U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell has issued a 14-day restraining order against using helicopters to haze bison back into Yellowstone National Park because of well documented grizzly bear activity in the area. Last year the Judge Lovell denied a similar request citing technical issues related to the lawsuit but, after both the Buffalo Field Campaign and the Gallatin National Forest documented grizzly presence in the areas where the helicopter hazing was taking place, the judge granted the temporary restraining order request made by the Alliance for Wild Rockies.
The Interagency Bison Management Plan, issued in 2000, scarcely examined the effect of bison hazing on grizzlies and made the assumption that the hazing would primarily occur during the winter months when grizzlies were hibernating. The plan also said that helicopter hazing would not take place if grizzlies were confirmed I the area where the hazing would take place.
One of the reasons that the Montana Department of Livestock (DoL) uses helicopters is to scare the bison off of private lands where the bison are welcome and the DoL is not. The agency claims that it can trespass on private property to remove the bison but has declined to enter the property on foot because they want to avoid looking like they don’t care about private property rights, which they don’t. Presumably this forces the hand of the DoL to violate the property rights of Horse Butte residents who welcome bison.
This highlights the obvious conflict that exists in many western states, and particularly Montana. Livestock and their owners have more rights than the average person.
