[Thursday May 15, 2008] It's a classic situation: During a very rough winter, almost 400 bison from Yellowstone National Park wandered over the park boundary north of West Yellowstone, lumbered across U.S. Highway 191 and onto Horse Butte peninsula that juts into Hebgen Lake - a clear case of the grass being greener on the other side of the road. Unfortunately for the bison, this may be part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, but it's not part of the park - they're considered interlopers. Consequently, according to the terms of the Interagency Bison Management Plan, a posse is being mounted to haze (Gee-haw!) the bison back into the park.

Around Yellowstone, almost any wildlife management action will create an opposite and not always equal reaction. In this case, the announced hazing immediately brought forth complaints from several environmental and wildlife groups, who sent a joint letter to Montana governor, Brian Schweitzer. They are demanding that the hazing cease immediately, and that the bison management plan be amended to allow the bison to graze in areas outside the park that are not used by cattle.

This has not been a good winter for the Bison Management Plan, as more than one half the Northern Yellowstone herd was either killed by hunters, government slaughter, or the vicissitudes of winter. As a result, messing with the bison, always a sensitive issue, is particularly sensitive this year. Although the park service maintains that the remaining 2,100 (or so) bison in the herd is more than sufficient for long-term survival, the spectacle of the largest slaughter of bison since the 1890's hasn't helped the program's image. It has also helped to once again highlight the fact that animals have no sense of human boundaries, and will do what they need to survive - including wandering into grasslands at lower elevations in search of food.

The environmental groups are arguing that especially this year, driving the bison back into the park - much of which is still snow covered and where there is very little new grass - imposes even more stress on this small herd. But the larger and more important context of their argument is that these and other bison should be allowed to roam during winter into areas where they can find food and do not endanger cattle by infecting them with brucellosis.

It's another chapter in a highly repetitive story, with the bison performing their usual role of innocent victims or unruly carriers of dread disease.       

[Tuesday May 13, 2008] A section of the Grand Loop Road collapsed Monday, forcing the road to be closed south of Canyon Junction. The issue is a little complicated: the road sunk (which was bad enough), but then it broke a water line underneath, causing more damage in the form of a washed-out road bed.

Basically, the problem area is a mile south of Canyon Junction near Alum Creek. The road is closed at Canyon Junction and at Alum Creek, though emergency travel will be allowed. Crews are already out to repair the water line, and the hope is that the entire road can be opened by Thursday.

On the bright side, no one was hurt -- or even present -- when the road collapsed.

[Wednesday April 30, 2008] Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne proposed on Wednesday to allow concealed weapons in national parks and wildlife refuges on the condition that the gun owner has a valid permit for a concealed weapon in the state where the park or refuge is located. For Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks this means that people with Wyoming permits will be able to leave handguns where they usually conceal them. Currently all national parks operate under a 25 year old regulation that weapons must be unloaded and stored in non-visible locations - typically the trunk of a car. This proposed change in regulation now has 60 days for public comment.

Permits for concealed weapons are not handed out like popcorn, of course, and all states where it is permitted - Wyoming included - have state laws governing the practice. For example, Wyoming's concealed weapon permit applies only to handguns. Concealed hunting rifles or other ordnance is not covered. There is a long list of places where even with a Wyoming permit concealed weapons are not permitted, such as bars (places where alcohol is sold), churches, schools, and courtrooms. The list of requirements for a permit holder is lengthy, about twenty items including safety training certification, fingerprinting, and fee ($50 in 2008). Wyoming has a population of about 500,000; typically up to 4% carry concealed weapons, which would be about 20,000 in Wyoming. Non Wyoming residents are not elligible for a permit.

Wyoming will honor valid permits from other states, providing there is reciprocity, so that currently only 23 of the fifty states are recognized. Of course, the laws regarding concealed weapons are different state to state, so the details (such as the types of weapons which may or may not be concealed vary) may be important. It's unclear whether these reciprocity agreements will also be honored in the national parks, or whether the  park rangers, who are federal agents, will have appropriate jurisdiction to determine which of the state licenses are valid. Another wrinkle for Yellowstone is that part of its territory is also in the states of Montana and Idaho.

If this sounds like enforcement of concealed weapons requirements might be complicated, it just might be. This is a major reason why the change in park regulations is opposed by the Association of Park Rangers, the U.S. Park Ranger Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, and the Coalition of National Park Retirees, whose spokesman Bill Wade said, "This proposed regulation increases the risk to visitors, employees, and wildlife rather than reducing it."

It is difficult to point to a problem solved by the proposed regulation. The need for personal defense against crimes involving weapons in national parks, and especially those in Wyoming, is almost non-existent. It will be more convenient for permit holders, as it will not be necessary to stow handguns when entering the park; but for the rifle hunters and local residents without permits, unloading and stowing will still be required. Of course, the origin of the new regulation does not come from a pressing need in the parks, but from the Congressional delegation of gun supporters who have found this to be a useful and symbolic issue to keep before the public eye.

[Monday April 28, 2008] Facing a rising uproar over the slaughter of 1700 Yellowstone Park bison this winter - on top of a winter kill of at least 700 - Yellowstone Park officials and their partners in the Interagency Bison Management Plan have stopped the slaughter of bison (with the exception of "some adult bulls") that are caught heading outside the park boundaries. The official position, according to spokesman Al Nash, is "Our job is to maintain a wild bison population, and we won't take any action that endangers the population as a whole."

So far about half of the Yellowstone herd has been killed or died, with remaining numbers estimated beween 2000 and 2300. The biggest bone of contention, and the most poorly documented, is just what constitutes an appropriate herd size. Although a few scientific papers on the subject exist, they rarely receive public visibility, which means that most arguments are conducted in a relatively factless environment. Not that the science on this issue is conclusive, obviously, or there wouldn't be so much contention.