Vol 2, # 108

   Monday, October 26, 1998

YELLOWSTONE
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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (YNET) -- Last week the National Park Service and gateway community representatives from the Yellowstone region met to discuss snowmobile use in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.  The meeting was part of the ongoing process of drafting an environmental impact statement on winter use in Yellowstone and the surrounding region.

The group focused on such issues as protecting park resources, lessening recreational impact on wildlife, providing all users continued access to the parks, and resolving conflicts between user groups.  No real decisions were made, other than the decision to continue talking and focusing on these issues.

The one thing which everyone at the meeting did agree on was the need for the snowmobile industry to develop machines which pollute less. 

Building a new generation of snowmobiles may indeed be the most important thing that could happen in terms of the snowmobile debate.  The technology is available, and if less-polluting machines were built and deployed for use in the Yellowstone region, the winter pollution levels in Yellowstone could be reduced drastically, which would go a long way to solving the winter use dilemma.

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS

Ralph Maughan
Kim Steinbacher
Kevin Sanders
Steve Brashear
Clint Wilkes
Tim Gourley
Hon. Bob Gammage
Ruth Colter-Frick
Lee Whittlesey
Tom Mazzarisi
Russ Finley
David Monteith
Denise Elmer

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (NWF) -- It is one of the greatest comeback stories in conservation history. The American buffalo, once almost wiped off the face of the earth, reclaimed its place in the plains of the West and helped restore a native culture that had all but disappeared.

The return of the buffalo brought a new sense of pride and self respect to Native Americans in the West. This majestic animal represents not only a cultural link to the past, but also promises
economic opportunity for the future. American Buffalo paints a picture of an evolving landscape re-populated by this wild symbol of our national heritage.

Widespread extermination of buffalo during western expansion in the late 1800s took a horrifying toll on buffalo populations. By 1902, there were only 23 buffalo left where 60 million had once roamed. Following an outcry from conservationists, Congress took measures to start a new herd in Yellowstone National Park which has since grown to 2,500 animals. This is widely considered America’s first conservation success story.

In American Buffalo, Lakota Indian leader Fred DuBray takes viewers on a journey through the still-evolving Western landscape. DuBray founded the InterTribal Bison Cooperative (ITBC) whose 46 member tribes are committed to restoring the buffalo to Indian culture, and protecting them from the forces that threaten them today.

And those forces are formidable. In the winter of 1996 - 97 more than one-third of the Yellowstone buffalo herd -- the last wild, free-ranging herd of buffalo in the country -- was shot or shipped to slaughter for nothing more than crossing into Montana to graze. Ranchers fear that buffalo infected with the disease Brucellosis, which can cause infected cows to abort their first calves, will transmit it to cattle when they leave Yellowstone Park. But wild
buffalo- to-cattle transmission of brucellosis has never been documented, and both untested and negative-testing animals were killed.

In the first wildlife management agreement ever signed by a major national conservation group and an important consortium of Native American tribal leaders, the National Wildlife Federation and the InterTribal Bison Cooperative launched a campaign to protect the Yellowstone buffalo herd and provide an alternative to the senseless slaughter. “Our plan offers an alternative to one hundred years of dishonorable mistakes, when buffalo lost their status as wildlife and Native Americans lost their status as the most deserving guardians of buffalo,” said Mark Van Putten, president and CEO of NWF. “As a symbol of our American heritage and of a far-reaching conservation history there is no animal more deserving of restoration to the freedom and dignity of a free-ranging species.”

Though threats to Yellowstone’s buffalo in Montana still loom large, NWF and the ITBC have made progress over the past year and a half in advocating for an end to the slaughter. As American Buffalo reveals, “Their future is far from secure, but for both the buffalo and the Native American there is great hope.”

American Buffalo premieres Sunday, November 1 on PBS as part of the renowned Nature series. American Buffalo was produced by Judy Hallet for the National Wildlife Federation and Devillier and Donegan. Christopher Palmer, President and CEO of National Wildlife Productions, NWF’s television and film arm, serves as executive producer.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (DOI) -- The U.S. Senate has voted to confirm the nomination by President Clinton of Dr. Charles G. Groat as new Director of the U.S. Geological Survey. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt will swear him into office shortly.

"Dr. Groat has the right mix of academic background, skills, and experience for providing leadership to the USGS," Babbitt said. "In the wake of several natural disasters that have beset our country in recent weeks, including Hurricane Georges, flooding in Kansas and now most recently, flooding in south Texas, there is a pressing need for good science to guide safe and informed decisions. The U.S. Geological Survey plays a critical role in science in this country and, indeed, all over the world. We welcome Dr. Groat 's considerable talent to lead our premiere science agency in the many important natural resource challenges that lie ahead."

Dr. Groat, 58, is a distinguished professional in the earth science community with over 25 years of direct involvement in geological studies, energy and minerals resource assessment, ground-water occurrence and protection, geomorphic processes and landform evolution in desert areas, and coastal studies. He currently serves as Associate Vice President for Research and Sponsored Projects at the University of Texas at El Paso, following three years as Director of the Center for Environmental Resource Management. He was also Director of the University's Environmental Science and Engineering Ph.D. Program.

Prior to joining the University of Texas, Dr. Groat served as Executive Director (1991-95) at the Center for Coastal, Energy, and Environmental Resources, at Louisiana State University. In 1991-92, he was Executive Director (1990-92) for the American Geological Institute. From 1983-88, he served as assistant to the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, where he administered the Coastal Zone Management Program, and the Coastal Protection Program.

From 1978-1990, Dr. Groat held positions at Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources which included serving as professor for the Department of Geology and Geophysics, and as Director and State Geologist for the Louisiana Geological Survey. He also served as associate professor (1976-78) at the University of Texas at Austin, in the Department of Geological Sciences, and as Associate Director and Acting Director of the Bureau of Economic Geology.

Among his many professional affiliations, Groat is a member of the Geological Society of America, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Geophysical Union, and the American Association of Petroleum Geologist. He has also served on over a dozen earth science boards and committees and has authored and contributed to numerous publications and articles on major issues involving earth resources and the environment.

A native of Westfield, New York, Groat received an A.B. degree in geology from the University of Rochester in 1962, M.S.degree from the University of Massachusetts in 1967, and his Ph.D. in 1970 from the University of Texas at Austin. He is married and has two children.

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SEATTLE, Wash. -- Defenders of Wildlife is proud to present Restoring the Wolf, a two-day conference in Seattle, WA. The conference will bring together scientists, wolf activists, natural resource agency personnel and the general public for a forum on wolf biology,
management and recovery.

The conference will begin on Thursday evening, Nov. 12, at the DoubleTree Hotel with a special presentation featuring live wolves, immediately followed by a desert and coffee reception. Workshops and panel discussions will take place all day Friday and Saturday.

Wolf specialists will present panel discussions on issues such as taxonomy, behavior,ecology and economics of wolf recovery. There will also be forums on the status of wolf recovery efforts in the United States, including the Northwest, Southwest, northern Rockies, Southeast, Northeast and Alaska. Special workshops will be offered to wolf activists on topic such as grant writing, lobbying, education, public relations, and wolf biology and behavior.

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