WEST YELLOWSTONE, MT: Members of America's last continuously wild bison population, the so-called Yellowstone buffalo, have been intensely attacked by state and federal agencies working under the highly controversial Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP). Volunteers with Buffalo Field Campaign, a wild bison advocacy and media group, document all actions made against the buffalo by state and federal agencies and advocate for thier lasting protection.

Watch an exclusive video from Buffalo Field Campaign showing hazing (forced removal) operations that occurred this week: "STOP!!! THIS IS A MUST WATCH VIDEO :   http://youtu.be/QxY89VYqtQQ

"These taxpayer funded hazing operations are highly abusive, disruptive, wasteful, unjustifiable and certainly unnecessary," said Buffalo Field Campaign spokeswoman Stephany Seay. "Wild migratory bison are native to Montana, and are an ecologically extinct keystone wildlife species. The Yellowstone herds are beloved the world over, and should be valued and treated with respect wherever they roam, not brutalized to appease Montana's livestock industry."

Hazing of wild bison takes place every spring in the Hebgen Basin during the height of calving season. On May 13 through 15, the Montana Department of Livestock and other IBMP agencies seriously disrupted the ecosystem and local residents with industrial-scale bison hazing, using a large number of government horsemen, law enforcement officers, and a helicopter to evict native wild bison from Montana. Hazing occurs because Montana's livestock interests refuse to accept wild bison on the landscape. The forced removal of native wild bison in the Hebgen Basin takes place on the public lands of Gallatin National Forest and Yellowstone National Park, as well as on private land where wild bison are welcome.

There are currently no cattle present in the Hebgen Basin, and in most places where wild bison roam in Montana, cattle will never graze.

The Hebgen Basin, west of Yellowstone National Park, is also important habitat for the federally protected threatened grizzly bear.

Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field, the policy arena and the courts to defend and protect America's last wild bison populations. More information about Buffalo Field Campaign and their work to help wild bison can be found at http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.

LET THEM ROAM FREE!!!!  

"PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO CALL TODAY!!!'   Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenke now at (307) 344-2002 and urge him to stop slaughtering America’s last wild buffalo.

 

TO: ALL CHAIRS AND PRESIDENTS OF INDIAN NATIONS, INDIAN LEADERS, AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

The buffalo EE-NEE-WAH have asked me to convey this message.

We know you respect the buffalo. We know you have the right to hunt the buffalo. But the ancient buffalo in Yellowstone have been decimated and have not recovered.

ln the Hayden and Pelican valleys in the Central lnterior of Yellowstone National park, the buffalo have felt the brunt of this slaughter. Their population is well under half of what it was just a few winters ago.

We need to send a message to the whites, we need to send a message to the white Governments: to let this ancient buffalo herd regenerate itself.

Your own Tribal policies and laws allow you to step back and reassess the situation.

We have to get away from the thinking that if we don't do anything we will lose our Treaty rights.

Done properly, a resolution by the Tribes to place a moratorium on hunting the buffalo will strengthen our Treaty and
cultural rights.

ln a sacred way, we ask that you adopt a one or two year moratorium on hunting the buffalo to be set by your cultural leadership, specifically your Tribal government.

This year and next year our cultures will grow, the buffalo will recover, and our children will learn that there is a way to bring the EE-NEE-WAH back.

Your treaty rights will always be in place to hunt on public lands.

To see and let our sacred animal grow again, multiply for the future generations, I ask this in the Blackfeet NA-SIST-AA-PEE - real people - way.

I want to share this message with the Tribal leaders that will accept this moratorium on the Yellowstone buffalo herd.

ln February of 2012 I met with Senator Daniel lnouye in Washington D.C. Daniel asked me what the Tribes could do to stay stronger. And he said just one thing that the Tribes could do, that no one could ever break not even the U.S. government, is for the Tribes to stand together with their traditions. I just wanted to share his message with you, Tribal leader, the late senator Daniel Inouye said for us to stand together with our traditions.

There also is a sacred 8 or 9-year old bull in the herd that must be protected.

I ask you as the former culture chairman of the Blackfeet Tribe, and ongoing spiritual leader of the Eloise Cobell case.

I also want to reintroduce myself to your honorable Council, that I am one of the spiritual leaders of the Blackfoot Confederacy that encompasses the U.S. and Canada.

I am in no way influenced by the U.S. government or any other entity that has not understood our ancient traditional ways. I have been through most or all of the Eloise Cobell case. I have survived the Bush administration. I carry on our ancient traditions for my people.

I ask that your brilliant cultural minds implement this moratorium to save our sacred buffalo, and pray that this resolution or moratorium be implemented as soon as possible.

James St. Goddard EE-SUK-YAH Holy Paint Gatherer, one of the ancient Blackfeet

AMSKAPI PIKUNI

The Blackfeet People & Blackfoot Confederacy Emissary
The United States of America & Canada

JAMES W. ST. GODDARD
GENERAL DELIVERY
EAST CLACIER, MONTANA 59434
Phone: (406) 564-3054

Email : 4eesukyah@gmail.com

James St. Goddard "EE-Suk-Yah" (Holy Paint Gatherer) Blackfeet

Mr. St. Goddard was born on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana and raised as a traditional Blackfeet by his grandfather and elders in his cornmunity.

Mr. St. Goddard first met Mrs. Eloise Cobell in 1980 when his father, Archie St. Goddard, served as Vice-Chair of the Blackfeet Tribal Council.

Mr. St. Goddard worked with the Eloise Cobell Trust Case since its initiation in 1996 through its resolution in 2O12. Mr. St. Goddard served as National Representative for the Eloise Cobell Trust Case from 2006-2O12.

On December 20,2010, Eroise Cobell nominated and endorsed James st. Goddard to be the Head Chief of the Blackfeet Nation.

ln 1995, Mr. St. Goddard was elected to the Blackfeet Tribal Council and served in many capacities until 2006:

• Council Vice-Chair.
• Cultural Chair.
• Chair of five of the nine Blackfeet Nation committees.
• Member of all nine Blackfeet Nation committees. Member of the Montana-Wyoming-Idaho Tribal Leaders Council (MWITLC).
• Member of the Delegation to Reorganize the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
• Chair of the MWITLC Corrections committee on lndigenous People from 2002-2006.

As a rnember of the Blackfoot Confederacy of the USA and Canada, Mr. St. Goddard serves as a Delegate to the National Congress of American Indians Implementing President Obama's united Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2010-present.

"Thank you SO MUCH.  Keep it up.... we have GOT to keep the pressure on these people."