I saw a link to this yesterday, and I thought about starting a thread on whether what Ted is trying to do is good or bad for hunting. I also thought how transplanting some of the 'surplus' bison to the Books as well as other areas in the western states that could sustain free roaming bison herds would be great.

The amount of work done behind the scenes to make it possible to have a bison herd on the Books was huge and costly. I am guessing most sportsmen take for granted the work done over the last 10+ years to get to where in the next few years we will have tags issued to hunt bison in the Book Cliffs. Negotiations with land owners, livestock owners that own grazing permits, the Ute Indian Reservation, state and federal land agencies, were difficult, took money to obtain grazing permits, and took tact to get the go ahead from so many entities with differing agendas/objectives. A big thanks is warranted to the 'special interest' groups and government agencies that put egos and personal agendas to the side to make such an endeavor possible. Funds from conservation tags helped fund both the obtaining of grazing permits, but also the costs of transplanting bison from the Henry Mountain herd.

I am not sure if it is feasible to get some of the Yellowstone elk transplanted to the Books, but I would think it would help diversify the genes, and keep pinheads like Ted Turner turning WILD bison into little more than cattle.

 

The really sad thing, is that transplanting bison onto public lands is such a quagmire of bureacratic soup as Pro outlined, it takes everything short of heavenly intervention to get it done. The environmental policy wraps around its own axle so much, it simply is not feasible. To me, the Turner offer should be a wake-up call to the federal agencies in how to go about things. Turner is the largest single land owner in six different states. And he is one of the best stewards of that land - especially where wildlife are concerned- another wake-up call to the federal land agencies. To me, sure, this is driven by Turner's self interest. But he is at least coming up with solutions - something the feds certainly are not doing.

 

But, is what Crazy Ted is trying to do a better/worse option than just killing them? I think it is a slippery slope to commercialize wild animals, and once we head down that slope how do we stop the snowball? The government agencies need to either get their heads out of their sphincters and remove the barriers to get these animals onto other public lands, or kill the animals and donate the meat to the needy. Having them fenced in, being feed by the tax dollars, all while Ted is trying to increase his domain, is NOT the best scenario for the bison, conservation, tax payers, or hunting in general.

Also, how is what Ted is wanting to do different than someone wanting to 'adopt' a herd of mustangs and then sending them to the glue factory? I contend the bison is a more legitimate symbol of the west than a mangy mustang, yet the outrage over what Ted is asking for pales in comparison to the protests 'protecting' mustangs get. :?

 

I'm curious how the herd will not roam into Tribal Lands, or mingle with the Tribal buffalo. Vice versus....what is being done to prevent the Tribal buffalo to wander onto State property.

 

I'm curious how the herd will not roam into Tribal Lands, or mingle with the Tribal buffalo. Vice versus....what is being done to prevent the Tribal buffalo to wander onto State property.

The tribal bison have been wandering onto public land already, that is partly why they went along with the deal. In fact, they are 'donating' bison from their herd(s) to the public herd. I seem to recall some specific guidelines were put in on how to keep public bison public, but I don't recall what they were/are. There should be something about it on the DWR site I would think.

 

http://wildlife.utah.gov/hunting/biggam ... son_10.pdf

 

The difference to me is that Turner already owns more bison than anyone else in the country. Including the federal government and all the state governments. If you look into some of his lanbd holdings, he is doing wonders to restore HUGE tracts of lands into functioning praries. On his huge ranch in north central Nebraska, he removed all interior fencing and allows his bison to roam over the 600,000 acres of sand hills. In doing so, the water quality in the Niobrara watershed has vastly improved, the aquifer is refreshing better than it ever did. Deer and grouse are returning on their own. From a habitat management perspective, it is pretty amazing. And those bison are far more wild than the state herds at Antelope Island or Custer State Park (SD) or pretty much any other publically held herd with the exception of the Henry Mountain herd.

And in this offer, Turner is not asking any kind of grazing fee, other than the lions' share of the offspring. No AUM fee. No rent. All in-kind in the form of offspring to further diversify the genetics of his own herds. One article I read, he offered to cover all the costs of the capture and move as well. So no tax dollars at all.

I'm not saying its the perfect solution. But the bigger messege to me is that the federal agencies are failing at their job. And the private market is showing it can respond more quickly, more effeciently, and more effectively.

 

http://wildlife.utah.gov/hunting/biggame/pdf/bison_10.pdf

That's a good web-site Pro...also has some good history thrown in there.

A lot better than the link I was going to give you from the Ute Tribe.

http://www.intertribalbison.org/.

This link is in Japanese and talks about mortgages..................I think they need to work on it a little...

 

And in this offer, Turner is not asking any kind of grazing fee, other than the lions' share of the offspring. No AUM fee. No rent. All in-kind in the form of offspring to further diversify the genetics of his own herds. One article I read, he offered to cover all the costs of the capture and move as well. So no tax dollars at all. 90% of the calves seems excessive. And, I still have heartburn over taking public animals and 'giving' them to a private citizen over placing them on public lands. I say that as someone who thinks private landowners are better suited to be stewards over wildlife than public landowners are. We need to decide which one we want, to try and do both seems like a recipe for disaster.

I'm not saying its the perfect solution. But the bigger messege to me is that the federal agencies are failing at their job. And the private market is showing it can respond more quickly, more effeciently, and more effectively. Like this is shocking news!?! Of course the private sector is more efficient, more effective, and can act quicker when it comes to this or ANY other market that puts the private versus the public sectors. Government by it's very existence is wasteful, slow to respond, full of red tape, and inept.

 

A lot better than the link I was going to give you from the Ute Tribe.

http://www.intertribalbison.org/.

This link is in Japanese and talks about mortgages..................I think they need to work on it a little...

-_O-