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| MONDAY May 15, 2000 Vol 4, # 30 |
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| MONDAY May 15, 2000 Vol 4, # 30 |
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| Site Search | Support Yellowstone! Discussion Free Internet, Email, More Email Newsletter | |
YELLOWSTONE ROAD
REPORT PUBLISHER EDITOR-IN-
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 PROTECTING YELLOWSTONEby Bruce Gourley Yellowstone is a national treasure which is owned by the American public. Protecting Yellowstone is the responsibility of the American public. This weekly feature will help identify and explore the issues which are crucial to the ongoing, healthy existence of the "Crown Jewel" of America's National Park system. YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (YNET) -- Springtime in Yellowstone has well arrived and summer is not far away, as attested to by the many baby animals, lush green grass, rising temperatures and melting snow. Millions will visit the Park during the 2000 season, many for the first time. Because of the sheer number of visitors, it is imperative that all visitors follow Park rules and regulations, both for the protection of Yellowstone and the visitor. The Park Service offers the following words of caution for all visitors. Your visit may be marred by tragedy if you violate park rules. Law enforcement rangers strictly enforce park regulations to protect you and the park. Please help keep our contacts with you pleasant by paying special attention to park regulations and avoiding these problems: * Speeding (the speed limits are radar
enforced) (Yellowstone Net provides you opportunity to voice your opinion regarding the various Yellowstone issues to your congresspersons and to editorial sections of magazines and newspapers by clicking here.) |
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS Ralph Maughan
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SPRINGTIME
IN YELLOWSTONE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (NPS) -- The only certainty of spring in Yellowstone is change -- daily and hourly change. Spring is a time of renewal after the harsh realities of winter. Many animals have succumbed before the days lengthen and the warm breezes begin to melt the snow. Because nothing is wasted in natural ecosystems, these deaths provide a ready food source for many other Yellowstone inhabitants also weakened by winter. Grizzly bears, black bears, coyotes, foxes, magpies, eagles, and wolves all feed at the winter-killed carcasses. At times, spectacular displays of dominance and interspecies rivalry occur at a carcass. Springtime in Yellowstone means life -- and young animals everywhere. Little orange bison calves are now being born. At first they wobble around behind their mothers, but soon are to be spotted romping through the meadow. Some visitors will be lucky enough to see light-colored bighorn sheep lambs standing beneath their mothers on cliff faces. Soon, spotted elk calves will appear on the scene, leaping and racing in the meadows while their mothers watch. In addition, the songs of birds and the scent of wildflowers will soon fill the Yellowstone landscape. Springtime in Yellowstone is grand, but be prepared for quick weather changes. Dress warmly and in layers. Make sure your vehicle is equipped for winter conditions. And remember, the wildlife in Yellowstone are wild. One of their greatest needs is undisturbed space. Always keep your distance when viewing wildlife -- for their sake and your safety. |
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| BISON UPDATE by Buffalo Nations WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. -- After several weeks of spring weather, the snows have come again. A small group of buffalo is on the move for green grass outside the invisible Park boundaries and the Department of Livestock (DOL) is in town to harass them. Our patrols noted three DOL trucks arriving from Helena last week with horse trailers and all-terrain-vehicles (ATVs) in tow. Within minutes of their arrival, the agents unloaded their ATVs and went to work at hazing a group of buffalo with cracker-gun rounds back into Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Three DOL agents on horseback chased a lone buffalo into the Park near Duck Creek, violating the Park's grizzly bear closure in the process. Once inside the park, they continued to fire cracker gun rounds at the buffalo and ten others that were grazing within Park boundaries. In another incident, DOL agents spent five hours chasing a lone bull buffalo into Yellowstone. The bull was grazing on private land nearly ten miles from the park's boundary near Highway 20. There are several buffalo on the Horse Butte peninsula that we've been watching closely. If the DOL attempts to haze buffalo from Horse Butte, it could help with a case we are building against their actions. As you may recall, we videotaped as the DOL violated the Horse Butte bald eagle closure with their helicopter and horses during the militaristic hazing operation of April 20. These actions were in clear violation of not only the Forest Service's Special Use Permit (SUP), which allows the DOL to conduct operations on Forest Service land, but the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as well. Because of the evidentiary value of our video footage and the eye-witness accounts of our volunteers, we are currently working to protect the bald eagles and buffalo on Horse Butte. On Tuesday, May 9, the Buffalo Field Campaign, along with Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers and the Ecology Center, Inc. filed an application for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) in US District Court in Helena. The order to suspend illegal buffalo hazing operations by the DOL would be pursuant to the above ESA violations. If granted, this order will restrain government agencies from violating the terms of their own laws and agreements and disrupting threatened bald eagles and their nests in a habitat Closure Zone on the Horse Butte peninsula, west of Yellowstone National Park. Horse Butte provides excellent calving habitat for the Yellowstone buffalo, as the peninsula has south facing slopes that green up early in the spring. The area provides excellent eagle nesting sites and access to perches and feeding areas. The restraining order will prevent any further DOL actions that will harm nesting bald eagles on the butte and give the buffalo a chance to migrate naturally back into Yellowstone. The Forest Service has four cattle grazing allotments on Horse Butte--the purported reason for the DOL's efforts to haze buffalo. These allotments brought in $750.60 to the US Treasury in 1997. Last winter, the DOL, alone spent $225,854 in this contested area, amounting to a cost of at least $1,536 to "protect" each of the cow-calf pairs that lease federal lands in the area between June and October. This does not include the monies from Congressional allocations, Forest Service, Park Service or state and federal law enforcement! Ultimately, grazing allotments adjacent to Yellowstone National Park should be devoted to wildlife habitat. Over 40,000 petitioners recently requested this from the Forest Service, Secretary of the Interior Babbitt and President Clinton. Montana needs to accept that wild bison, not dead bison carcasses on cattle grazing allotments, are preferred on the Montana landscape. The buffalo have been returning to the park on their own, and many of have given birth during the past week. And despite this past week's frosty weather, we are gearing up for the summer campaign, when we shift our focus to outreach and education. Look for us at our table in Yellowstone National Park, where we'll be every day between Memorial Day and Labor Day. |
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| YELLOWSTONE NET OPENS
REALTY OFFICE Press Release BELGRADE, Mont. (YNET) -- Montana has long been a popular location in which to live, work and recreate. For decades, Montana real estate has been bought and sold predominantly through traditional real estate agencies. Although Montana will continue to be a popular place to buy real estate, big changes are on the way for real estate sales in Montana. Based in Belgrade, the hi-tech firm Yellowstone Net Company (www.yellowstone.net) recently announced the founding of its real estate subsidiary, Yellowstone Net Realty. Founded in 1997, Yellowstone Net Company quickly established the world's most popular commercial Yellowstone website, which also ranks among the top 1% of all websites in the world. Initially, the company used its powerful Internet presence to make reservations for clients visiting Yellowstone and other national parks. In 1999, Yellowstone Net Company announced that it was offering free unlimited e-mail and Internet access in more than 90% of the U.S. and Canada. Now, the rapidly growing Montana-based company has announced plans to sell real estate through its world-renowned website. With a highly targeted audience of more than 1 million potential buyers annually from across the country and around the globe, Yellowstone Net will change the way real estate is bought and sold in Montana. According to Clint Wilkes, CEO of Yellowstone Net Company, Montana will experience a technological revolution in the real estate industry. "Through advances in technology and the Internet, property owners now have an opportunity to reach potential buyers from around the globe in a manner more effective than ever before," Wilkes said. "By utilizing the Internet, we have increased efficiency while reducing overhead. This allows us to pass the savings on to the customer by listing properties at a low 3% listing fee, which is only half of the standard 6% charged by most traditional area real estate agencies." Yellowstone Net Realty will offer an interactive map for its more than 1 million clients to use in navigating through the real estate Internet site. Once potential buyers choose a location on the map, they will receive a list of properties for sale in the selected location. By choosing a specific property, buyers can view extensive information and color photos of the listed property right on their personal computer. Although Wilkes acknowledges that many Montana-based companies have an Internet website, he points out that no other company even comes close to Yellowstone Net's highly targeted audience. "By combining a huge customer base with the power of the Internet, Yellowstone Net is in a position to significantly impact the Montana economy by bringing progressive changes to the state's real estate industry," Wilkes said. Montana has experienced many economical changes due to the Internet, and another change is now on the horizon. Yellowstone Net Realty will certainly make an impact as it brings more than 1 million potential real estate buyers to Montana. For more information, contact Kelly Barbao, Yellowstone Net Realty, 11 East Main #2, Belgrade, MT 59714. Phone: 1-877-819-4939. Email: realestate@yellowstone.net |
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