Still Killing Our Bison

Resting Bison cow & calf in a tender moment of bonding; Madison R. valley, Yellowstone NP., WY

Something very ugly has been happening in Montana near the Yellowstone National Park boundary. Over the past few years the Montana Division of Livestock, US Park Service and the Department of  Agriculture (APHIS) have been capturing, hazing, killing and experimenting on the last wild bison in the US.  The bison in Yellowstone National Park are the descendents of the few survivors of the attempted extirpation of the bison in the late 1800s.

Under the guise of “The Interagency Bison Management Plan” bison are forcibly removed from federal lands (primarily National Forest) in Montana that the bison have used for millennia and still use as winter range and calving grounds. Helicopters, riders on horseback and ATVs harass, haze and run bison from these federal lands up to 7 miles into the national park,  without regard for pregnant cows, cows giving birth and very young calves.  All for the wrong assumption that domestic cattle can be infected with brucellosis from wild bison, no transmission of this disease has ever been recorded from wild bison to domestic cattle (the brucellosis that bison carry originally came from the introduction of domestic cattle).  Elk also carry brucellosis but no such actions are carried out against elk.  The people involved with these actions in the state of Montana are not wildlife biologists, they are brand inspectors and others concerned with domestic livestock issues. Bison are not cattle, they are part of our wildlife legacy.

There has been an ongoing campaign to stop this abuse.  The Buffalo Field Campaign (www.buffalofieldcampaign.org) has been active in the field, documenting what’s been happening in Montana, working to stop bad legislation in the state of Montana and alerting the public (as well as a very small nonprofit can) to this very sad chapter in our treatment of wild bison.  More people need to be made aware of this travesty and give their support to our wild heritage.  Please go to the BFC website to educate yourself about these issues and take action to save our wild bison.

Bison calf portrait

Bison calf grooming

Darn that itch! Bison calf scratching head; Yellowstone NP., WY

Bison cow nurses calf, while cowbird takes up residence on her back; Yellowstone NP., WY

Bison bulls bumping heads during the summer rut; Yellowstone NP., WY

Young Bison bulls stirring up dust while sparring during the summer rut; Yellowstone NP., WY

During the rut an old Bison bull takes time out for a nap during the heat of the day Yellowstone NP., WY

Spray and Pray

Great Egret in flight over Panama’s Pacific Coast

What is it with some photographers?  Just because a camera is capable of X number of frames per second does that mean it should always be fired at that rate?  Here is what I’m really wondering about…

Bighorns in the Canyon

Watching a bighorn dance down a nearly vertical wall can take your breath away.  Drop to an invisible knob of rock, hold there for a split second, turn slightly and drop to another nearly invisible ledge, turn again on one hoof and find yet another place for hoof and balance to work with and against gravity. With hooves built for walking or running on rock, hard bony outer ridge protecting an inner softer pad , grips, wedges and holds the dancer going up or down.  Bighorns, like cats, can turn in midair to land on their feet.

Lions in Winter

The light is fading, it’s snowing over the Sangre de Cristo mountains to our south and west. The sun has dropped behind those snow clouds and its cold, 10 degrees fahrenheit and slowly dropping with a soft breeze, ok a breeze with that temperature is anything but soft. I’m out here looking for three cats that our neighbor had described over the phone as 3 or 4 times the size of a house cat, solid tan color but with a dark band down the back and over the tail, and yes, the tail was quite long. I suspect Mountain Lion but 3 small ones?

Mountain Lion [Felis concolor] cub waiting for mom’s return

A Look Back

It would seem to be a cliché to be writing about the past year and yet, by this time of the year, we tend to do just that. I like to think that past can be prologue, rather than wishing more had been checked off the to-do list or celebrating those things that were checked off. Nothing wrong with that but since we photograph and travel, looking into the future a bit is more satisfying. More of the same could be seen as a good thing, making images of the places and inhabitants of those places that we find interesting if not down right mind-blowing.

Nature photography and using digital cameras gives us the opportunity for endless learning and that, I think, is key to not letting the political class drive us totally crazy. “Walk in beauty” isn’t just an adage, it’s a directive that we can use to find that sometimes elusive key to happiness.
Contentment may lay in the past but life itself is ahead. So….. here are a few images from 2012 and a sincere wish that this coming year is very good to you.

Rainy Season

Golfo de Chiriqui, Pacific Coast & Peninsula de Las Palmas, Panama

Walking along this trail one thing becomes clear, we’ve been away from the tropics for way too long. Heliconias, red and yellow glow in a sea of green. Sweat runs in rivulets down my face, heat and humidity, the necessary ingredients for this untamed mass of life, hard to handle after years spent in Colorado. Howler Monkeys roar and howl from mid-level in the trees overhead, a misty rain drifts through the canopy, makes my shirt even wetter but doesn’t cool. Surrounded by an almost unbelievable diversity of life, plant, animal and insect make a dreamscape for a photographer.