A petition requesting Montana Governor Gianforte to veto a pair of anti-bison restoration bills has gone viral and already obtained more than 3400 signers from across the nation.
House Bill 302 would require a county commission to approve any restoration of public, wild bison, even on federal land, including any National Wildlife Refuge. HB 302 is currently on the Governor’s desk. HB 318, also passed by the legislature, would redefine “wild bison” in Montana in a strict way that is expected to disqualify all possible plains bison for use in any bison restoration project in the state. Both bills were passed by the legislature along party-line votes, with Republicans favoring the anti-bison statutes.
The petition notes that these bills will either ignore, violate, or render meaningless several state and federal laws and policies, including; mandates in the Montana Constitution; legal guidelines for restoring public, wild bison; the Montana Environmental Policy Act; twelve years of effort by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to develop a bland plan that might be used to restore a public bison herd; three polls demonstrating that 70% of Montana voters favor restoring bison on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge; the mission statements of the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service and of the National Refuge System; the Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997; the U. S. Department of Interior bison conservation initiative; the National Environmental Policy Act; and the ability of the CMR Refuge to achieve its overall goal, stated in the Refuge plan.
For each signer, a copy of the petition is sent to the governor, his staff, and to the newly appointed Director of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. The petition, managed by Change.org, is still available to be signed and sent.
To see and sign the petition click here.
Thank you,
Jim Bailey, Montana Wild Bison Restoration Coalition
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