billswiley

This is a textbook example of everything that is wrong with globalist wildlife activists and I will use it in my classes going forward, thanks Ben! Ben is a British aristocrat, son of the daughter of the 8th Marquess of Londonderry whose father is a knighted financier and businessman from a prominent banking family, the Goldschmidts. Look at the confidence and swagger he has in weighing in on Montana wildlife policy! Look at the outright contempt and scorn he has for everyday Montanans, ranching families, and our democratically elected leaders! Look at how he threatens and taunts us, saying that no matter what local Montana stakeholders want, it will always be people like him, NGOs bankrolled by global capital and foreign aristocrats, that will get to tell us what to do with our land! This embodies our core of the issue with American Prairie. Contrary to what Ben and other lib panic accounts on here would have you think, Montana locals are not opposed to bison conservation. Montanans have been on the vanguard for some of the greatest bison conservation success stories in human history. Modern bison restoration in Montana has centered heavily on science-based management of the Yellowstone National Park herd, which is the largest continuously wild bison population in the United States. Montana agencies and researchers spent decades on the cutting edge of bison research, monitoring genetics, disease prevalence (brucellosis), population dynamics, and habitat conditions to rebuild and maintain a healthy herd while reducing risks to surrounding livestock. Montana spearheaded many of the most important collaborative research and management institutions for buffalo conservation, research, and restoration to public, tribal, and private land. But Ben wouldn't know or care about this because he's a British aristocrat! LOL! Ben's post references an NGO called American Prairie, which has a bison herd on public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management in northeastern Montana (different from the well-known Yellowstone bison herd many people are familiar with from family trips to Yellowstone National Park). Under the BLM grazing system, permits are not typically auctioned at open-market rates. Instead, grazing privileges are tied to a “preference” system connected to ownership of nearby private land, often referred to as a “base property.” American Prairie entered this system by purchasing deeded ranches adjacent to BLM allotments, thereby acquiring the associated grazing preferences. After obtaining these ranches, the organization requested that the BLM modify existing grazing permits to allow bison rather than cattle. Following an environmental review process, the BLM approved the inclusion of bison in 2022. As referenced in Ben's post, that approval was just revoked following pressure from Montana citizens, lawmakers, and ranching families. Why do Montanans oppose American Prairie? The major issue is that American Prairie’s ability to acquire large ranch holdings is possible through substantial financial backing from wealthy out-of-state and international donors, including Swiss- and German-born billionaires and high-net-worth individuals from places such as New York City and San Francisco (usually tech guys' foundations). A multigenerational Montana ranching family, or a young seventh-generation rancher hasn't the faintest hope in competing for ranch properties that carry BLM grazing preferences. Once those deeded ranches are purchased, the associated federal grazing privileges generally transfer with them, boxing young Montanans out of the livelihood that generations of their forebears have practiced. Montana’s ranching livelihoods and the culture of the cowboy is central to the state’s identity, economy, and history. It is what makes it unique and what brings millions of visitors to the state. If we are going to offshore and strip mine everything in this country to global capital, then be prepared to say goodbye to what makes the American West wild, open, and free.