Church has the option to let bison roam out of the park

Recently I was driving to Yellowstone National Park, when I spotted a line of trucks pulling stock trailers past the Church Universal And Triumphant enclave and turning onto the highway. A police car and sheriff's vehicle led the way, lights flashing, and two more law enforcement vehicles took up the rear. Images of a funeral procession come to mind, and maybe that's appropriate, for I was witnessing loads of wild buffalo, their eyes wide with fright as they passed, bound for the slaughterhouse.

Few people observe our tax dollars being spent this way. Yellowstone buffalo venturing outside the park used to be shot and hauled away, but that was messy and made for bad publicity. This year they're being rounded up inside the park, held in a stock coral near Gardiner, and shipped out at dawn on a back road.

Brucellosis is supposedly the reason. Buffalo come out of the park, briefly, in just two places, on the north and west side, in winter and spring. Because Montana has zero tolerance for wild buffalo, they die for crossing that line.

But brucellosis is only a concern if cattle are present to, conceivably, pick up the disease. On the west side, the nearest cows are some thirty miles away this time of year. And there are only four small ranch operations on the north side between the park and Yankee Jim Canyon. The Chronicle's March 18 story put the situation in perspective. "The number of bison killed by Yellowstone National Park officials this winter is more than double the number of cattle living within 10 miles of the park."

From the park boundary north and on the west side of the Yellowstone River, the only herd of cattle present belongs to the Church Universal And Triumphant. Ironically, 13 million taxpayer dollars went to the church several years ago toward Forest Service land exchanges intended to open up critical wildlife habitat. However, the Church decided to keep its cows and a problem that should have been resolved remains.

The church is making a choice to graze cattle next to Yellowstone National Park. If its leadership is willing to work constructively with government agencies, surely equitable common sense management measures could be agreed upon to keep its cows separated and vaccinated against brucellosis or to establish alternative grazing allotments. As long as buffalo are being killed in its behalf, the Church Universal And Triumphant is not being a good neighbor to Yellowstone National Park.

William C. Patric

Bozeman

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