FWP Elk Brucellosis 2015 Work Plan

[katqanna]

Here is the FWP 2015 Elk Brucellosis Work Plan that they are submitting to the Commissioners on Aug 7th. If passed, which it will more than likely, based on the fact that they have been passing all this bs all along, it will be open for public comment and sent to the commissioners again for the final in Oct.

This is the same anti-science, no public hunter access required and legally required environmental review lacking work plan as before, but they are broadly expanding it.

If adopted, this annual plan would be available for potential implementation within the Designated Surveillance Area (DSA) as defined by the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) and in immediately adjacent areas if there is confirmed elk movement from inside to outside the DSA representing increased transmission risk to cattle. While the formal risk period has been identified by DOL as January 15-June 15, these actions may be applied with cause outside that window.

edit: forgot to mention that the elk capture and test program is due to sunset here in 2015. They are trying to add that to this elk brucellosis work plan to continue it beyond 2015. "Agency Collaboration - Work with DoL and USDA APHIS to assess and potentially coordinate the need, opportunity and capacity for continued targeted elk surveillance captures beyond 2015."

 

[katqanna]

Went to the FWP commission meeting this morning. The commission passed the 2015 elk brucellosis management work plan as is, so now it goes to public comments and then the final vote at the Oct. Commission meeting.

They do not care that there is not a proven case of elk to cattle transmission in the Paradise Valley, that there has been cattle transmission. They have not cared about the Montana law that directs an Environmental Review. This is strictly political, not scientific wildlife management.

 

[shoots-straight]

Everything is managed socially these days. No need for a degree anymore. Just one in politics.

 

[bigskyblueman]

The politics will continue to dictate this issue, with the surveillance area continuing to increase in size, year after year.

 

[katqanna]

When I was at the Board of Livestock meeting at the end of Aug., the DSA expansion was on the agenda. One of the board members asked why they keep having to vote for expansions, how long is this going to continue going on? So for my public comment I showed them the documentation I had on the bottle necked area in the wildlife corridor, the quotes from the WY feedground areas academic papers citing the causes and explained that we have the same situation here, minus the feeding, that is creating the higher seroprevalence. Outside of the feedgrounds, elk seroprevalence averages 2-3%. But at feedgrounds and adjacent areas it is 10-30%.

Right now, there is no proof of elk to cattle transmission, it is cattle transmission. But with the increasing seroprevalence of the elk in Park County due to these hundreds of unmanaged gut piles from the Native American hunts exposing our bison and elk to brucellosis (feedground abortion event), eventually we will have documented cases of elk transmission. Right now we can fend off any legislative attempt to gain control of the elk like the bison 81-2-120. But eventually, if this continues, we wont be able to do that and APHIS/DOL will get that control.

Yesterday the FWP Commission approved a regulation that the bison gut piles have to be moved 200 yards away from the road. This is in a residential and commercial area. Moving those gut piles is partly aesthetic and to slightly move any predator scavenging conflicts a wee bit back toward the forest, but it does nothing to address brucellosis feedground situation. Some of the Native American wanted to take gut piles with them because they use all materials of an animal, but the DOL does not allow transport of potentially brucellosis materials. They acknowledge the brucellosis threat. Ironically they are the ones that have encouraged these hunts to whack more bison to get YNP numbers down. The IBMP document stated that not enough were being taken by Montana hunters, so they brought the treaty hunters into the situation to take larger numbers and at a later time of year that the Montana hunt does not occur due to third trimester pregnancies. I mentioned this to the FWP commission yesterday.

Without stopping the hundreds of unmanaged gut piles in a 1/4 miles area of a bottlenecked corridor north of YNP, we will see the continued increase of elk seroprevalence, as well as bison, in the north Yellowstone and a wee bit in the west, affecting the health and social acceptability of our wildlife - making the politics worse, Wyoming feedground worse.