State commissioners hear ideas on brucellosis

By SCOTT McMILLION Chronicle Staff Writer

LIVINGSTON - A better brucellosis vaccine would solve a big pile of problems. Unfortunately, there isn't likely to be one for years, a federal veterinarian said Friday.

That's one of the messages commissioners of six Montana counties heard during a four-hour meeting held Friday to gather information on Gov. Brian Schweitzer's proposal for a brucellosis buffer zone around Yellowstone National Park.

“We got enough information put together that we can start working on a document,” Park County Commissioner Larry Lahren said after the meeting.

Hal Harper, Schweitzer's chief policy adviser, said he looks forward to the commissioners' input. He said the question before them is straightforward: “Should we pursue that or should we not look at that option.”

Schweitzer advocates setting up the special administrative zone as a way for the state's beef industry to protect its brucellosis-free status. Because bison and elk in the park carry the disease, the highest risk is in that area, the governor says, and distant ranchers shouldn't be penalized if another outbreak of the disease occurs.

Losing the status could cost the beef industry between $20 million and $50 million a year, Harper said.

One infected herd was found in Bridger in May. That entire herd has been killed, but if another infected animal is found anywhere in the state in the next two years, the state's coveted status will be revoked, according to federal rules. Some animals in the infected herd had come from an Emigrant herd, and elk are the chief suspect in transmitting the disease to them.

A number of ranchers at the meeting said the special zone around the park would be expensive, labor intensive and unfair. It would require them to test animals entering and leaving the zone. They said they've kept their herds disease free and don't want to be penalized, because they've done nothing wrong.

Tom Lane said the disease issue should be addressed inside Yellowstone.

“It's their problem,” he said. “They're trying to make it our problem.”

Representatives of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the Bear Creek Council and the National Parks Conservation Association pointed out that wildlife draws lots of tourists and money to the area.

Carolyn Duckworth, of the Bear Creek Council environmental group, said she supports the special zone because, under the current system, the statewide industry is at risk “because of a very localized problem.”

But the majority of comments came from ranchers with no enthusiasm for the plan.

Pat Povah, who owns a large ranch near West Yellowstone, said if it becomes impossible to raise cattle there “our last crop will be a subdivision and that's not what we want to do.” He said if there is to be a buffer zone, he backs U.S. Rep. Dennis Rehberg's idea of drawing the line five miles inside the park boundary.

Beaverhead County rancher Jim Hagenbarth, who has long experience in natural resource issues, said after the meeting that he advocates setting up a working group of ranchers, environmentalists and others to come up with new solutions.

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