the US Department of Interior and the National Park Service.
THOUSANDS of pure-DNA bison—in fact, the world’s ONLY remaining pure-DNA wild bison–are being harassed, tortured, captured, and slaughtered in and around Yellowstone National Park.
This is a National, Tribal, and Inter-National disgrace–An affront to Earth’s biodiversity, all Indigenous Peoples, and the very mission of the National Park Service!
The National Park Service and Yellowstone National Park MUST withdraw from the failed “Inter-Agency Bison Management Plan,” which outlaws the very existence of living wild migrating bison in Montana; by establishing no-exceptions firing lines and unrestricted “Killing Fields.”
During the last 20 years, Yellowstone National Park’s immoral Killing Fields have exterminated 6,502 of the only wild migrating pure-DNA buffalo in the world.
Over the last decade alone, the US Department of Interior, National Park Service, Yellowstone National Park, and the Montana Department of Livestock has already slaughtered more than 4,000 (4,098) of the only remaining wild buffalo on Earth–National, Tribal, and Inter-National tragedies of such monumental proportions that tears, grief, sorrow, and shame can only begin to suffice.
Wild migrating buffalo are a vital American Legacy, fully deserving the respect and protection of the National Park Service, which, ironically and incredibly gallingly, uses these exterminated wild bison as its very own National Park Service badge and symbol!!
Wild migrating buffalo are rounded up and slaughtered by your own Yellowstone National Park employees, working side-by-side with Montana Department of Livestock’s trespassing “cowboys” on ATVs, ORVs, snowmobiles, helicopters, 4-wheel drives, and other forms of motorized terrorism and harassment, wholly inappropriate and often fatal during wintertime.
As a result, America’s only population of wild pure-DNA migrating buffalo can no longer follow tens of thousands of years of Ancient instincts; can no longer migrate to their traditional winter and spring habitats; and can no longer calve in their traditional calving areas.
I respectfully ask that you:
1. Please IMMEDIATELY abandon all participation in and funding of the disgraced “Inter-Agency Bison Management Plan.” Please end, ENTIRELY, the Plan’s ridiculous prohibition of living wild migrating buffalo in the state of Montana.
2. Please IMMEDIATELY withhold ALL funding of, ALL funding to, and ALL cooperation with the Montana Department of Livestock.
3. Please uphold the National Park Service’s mandate to protect Yellowstone’s buffalo, perhaps our Nation’s most important icon (Along with the bald eagle, which, thanks to dedicated conservation leadership in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, we were able to save from extinction!).
4. Please uphold the US Department of Interior’s stewardship responsibilities for America’s First Nations and Indigenous Peoples.
5. Please immediately release 600 wild Yellowstone buffalo, currently trapped in the “Stephens Creek Trap,” panicked and awaiting slaughter, back into the Wild.
6. Please work closely with the Gallatin National Forest and other National Forests to allow Yellowstone’s bison to migrate onto adjacent public lands. Despite beliefs to the contrary by your predecessors, allowing bison to migrate onto these National Forest lands is NOT optional! Since you are new, you may not know that the Gallatin National Forest’s Forest Plan MANDATES the Gallatin National Forest provide habitats for maintaining viable populations for Yellowstone’s bison and all other Indigenous species.
It is not too late for wild, migrating buffalo, although they teeter on extinction’s brink. I would like to assume that you are a dedicated public servant. If so, PLEASE fulfill the incredibly constructive potential of your new job.
Superintendent Wenk, it is up to YOU to stop this senseless slaughter, disgusting mindless violence, and continued genocide against America’s Indigenous Peoples and indigenous endangered species. NOW!
Please respond to this e-mail. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Paul Richards
30 Browns Gulch Road
Boulder, MT 59632-9709
Copy to:
Ken Salazar, Secretary
US Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240
Phone: 202-208-3100
Fax: 202-208-6965
E-Mail Address: feedback@ios.doi.gov
Jonathan Jarvis, Director
US Department of Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Room 3312
Washington, DC 20240
Phone: 202-208-4621; 202-208-3818
Fax: 202-208-7889
E-mail: jon_jarvis@nps.gov
National Park Service Contact Information
Relevant US Department of Interior and National Park Service Web Sites and Contact Information:
US Department of Interior On-Line Feedback Form
National Park Service Contact Information
US Fish and Wildlife E-mail Address
Bureau of Indian Affairs E-mail Address
Ethics Office Contact Information
Editor’s Notes:
The Killing Fields: For year-by-year breakdowns of Yellowstone National Park’s and Montana Department of Livestock’s wild buffalo slaughters, please CLICK HERE, or go to: http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/ .
Dan Wenk assumed his new position as Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park on Tuesday, February 22, 2011.
Wild buffalo are Sacred to Indigenous Peoples, Tribes, and First Nations, now dispersed throughout 12 Western states and three Western provinces. Fully ignorant of his inherent and sickening racism, Montana’s Governor, “Buffalo Brian” Schweitzer, addressing the Montana Stockgrowers Association’s Annual Convention on Friday, December 11, 2009, in Billings, Mont., proudly boasted: “No Governor in Montana history has sent more bison to slaughter than this Governor.”
Please send your comments to Wenk, Jarvis, and Salazar today! Your comments need not be lengthy, complicated, or legalese. Brief comments containing relevant information, true emotions, or legitimate feelings are just fine!
Although anger is certainly justifiable regarding the unconscionable slaughter of 6,502 of the last wild migrating buffalo in the world, try not to let this anger poison your comments.
Please remember that Wenk is new to the Killing Fields and Wenk did not sanction past indiscriminate and wholesale Montana Department of Livestock buffalo slaughters. Please try to help Wenk, as he faces the difficult task of educating VERY powerful enemies of National Parks, National Forests, public wildlife, endangered species, and the fragmented islands of necessary habitats and biological diversity our Nation’s priceless public lands Legacy contain.
PR’s Brief Bio:
As a journalist with more than 43 years’ experience in Western politics and resource issues, Paul Richards has served as editor or co-editor of three newspapers, newsman and editor for The Associated Press, and elections manager for The AP, UPI, ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC.
Richards founded and produced a successful radio news network; founded and hosted a political television interview program; founded and managed a news service for weekly newspapers; and authored a syndicated statewide political column.
Richards is a voluntarily-retired member of the Montana House of Representatives and a former candidate for the U.S. Senate.
Richards owns a leading consulting firm for nonprofit organizations, PR Media Consultants®, Public Interest Media Since 1968, near the community of Boulder, Mont.; works as a professional writer and editor; and contributes Dispatches from the Wildlands™, located at: http://blogs.alternet.org/paulrichards/ to AlterNet.
More Info:
More Dispatches from the Wildlands™ at: http://blogs.alternet.org/paulrichards/ .
Information about Paul Richards is available at: http://www.PRMediaConsultants.com and at: http://www.Richards2006.us .
This Paul Richards’ Dispatch from the Wildlands™ posting utilizes colored “hyperlinks” known as “Uniform Resource Locators” or “URLs.” A URL is also known as a “domain name” or an “Internet address.” To fully activate and utilize these URLs, just go to the hyperlink and push down on your “Ctrl” or “Control” button on our keyboard and left click your mouse. With some computers, merely placing your cursor on the hyperlink and double clicking your mouse will suffice.
Dispatches from the Wildlands™ ©2011, Paul Richards
“In Wildness is the Preservation of the World.”
Henry David Thoreau
Paul Thomas Richards Proposed High-Speed Freeway Threatens
Northern Rockies’ Wildlife Linkages from
Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to
Greater Glacier/Bob Marshall Ecosystem
By Paul Richards
Many westerners are familiar with Highway 69, the scenic rural route that runs alongside the Boulder River, between the Elkhorn Mountains and Bull Mountain from Boulder to Cardwell. The Boulder Valley is one of Montana’s most beautiful drives, filled with abundant wildlife and breathtaking scenery.
This pastoral scene is gradually turning into a nightmare. Canadian truckers, fully aware that law enforcement on Highway 69 is minimal at best, drive in convoys at speeds up to 85 mph, endangering all local traffic.
For almost 10 years, Boulder Valley residents have petitioned the Montana Department of Transportation (MDOT) for a safer Highway 69. We have asked for:
* A pedestrian walkway and bicycle path along the highway’s current route;
* Safe crosswalks at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, Boulder Hot Springs, and other frequently utilized junctions;
* Retention of the valley’s lush aspen and cottonwood;
* Underpasses or overpasses for elk, deer, moose, bear, pronghorn and other wildlife;
* A full-time truck weighing station;
* Lower speed limits for the safety of vehicles, trucks, pedestrians, ranchers and their equipment, bicycles, wildlife and livestock, and
* Strict enforcement of these lower speed limits.
In early 2005, we submitted an official “Citizens’ Alternative” to MDOT Director Jim Lynch and MDOT Butte Division Administrator Jeff Ebert. “MDOT is legally bound to offer a wide range of alternatives,” we wrote. “Any public meetings to discuss alternatives need to have the above alternative before it for consideration.”
MDOT’s response was swift and deadly. At a June 1, 2005, hearing, MDOT presented its “nuclear option” — a new high-speed freeway to be built on the river’s east bench — a stake right through the hearts of all Boulder Valley ranches.
Legally, according to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), this was a “scoping” hearing, where MDOT was supposed to receive public comments concerning features we wanted for Highway 69.
But, there was no “hearing.” MDOT never asked what we wanted. And, MDOT never mentioned our “Citizens’ Alternative.”
Instead, MDOT told us that its already-approved “preferred alternative” for a new high-speed international highway corridor was a fait accompli.
Needless to say, MDOT’s circumvention of NEPA, its premature and illegal designation of a “preferred alternative” without any public input; the agency’s violation of state and federal public participation and environmental protection mandates; and its devastating “nuclear option” did not go over particularly well.
More than 100 Boulder Valley residents at the 2005 “hearing” unanimously shouted “NO!”
Now, flash ahead five years to MDOT’s March 23, 2010, hearing. Due to steadfast community opposition, MDOT finally announced it was abandoning its “nuclear option.”
However, in the years between the 2005 and 2010 hearings, NONE of the concerns expressed by area residents have been addressed!
Even though more than 200 residents signed petitions requesting the pedestrian walkway and bike path and even though MDOT promised us in writing in 2008 they would explore this proposal, MDOT did not mention it.
MDOT did not mention safe crosswalks, truck weighing station, lower speed limits, and enforcement of speed limits. On questioning, MDOT said it would take an act of the Legislature to lower vehicular speeds to make our neighborhood safer. That is absolute nonsense.
Instead of strictly-enforced lower speed limits, MDOT actually told us it wants to “speed up” Highway 69, so Canadian truckers can drive faster and get home sooner to spend more time with their wives and kids!
MDOT did not mention wildlife collisions, although the agency’s own in-house data are overwhelming. MDOT refused to discuss underpasses and overpasses, even though studies have deemed them biologically critical to maintain existing wildlife corridors and linkages from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to the Greater Glacier/Bob Marshall Ecosystem.
MDOT told us “we have to design this highway for morons” who drive too fast for road conditions!
Montana’s magnificent Boulder Valley and the priceless wildlife corridors it provides need your help!
Using the contact information provided below, please tell MDOT that:
1. You support the bicycle and pedestrian path, with well-marked crossings;
2. You support wildlife underpasses and overpasses;
3. Flashing signs alerting motorists to crossings and reduced speed limits have proven effective in Montana’s wildlife-rich Bitterroot Valley on Highway 93, Gallatin Valley on Highway 191, Clark Fork Valley on Highway 200, and Mission Valley on Highway 93 — MDOT must do this in the Boulder Valley on Highway 69;
4. Since the Boulder River is officially “impaired,” MDOT cannot contribute further to its “Total Maximum Daily Loads” or “TMDLs.”
5. Highway 69 is a rural state route, not a U.S. Highway or an Interstate Highway;
6. Highway 69 is not designed for high-speed truck traffic, nor should it be;
7. Nearby and parallel Interstate 15 is the north-south freeway specifically designed for high-speed truck traffic;
8. If MDOT continues its misguided, NAFTA-driven efforts to convert Highway 69 from a pastoral rural route into a high-speed freeway for international truck traffic, the agency must first prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement.
9. The Boulder Valley is a community of sane people that doesn’t need “morons” driving through it at unsafe speeds; and
10. Give Boulder Valley residents, ranchers, kids, pedestrians, bicyclists, and wildlife a brake!
To comment, title your comments “Boulder South EA,” submit them on-line at: http://www.mdt.mt.gov/mdt/comment_form.shtml and http://governor.mt.gov/contact/commentsform.asp ; e-mail them to jebert@mt.gov ; dwambach@mt.gov ; snicolai@dowlhkm.com ; jilynch@mt.gov ; and bbrosten@mt.gov ; and/or snail-mail them to:
Boulder South EA
DOWL HKM
P.O. Box 1009
Helena, MT 59624.
Provide your contact information and ask MDOT to keep you posted concerning all stages of this project and all subsequent projects concerning the Boulder Valley and Highway 69 .
Thank you!
____________________________________________________________________
Dispatches from the Wildlands™ ©2010, Paul Richards
Paul Richards is a Helena native, Boulder area businessman, former member of the Montana House of Representatives, and former candidate for U.S. Senate. For further information, contact him at: 30 Brown’s Gulch Road, Boulder, MT 59632, or by e-mail at: Paul@PRMediaConsultants.com .
Editor’s Note:
Different versions of this piece have appeared in the:
1. (Butte) Montana Standard, located at: http://www.mtstandard.com/news/opinion/columnists/article_50f70b0e-49a6-11df-9d2c-001cc4c03286.html
2. (Helena, MT) Queen City News, located at: http://www.queencitynews.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=11387&mode=flat&order=0&thold=0
3. Boulder (MT ) Monitor. No Internet posting–no URL.
